Pants first, then the shoes....

Shuffle the service to make it better

When you are designing a service or a customer experience, you sometimes have to do things in a slightly less efficient way.

In other words, you might have to work a little harder backstage to make things smooth for the customer frontstage.

Points to remember:

1. This is hard work. Sorry.
2. But it sells stuff!

I saw a wonderfully simply example of this last week.

Picture the scene: on mega-whizz German express trains they sell coffee by helpfully walking down the carriages with a tray of cups. Nice. The brown stuff is poodle-scorchingly hot, and superfast trains move oddly, so we have a guy in a blue uniform with a very careful gait and nervous expression as he teeters through the train calling out "Kaffee! Kaffee!".

Sadly, his valiant efforts are in vain, as almost nobody buys any. Ever. Everyone has their eyes down, ears phoned and is busy with their novel, highlighter pen or Great Train Journeys dvd. Our poor public servant is steadily ignored.

But if you watch the rows behind him, you will see a dramatic effect. About five seconds after he passes, people smell the java. They look up with bright caffeine-addict expressions, their hands groping in a tight back pocket for change. They lean out of their seats, ready to order and... the guy is gone.

(Actually, he is about three rows away, but it is far too uncool to call him back. So no-one does.)

The effect was proved last week, when our heroic conductor forgot something. He turned around to fetch it, and was staggered to sell his six cups off coffee within three rows. Three rows of people that he had already walked past, shouting, but who had only noticed him when their noses started speaking to their gastric juices.

Doh!

Of course, from the workflow perspective it makes a lot of sense to efficiently walk through the train just once, and waste a pretty good service.

From an experience design point of view - ie the customer's - our conductor needs to walk straight through each carriage first to let people smell that richly roasted aroma, then turn round and get selling. Twice as much walking, but what a difference!

About a million billion years ago, a guy called Aristotle knew that the sequence of events in a story was as important as the events themselves when audiences emotions were to be excited. How does that apply to your service... from the customer's point of view?
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Coffee&lips pic by Bitca at flickr
Coffee&window pic by charliebay at flickr

In the family way...

Service designed from the outside in

Most companies on this planet are conceived from the inside out, starting with the offering. They have some kind of service or product, in various forms, and they want you to buy it. Their entire structure exists to support the offering, and find customers that match it.

Take new car dealerships, for example. Typically, they are contractually bound to one manufacturer and sell that one manufacturer's whole range, from sports cars to people movers to citymobiles to executive saloons. The upshot - a typical car dealer has a showroom full of cars - and about one particular model which is of interest to any given customer.

It's a nightmare for the salespeople ("should I dress fashionably or conservatively?"), and it's a nightmare for the customer ("I want a cheap runabout - I'd better go and visit six different dealers...").

At familycars.de the concept is far smarter. They sell only family cars - from a bunch of different manufacturers, and out of a single showroom. The whole experience is well designed - with activities for kids, childcare, family-friendly opening times (a miracle in regimented Germany), play areas inside and out, free dvd players for those long journeys - and even family-oriented financing.

But their approach goes far beyond experience design - it is a completely customer-centric service design, from the core out. Brilliant! Terrific! And they are quite deservedly being showered with prizes...

If you think about it, it's an obvious path to success. So...

... why are there still a thousand Product Managers out there for every Customer Segment Manager?

Photo by freeparking at flickr

Make it tellable

Normal folks don't talk dpi, they tell stories

Cool new printers are like leaves in a forest these days, and it's terribly hard to make any one stand out. Even super-duper printer-fax-scanner-copiers are now serious yawn-material. But when my good buddy and colleague Markus bought himself an HP machine last week, he called me straight away to rave about one feature.

"You put in your memory card," he says, "and it prints thumbnails of all your photos."
"Uh, OK," I reply.
"Wait, this is the cool bit. On the printout, there are little boxes next to the thumbnails. You tick the size you need, and put the paper back in the machine. It reads your ticks and prints the pics you want automatically!"

Now, I don't know if this is HP's own idea, or if it's even new, but it's solid gold experience design for two reasons.

Firstly, that is a brilliant interface. People are much happier with pens and papers than with even the best computer menus - and you can pass a piece of paper around. Choosing the pics to print becomes a social experience on the sofa or in the cafe, without the sickly light and cricked necks of too many people trying to see the same computer monitor. Excellent work!

Secondly, that design feature is something that it is really easy to talk about. And this is important.

Remember, a lot of technical development results in improved specifications - say, a higher dpi or printing speed. There's not much you can say about that, except "well, it's better quality" or "yes, it's a bit faster". Hardly gripping stuff - and well on the way to Commodity City.

HP's clever user experience gimmick is different, because it gave Markus a story to tell - and helped him endorse a product he was excited about without boring us with geeky spec-numbers.

Pine and Gilmore argue that the experience economy is about creating memories. You could also say that experience design is about creating good stories - that bring all the benefits of word-of-mouth marketing.

Question for the week - what part of your offering is easily "tellable"? What makes a good story, for people to pass on to their friends?

Storyteller pic from travel_aficionado at flickr

7#3 d3v1c3 #45 b33n m0d1f13d

IT'S ADAM'S BIRTHDAY
Not saying how old he is, but does that matter? Let's just say it's a good one.

Anyway... time for you to come up with some extra-creative birthday wishes.

Me? I wish him the groundbreaking discovery of the secret of Step 2.
And, of course, all things bright and beautiful. And cake.

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       ######GET#A#SAFER#PASSWORD#####

There was even going to be a party for you. A big party that all your friends were invited to. I invited your best friend the companion cube. Of course, he couldn't come because you murdered him. More quickly than any test subject on record. It wasn't brave. It was murder. Now there will be no party associate to pick you up for your party. Not even if you assume the party escort submission position.

L00k at me still talking when there's science to do... goodbye.

A burning contrast

Using opposites for emphasis

It would be a disservice to Flash Art to describe their work as "firework displays" - they combine fire, lasers, water and music in world-class spectacles, like the closing display of the 2006 World Cup final. Here's a great tip from Flash Art pyrotechnics wizard Markus Katterle, interviewed in Focus.

"If I want the audience to experience the colour red in the sky especially intensely, I first need to colour the sky green for one minute."*

Those of you who played with a colour wheel at school will remember that red and green are traditionally considered complementary colours - perfect opposites. Mixed together, they give a dull sludge, but they can placed in opposition to dramatic effect.

Contrast is a vital tool in experience design, and Markus' quote can be applied to much more than just light. Any loud chord seems louder if it crashes out of silence, and we all enjoy that cup of piping hot cocoa most when we are truly frozen.

One of the best uses of contrast in experience design I ever encountered is in the German National Museum in Nuremberg. The lobby here is very light, warm and airy, with acres of glass and glaring white walls. At the back, you pull open a heavy door and step - Pow!- into a cold, dark medieval cloister. The contrast is quite simply startling, and the feeling of time travel inescapable. Great stuff.

Contrast need not always be extreme, and it need not always generate a feeling of surprise. Use it to draw attention to your experience's best aspects, and to provide variation in your customer's emotional curve.

Where could you use contrasting light in your customer experience? And what about sound? Texture? Temperature? Aromas? Activity? Price?

* Focus magazine, 31.12.07 pg 83. Translation by Adam.

Colour wheel from jasmic at flickr.
GNM pic from bsnu.

Artful Making

A Work•Play•Experience book review

I’ve been writing about parallels between theatre and business for a while now, and of course I am not alone. When “Artful Making” fell into my lap a few months ago, I was immediately curious. Aha, says I. A book by a Professor of Business and a Professor of Theatre, subtitled “What Managers Should Know About How Artists Work”. Right up my street.

It’s clear that the parallels between – for example – a software company working towards product release and a theatre company heading for opening night go deeper than the dangers of divas distaining decaff as the deadline draws nigh. Profs Austin & Devin emphasise several aspects of “artful” (it’s mostly theatre, as it happens) work processes that are of interest to managers – especially managers in the knowledge industry or where innovation is in the foreground.

In the Profs’ words: “Artful managers begin a project with some idea of the outcomes they desire, but without controlling preconceptions. They set up a low-cost, iterative process that facilitates exploratory production (aka rehearsal – Ed.) . They coach their performers on a journey that they themselves cannot take, using earned trust to influence the focus of the group. They believe that good ideas will emerge from an impeccable process, and they moderate a complex, multi-layered interaction in which many elements converge over time, though they never lock in on exact replication. Artful processes elicit innovation in every iteration, hence they are never perfectly consistent. They are, nevertheless, reliable and precise when it comes to the requirements that must be met.” (Artful making pg 161)

As you can see, Austin and Devin know that art-work is often seen by “real” business people as lax and freewheeling, are they are at pains to emphasise that this approach to work is actually disciplined, reliable, financially responsible and able to produce extremely precise results. They also press home that an artful making approach is not always appropriate, especially where production requires serious capital investment in advance.

Besides a bunch of enlightening parallels, perhaps the most useful contribution made by this book lies in offering a different wordset to talk about business process in the knowledge industry and elsewhere. The language used to describe many business processes is drawn from industry and the last century – and it often fits poorly. In Artful Making, Austin and Devin offer an alternative metaphor and model for conceiving business processes, and one that is more fitting to many service industries than the current vocabulary.

