Situational OpportunityUsing Human Behavior To Influence The Design & Features Of Mobile Apps

Andrew Heaton

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Hi, I’m AndrewI’m a Designer

Big Design, Small Screen

Conceptual Design for Mobile Devices

Andrew Heaton

Purposely Irregular

Zen, Punk Rock and Ruthlessness in Experience Design

Andrew Heaton

(and a writer).

I hope you tweet and take photos.@tigerstripe | #M3Conf

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Some Quick Rules about UX

Rule Number One: There's no fucking rules, dude.

Photo by unknown, but it’s not by me.

Rule Number Two:  Draw everything 3 times before you go near a computer.  Describe it out loud at least twice.

Photo by Glen E. Friedman

What is Situational Opportunity?

Who was that guy in that movie with the dog?

Did you see that cat who herds goats?

Who sings this?

I’m at Best Buy, should I buy this TV?

I’ll send you that file now.

My food looks awesome.

My kid is driving me crazy.

This person wants to buy my book but only has a credit card.

We already have apps that fulfill certain needs, these apps fit our mental models

for success on a mobile device

Situational Opportunity is the act of finding the moment in time when a user will reach for a

mobile device as the answer to a need.

It should become part of your app design.

Nonsense!My app will be awesome... people are going to love it.

Customer Development is not what we are here to talk about, but it’s a huge part of the

need for Situational Opportunity.

When we think of Customer Development we tend to turn to demographics, statistics and delusion.

Situational Opportunity allows for the understanding of a user through use of the app.

It's a fabulous type of persona development, rather than understanding the user, you understand the

entire situation in which use occurs.

It’s the moment the users reach for their pocket.

If I understand that moment, my app will be better.

How to define a moment?

Sketching out an app is the storyboard of the movie you're about to make.  

It's a nice little movie, there's really only 2 characters in it, your app and the person using it. 

So set your scene, understand the backstory that has to occur to get someone to act.

Scenario Building:It’s not the who, it’s the when and the why.

Identify a moment in timeCraft a story based on need

Refine the need by ignoring the device

Ignore the device?

WTF?

If the need doesn’t exist without the device, it probably doesn’t exist with the device.

The best app idea adapts to cultural change, not advances in technology.

So what’s happening right now?Let’s consider three variables:

ActorLocation

Scene

ActorWhat is this person

doing.

LocationState where the user is.

They are mobile.

ActorWhat is this person

doing.

LocationState where the user is.

They are mobile.

ActorWhat is this person

doing.

SceneWhat is happening?

Where’sThe Bus

To understand human behavior,research must be done.

Cage Match: Data vs. Need

Data is much easier to conceive on bigger, meatier things. If we think about Transit Maps, we look at data and will

tend to show all transit data for the entire city.

It’s easier, because there’s only one use.It may not be a useful one.

Data tells us:What’s supposed to happen,

not what’s happening right now.

It’s much harder to create a simple situation: User wonders where the bus is, bus is a orange dot that

shows on map with estimated time to arrive. 

Can Situational Opportunity drive features?

What stop am I at?What’s the next stop?

How much does it cost?How do I pay?

Is there a bike rack on this bus?

All opportunities related to situation.

Why is a transit map important?

We are taking outside variables and adding them to a known situation.

Ignore the device.

What would you add to a paper map to make it more useful?  

Certainly not advertising.

Hand-drawn stars or indicators of what’s important to you.

Social Maps? Notes? History of Use?

I spent the last few days in San Francisco.

A city with a wealth of data and content that should be readily available. 

I heard the

“You were using the wrong app”

argument already.

Here's the gist, the city itself was not producing real time data for me.

The bus was not showing me mapping information.

I saw no rating that said my hipster hotel was really in an early gentrified neighborhood.

These are all opportunities yet to be found

Before you design, set a scenario and make your initial concept stronger.

Build an app that fits into someone’s life.Find a mental process and wiggle your ass right in there.

Pick it up at the exact point of doubt or wonder.

Thanks.

Be Good.

@tigerstripe