Seductive Interaction Design Creating Playful, Fun, and Effective User Experiences

by Anderson, Stephen P.

• ISBN13: 9780321725523
• ISBN10: 0321725522
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-06-15
• Publisher: New Riders

Summary

This book, based on the author's conference presentation, takes a fresh approach to designing sites and interaction based on the stages of seduction. This beautifully-designed book follows its own principles of seduction and examines what motivates and causes people to act. Topics include ways to create playful engagements during the moment; how to put people at ease through sense-making, reassurance, and clear communication; ways to grab attention through language, visuals, and emotions; and how to continue motivating long after the first encounter. The author goes further and shows examples of how these technique have been applied with great success. In addition, sprinkled throughout the text are interviews with influential Web and interactions designers.

Author Biography

Stephen P. Anderson is an internationally recognized speaker and consultant based in Dallas, Texas. He created the Mental Notes card deck, a tool that's widely used by product teams to apply psychology to interaction design. Prior to venturing out on his own, Stephen spent more than a decade building and leading teams of information architects, interaction designers, and UI developers. He's designed web applications for technology startups as well as corporate clients like Nokia, Frito-Lay, Sabre Travel Network, and Chesapeake Energy. Between public speaking and project work, Stephen offers workshops and training to help organizations manage creative teams, make use of visual thinking, and design better customer experiences.

Table of Contents

Prologue .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . xi
1 Why Seductive Interactions?  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
    LinkedIn and Profile Completeness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
    Why seduction?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
    The iLike story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
    Beyond usability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
    It’s all about experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

SECTION ONE
Aesthetics, Beauty, and Behavior

2 Why Aesthetics? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
    What’s the connection? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
    Why aesthetics?  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

3 Are You Easily Understood? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
    Gestalt Psychology and a drinking game . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

4 Are You Attractive? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
    You remind me of… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
    Can you trust me on this?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
    Perceptions of time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
    Put it all together. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
    “Attractive things work better” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
    Stitching it all together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

5 Who Do You Remind People Of? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35
    Aesthetics, associations, and Apple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
    Advertising and coded iconic messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
    Positive and Negative associations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
    Language and associations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
    Applications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

6 When Aesthetics Aren’t Attractive . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
    Curious implication 1: The good, the bad, and the ugly. . . . . 43
    Curious implication 2: When utility is beautiful. . . . . . . . . 44
    Curious implication 3: Context and character . . . . . . . . . . 45
    Curious implication 4: Is beauty subjective? . . . . . . . . . . . 45
    Closing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

7 The Power of Faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49
    Leaving your friends. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
    Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

SECTION TWO
Playful Seduction

8 Are You Fun To Be Around? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55
    Use humor, when appropriate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
    A Case for Humor: MailChimp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
    Why bother making someone smile? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

9 Are You Unpredictable?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63
    Mixing surprise with rewards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
    Delighters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
    My personal annual travel report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

10 Are You Stimulating? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75
    Will the real Dopplr logo please stand up? . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

11 Are You Mysterious?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79
    Curious marketing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
    Venturing into the unknown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
    The information gap theory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
    Business application? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
    Specific motivation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
    Now what? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

12 Can People Express Themselves Around You?. . . . . . .87

SECTION THREE
The Subtle Art of Seduction

13 Small First Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93
    Shaping the path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
    Making a commitment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
    Sharing places . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
    Picking up items placed on hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
    Completing a travel booking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
    Endowed progress effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
    Sequencing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100
    Shaping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102

14 Coming on Too Strong (and how not to!). . . . . . . . .105
    Fewer options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105
    Less text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107
    Fun distractions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108
    Creating the illusion of less by hiding information . . . . . . .110
    Hacking the visual system to make things simpler . . . . . . .111
    Less to think about  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .112

15 Attracting Attention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
    Contrast and characters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116
    Shh! We’re hoping no one notices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .117
    Did you see that?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .118

16 The Path of Least Resistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
    Default options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119
    The power of suggestion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .120
    Convenience and personalized recommendations. . . . . . . .122
    Afraid to Let Go . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .126

17 The Influence of Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
    Framing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131
    Anchoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .133
    Let’s get personal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .134
    Clear language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .136

18 An Eye for Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
    Step one: Role-play the interaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137
    Step two: Script the narrative experience . . . . . . . . . . . .140
    Step three: Break down compound requests into 
    simple next steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .140
    Step four: Minimize choices (at each moment in time). . . . .141
    Step five: Look for micromoments  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .142
    Step six: Choose clicks over characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . .142

SECTION FOUR
The Game of Seduction

19 Real World Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
    Games are first and foremost about fun . . . . . . . . . . . . .149
    The Elements of Game Design  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .153

20 A Challenge Worth Pursuing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
    Back to the classroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .155
    A Real Challenge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .161
    A quick note on status. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .163
    Challenges vs. goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .165
    Closing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .167

21 Making Things Difficult . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
    Playing hard to get. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .169
    Using scarcity in commerce. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .170
    Using scarcity to increase quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .170
    Using scarcity to encourage participation . . . . . . . . . . . .172
    Why scarcity works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .173
    Other forms of scarcity: Limited duration . . . . . . . . . . . .174
    Limited access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .175
    Other forms of scarcity: Limited choice and calculations . . .176

22 How Are We Doing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
    Unintended side effects of hypermiling  . . . . . . . . . . . . .181
    A little perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .182
    Serious games. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .183
    Making a game out of e-mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .183
    Closing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .187

23 What’s the Prize?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .189
    Why do game mechanics work? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .190
    Performance goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .191
    Are you offering your users any performance goals? . . . . . .192
    The fun layer: Narrative, story, aesthetics . . . . . . . . . . . .196
    Closing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .197

24 Let’s Get Serious . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .199
    The Kano model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

25 Only the Beginning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
    The Rider and the Elephant. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .205
    The Behavior Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .206
    A sense of purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .211
    One thing everyone is doing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .211
    “Show me the money!” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .214
    Who’s on your site?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .214
    Final Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .215

Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .217