Don’t Join the Dark Side
People check their smartphones a lot. One reason for this is that, in some way, it’s a gamble. You check your phone, and maybe there are no notifications—or maybe there’s a red blob over your favorite social media app. Maybe someone’s retweeted your latest witty tweet or saved your Instagram picture of your brunch or your pet.
Each time you get a notification, you feel happy—your brain releases a little bit of dopamine. So, you wait a little while and you check your phone again, hoping for the same result and reinforcing the addictive behavior loop.
This isn’t an accident. Many modern products, especially social media, are designed to be addictive. In Hooked: A Guide to Building Habit-Forming Products, psychologist Nir Eyal proposes the Hook Model:
A four-step process that, when embedded into products, subtly encourages customer behavior.
Strive for Simplicity
A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
– Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Strive for simplicity and clarity in every aspect of your work. Not just in the interfaces, copy, and experiences you design, but in the words you say in meetings and in the emails and chat messages you write. Avoid jargon, put people at ease, and try to improve the UX of everyone you interact with—users and colleagues.
Your mock-ups and designs should be clear and usable, but so should all other aspects of “you, the product”. Make yourself a delight for others to interact with, and be kind—the reward for this is a successful career in UX!
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