pursuing elegance - introduction to elegance in digital product design @amux

1

PURSUE ELEGANCE

ZACH POUSMAN, HELPFULLY

ZACH@HELPFULLY.COM @THINKY

3

FIRST, A STORY…

HI, I’M ZACH POUSMAN

Zach Pousman @thinky

DIGITAL PRODUCT STRATEGY

U NSC RAMBL

Zach Pousman @thinky

Zach Pousman @thinky

Zach Pousman @thinky

Zach Pousman @thinky

A DEFINITION OF ELEGANCE

Simple Powerful Coherent

comfortable

Hat tip to Michael Zuschlag, 2011 & Matthew May ‘In Pursuit of Elegance’, 2012 Zach Pousman @thinky

HOW TO PURSUE ELEGANCE

Noticing elegance

Dealing with constraints Dealing with the product ecology

Dealing with cadence

Zach Pousman @thinky

Constraints can be: intrinsic Dictated imposed

self-imposedHat tip to Elster, 2000 Zach Pousman @thinky

label your constraints

Visual Design

Machine Learning

People’s Vanity

Monetization

Support multiple devices

label your constraints

Visual Design

Machine Learning

People’s Vanity

Monetization

Support multiple devices

label your constraints

Visual Design

Machine Learning

People’s Vanity

Monetization

Support multiple devices

label your constraints

Machine People’s Vanity

Monetization

Support multiple devices

Zach Pousman @thinky

label your constraints get to ‘know’ them revisit them often

Zach Pousman @thinky

label your constraints get to ‘know’ them revisit them often

Zach Pousman @thinky

you can’t beat the constraints into submission … You can, but it’s inelegant.

KNOW YOUR PRODUCT ECOLOGYP

P

P

P

P

PYOUR

PRODUCT

Functional

Emotional

Aesthetic

Symbolic

P

P

Others who see you use the product

Social clusters

Forlizzi, J. (2008). The Product Ecology: Understanding Social Product Use and Supporting

Design Culture. International Journal of Design vol. 2, no. 1.

Product use

Zach Pousman @thinky

Elegance means taking cadence seriously.

A PART OF LIFEBEGINNER-TO-EXPERT

ROUTINE(S)USAGE

A SESSIONAN INTERACTIONMENU ANIMATION

Hat tip to Berryman & Pousman, 2013

SMS

Mapping cadence can help you achieve elegance

Hat tip to Berryman & Pousman, 2013

Elegance across CLi, gui, nui, gestural &

conversational paradigms

25 Zach Pousman @thinky

Potentially concerning

Zach Pousman @thinky

Zach Pousman @thinky

Potentially concerning

THANKS!

ZACH@HELPFULLY.COM

@THINKY