It’s a serious book – the final score is Graphs 4, Pictures 0 – but there are sufficient anecdotes and case studies to provide variety for luvvy-airheads like me, and the writing style is light and easy so the pages keep turning.

I recommend Artful Making highly to anyone working in, or interested in, new business fields, the knowledge industry or service design.

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Step 1. Steal Underpants

The Big 3 Strike Again!

It's a well known fact that there are three essential components to any hit. They are:

1. Sex
2. Humour
3. Death

The excellent KnickerPicker site combines the Big Three in a great online experience.

(The site may be NSFW if your work environment objects to underwear being sold in public. If it does, get a new job.)

At KnickerPicker, a trio of virtual ladies will model top brand underwear for you, helping you choose just the right set for your own self, or your better half. You can change the outfit, get the girl to turn round, even come closer. There is an online shop and delivery service, of course.

Go on, try it.

Here's why I like it:

1. Sex: the site uses sexy girls to sell sexy undies. Nothing new there, but it's nice that the girls come in three sizes from "ouch!" to "real woman". And the fact that you can influence the models' actions makes it a little sexier somehow. (Blush).

2. Humour: it's good clean (?) fun making the girls walk up and down and turn round, and their expressions seem beautifully ironic at times. The ladies find it fun too - Marie Claire made it their "favourite new website". Best of all, though, is the "Boy's Buying Guide" for men faced with the terrifying task of finding out her size...

3. Death: let your lady catch you spending too long with the wrong sized model, and you are in big trouble.

KnickerPicker: a great site, combining a fun experience with a genuinely useful service.

Vintage undies photo from antiques.about.com.
More about the importance of stealing underpants here.

Steve Martin on dead rooms

Huge, unfunny barns

An oversized room is a killer for every event, as I have written before.

In an excellent and fascinating article in February's Smithsonian Magazine, über-comic Steve Martin makes the same observation:

"I got a welcome job in 1971 with Ann-Margret, five weeks opening the show for her at the International Hilton in Vegas, a huge, unfunny barn with sculptured pink cherubs hanging from the corners of the proscenium.

Laughter in these poorly designed places rose a few feet into the air and dissipated like steam, always giving me the feeling I was bombing*."

Remember if you are planning an event - always choose your room one size too small...

Photo from stevemartin.com

*If you are unfamiliar with the term, "bombing" is comic-speke
for completely failing to amuse an audience. It's no fun.
And don't ask me about my last gig in Budapest...

Architecture as experience

"Architecture is great cinema!"

Quote of the week this - erm - month, is from Friend-of-Brad Thomas Willemeit of hip Berlin-LA-Beijing architects Graft.

“I have always enjoyed asking myself how we can describe a home not just as a organisational floor-plan, but by describing how we experience it. When I enter a dwelling, I have certain atmospheres one after the other - sequences of light and shade, of narrowness and space. There is a scenography, a dramatic structure for the space. Architecture is great cinema.

We design buildings like films, whose power lies in leading us through worlds and catching hold of our emotions.”

“We felt the poetic, narrative aspect of architecture. Where does the architecture trick us? Where does it lead us astray, like a stage set?”

(From an article in GQ Germany, February 2008).

Architects are among the most experience-aware designers, probably because you cannot take in their work all at once, and they are forced to consider the timing aspect. Remember, once design has a time component, it becomes experience...

More for architects here...

Translation by me, image from the GQ online article.

Here's one...

First entry in work-life-experience ...

Well, here we go...

Thanks for this go to Kat who - as well as being as smart as paint - is massively tech-savvy, knows a scary amount of kooky and non-kooky stuff, and has a sense of humour that can freeze-wither a sitcom writer in asbestos underwear at 500 yards.

Here's the video at YouTube.

Nice bit of Boom-wowowow-BOOM! in her work - and all kinds of hidden gags. If you were to see the original walk-through, you would see that the cardboard cut-out of me (wow!) has a white macBook like me (wow!) and on the screen of the laptop is ... this blog!

BOOM!

Kat wants to work in gaming, and if you guys don't snap her up in minutes you are quite possibly letting yourselves in for a due diligence suit.

You need to be joking

Clowns in big business

Medieval kings knew the value of a jester - someone who was allowed to say the truth, and was able to soften the blow by the skilled application of humour. They were a valuable pressure valve too - careful doses of humour can dissolve tension, and lead to honesty.

It turns out that comedians are fast-thinking types too, and can even have the occasional creative flash (at least, that's what folks tell me in the brainstorming sessions I do with executives).

Perhaps it's because we jokers are not afraid to think outside the box, because we have to be good at seeing others' points of view and are practiced at turning ideas over and over until we find an angle we can use.

Whatever the reason, the jokers in your midst can help keep everyone sane, as well as generate off-the-wall ideas. See jokester-meets-business-wiz Andy Nulman if you need any proof, or have a look at this Fast Company article on humour Professor John Morreal.

And ask yourself - who is the joker on your team?

Joker pic by kevin (iapetus) at flickr.

It's all in the drool

Anticipation again...

Like a million other Mac fans, SquireTV buddy Markus Hormess and myself were keenly following yesterday's MacWorld keynote by Steve Jobs.

My favorite bit of the hype was the "back soon" sign posted on the Apple Store website for the last few hours before the speech - you can see it in the picture above. Markus (who's much more tech-savvy than I) tells me there was no technical reason for this. The website could have kept running normally, switching in new content as appropriate.

Instead, the "back soon" sign gave a feeling of the (mac-)world holding it's breath, waiting for the latest thing in gorgeous little white boxes.

I've written before that anticipation is hugely important - at a very deep neurological level. This little gimmick milked that fact nicely.

PS More on Steve Jobs' presentation style here.

Pack 'em in tight

Room size and successful events

Apart from speeches (you know I hate speeches) and bright white light, there is one thing that really kills any event. It is:

a room that is too damn big.

I learned this lesson from bike industry guru Silvio Manicardi back in my distant youth. We were organising the publicity auction of the first road-legal NR750 ultrabike. The bash was due to take place in Milan, and I was told to book a function room.

"How many people are we expecting?" asked the boss.

"About a hundred, maybe a hundred and forty," I replied.

"So book a room big enough for seventy."

The effect was spectacular - people were struggling to get in, and standing on tables to see. Photographers were - literally - fighting to get a shot. The atmosphere was electric, and our little event felt like the hottest spot in town. The NR sold for a monster sum - securing a pile of money for Unicef and our bike's place in the Guinness Book of Records.

You can see the reverse of this effect at any half-full soccer game, or half-empty nightclub. It's an easy equation: under-filled venue equals zero atmosphere.

When you are planning an event, product launch or party and want people to have a good time, it's crucial to avoid a feeling of empty space. (This is the reason why are never going to have a hit event on your trade-fair stand, so don't even try.)

Choose a room that is slightly too small, and go for a low ceiling if you can. Warm acoustics are important - nobody wants to laugh or applaud into cold silence. Even a door onto an echoing foyer can kill the atmosphere if it is left open. Don't listen to the venue if they suggest putting in free-standing partitions to make a large room smaller. This will not take away the echoing space above, and will only make the event feel more like a flop.

And don't under-heat the space. You want people to be taking off jackets, loosening collars, and letting their hair down. It's easier to open a window than to turn up the heating...

In the worst case - and if the event is suitable - you might need to consider "papering the house", as they say in showbiz. This involves inviting free (or even paid) guests to make up the numbers. Even the Oscar-organisers have a regiment of students in tuxedos primed to fill up the seats during the boring technical awards, when half of Hollywood heads for the bar and the bathroom*.

So pack 'em in. And remember - no crush, no rush.

* Of course, not every event is as inviting as the Academy Awards, so it's hard to be sure your "wallpaper" will come. Broadway tradition says the best place to give away free tickets is at the dorms where nurses live. Students will accept your free ticket, then forget to show up. Nurses are more reliable - thank goodness.

Sardine pic by Saffanna at flickr.
Stadium shot by Amin Tabrizi at flickr.

Back to business...

Papa's got a brand new book

The good news: I finally managed to get my sticky mitts on my new MacBook. Yippee!

The bad news: So, I'll be posting regularly again from now on.

Massive kudos points to EnterVisions for their excellent personal service. A teeny-weeny firm located in a local village, they were able to get me the machine within two days (the Big Boys would have needed two weeks). Then they called me to conform that my baby had arrived, and stayed open late so I could come by to pick it up after hours.

And when the cashpoint only gave me three-quarters of the money I needed, they said "No problem, just give us what money you have and send us the rest next week."

Wow! Guess where I'll be macShopping in future?

HappyMac photo by Patrick Haney at flickr.

Empty, so empty...

Blogger blagged

Well, you've not heard from me for a while. The reason is not lack of ideas, or even time, but the fact that some atter snivvering bampot stole my beloved i-book from the dressing room at my last stand-up gig.

This means that instead of using my travelling time for writing wisdom, I am forced to look out of the window and count cows.

1,229 so far. I like the brown ones best.

bull pic by baroness_nordmark at flickr

Once more with emotion, darling!

What managers can learn from directors

Directors, like managers, come in different shapes, sizes and smells, and their styles are equally varied.

One type of director will microdirect you - to the point of telling you how to say your lines (or even saying them out loud for you to copy), telling you precisely when to stand and to sit, and even when to glance where. This approach is not popular with actors and has lead to the defenestration of several promising directorial talents (usually accompanied by cries of "don't tell me how to act!" and much piqued twitching of neckscarves). On the other hand it can lead to some very precise work and is certainly necessary when directing more physical sequences or stage "business".

Another type of director will only talk to you about your character's motivations, background and feelings, emphasising different aspects thereof until you both come naturally to the effect the director is looking for. They will rarely tell you what to do at all, but will try to make you develop actions from within. This can be a slow process (and it feels a lot like that therapy session you never told anyone about) but the results are convincing.

Last year I worked with a director of the first "micromanaging" type. He was a great guy with many great ideas and the show worked out well - but several actors felt we were basically playing the director, rather than playing our part. We had particular problems when the show required us to react spontaneously in character - because we didn't really have a character, just a sequence of moves and vocal intonations.

If you are managing people who work with customers, are you micro-directing? Are your people trying to "be" you, to do things as you would do them (or worse still, by the book)? Or do they understand the motivations behind their actions?

To avoid micromanagement, copy the motivation-based director. Never tell your people how to do anything, or even what to do, but talk about goals and meanings with them, inviting them to suggest their own strategies. Not only will your staff be far more motivated and really believe in what they are doing, they will be better placed to deal with new problems.

And I guarantee you, some of their ideas will be better than yours....

pic of groundbreaking director Dorothy Arzner from moah.org
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Virgin gets it

And finally!

I've ranted before about how dreadfully interchangeable and commoditised many airlines are, so Karl Long's Experience Curve post about Virgin America was a breath of fresh air - as well as a pleasing vindication of my own prejudices.

Virgin have invested heavily in customer-oriented technology (power sockets everywhere, seat-to-seat chat functions, computerised drink ordering, computers for everyone and lighting that's groovier than an 110-year-old engraver with a jazz collection and a frown). All very cool indeed.

But even cooler are the things they have done that cost nothing (or at least cost no more than the boring option). My two personal highlights in Karl's report were the staff who are empowered to do their own playful thing (see this article for more on such talent) and - wonder of wonders - a safety video that genuinely makes people laugh!

Extra cost - zilch. Extra effect - priceless! I'll be flying Virgin America as soon as I can.

Virgin interior lighting shot by magitisa at flickr.
Groovy! Have these guys been reading my e-book?

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Unexpected... and thus authentic

Avoiding the cliché

I was flicking through my review copy (thanks Joe! - I'll review as soon as I possibly can) of Pine & Gilmore's "Authenticity", and I got to thinking about authentic places.

I've written now and again about why I prefer Dominica to other Caribbean islands I have visited - Antigua and Martinique, for example. A lot of my love for the place comes from its unspoiled character, from the pioneering feeling you get from being one of very few tourists, and from it's non-sanitised atmosphere. (Yes, it can pong a bit.)

Another reason that strikes me is that Dominica is not like you expect. We all have a vision of "Caribbean" in our heads, comprised in varying measures of beaches, cricket, rum, Bob Marley and Jack Sparrow. When you arrive there for the first time, you find Dominica looks very little like that. "Hey," you think, "this isn't like the catalogues - it must be the real thing!"

This Heineken ad (a very popular beer in Dominica, though I prefer the local Kubuli) hits the nail on the head.

Avoid the cliché, if you want to be authentic.

Fishermen picture by the author. Ooo!

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You're only supposed to blow the bl**dy doors off!

Sir Michael Caine on experience design

I'm reading the autobiography of one of my favourite actors, and it turns out he is also a restaurant owner with some snappy ideas on experience design. From the conceptual:

"A restaurant should be like a show where you are the star when you come in, and the audience when you sit down."

To the practical:

"You should never be able to see a lightbulb."

You get your money's worth with Sir Michael.

PS There's a prize for the first reader to recognise the quote that titles this post. My money is on Andy Nulman. At the very least, he should like the picture. ;)

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Thanks for the flowers

List of Truly Useful Things

Jessica Hupp at VirtualHosting has put together a a list of links to the Top 100 User-Centered Blogs. It's a useful list, and it's great to see Work•Play•Experience in there alongside big hitters like Adaptive Path or chart-topper Signal vs. Noise.

Thanks Jessica!

Flower pic by BaronessNordmark at flickr