Creating Passionate Users The hi-res user experience
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Saved by 4 people (-2 private), first by anonymouse user on 2006-08-04
- Vkidd32 on 2009-04-12 - Tags no_tag
- Mrichme on 2008-03-25 - Tags business , design , education , leadership , learning , management , marketing , technology
- Magiles on 2006-11-30 - Tags no_tag
- Mvance on 2006-07-24 - Tags no_tag
Public Sticky notes
If we want passionate users, we might not have to change our products--we have to change how our users experience them. And that change does not necessarily come from product design, development, and especially marketing. It comes from helping users learn.
Highlighted by vkidd32
And the change happens not within the product, but between the user's ears. The more you help your users learn and improve, the greater the chance that they'll become passionate.
Highlighted by vkidd32
They knew enough to appreciate and enjoy subtleties that are virtually inaccessible to everyone else.
Highlighted by vkidd32
Of course I don't mean the music technically changes, but if the way we experience it shifts, it is AS IF the music itself shifts.
Highlighted by vkidd32
But imagine Joe were to learn the deeper power and subtleties of not just the app itself, but the way in which the app could be used as, say, a modeling and simulation tool. For Joe, now, the software itself has transformed from a spreadsheet tool to a modeling and simulation tool. More importantly, the way Joe thinks as he uses the software also changes.
Highlighted by vkidd32
People are not passionate about things they know nothing about. They may be interested. They may spend money. But without the enhanced skill and knowledge that adds resolution, there is no real passion.
Highlighted by vkidd32
a passion for one thing can spill over into a passion for life itself. And for many people, the loss of passion/desire for once-loved things is a clear symptom of clinical depression
Highlighted by vkidd32
what can you change for people? Or rather, what can you help others change for themselves? How can you increase the resolution of the products and services you offer--without touching the products? That doesn't mean you can take any old piece of crap and by teaching people to become expert, magically transform it into a work of art. But if there's potential for a richer experience--an experience the non-passionate don't see, taste, hear, feel, smell, touch, or ever recognize...why not see if there's a way to help more people experience that?
Highlighted by vkidd32
I believe that passion requires learning, and that means we all have to become better "learning experience designers", I'm working on a big "crash course in the latest learning theory" post that summarizes most of the key principles, in one place (with pictures : )
Highlighted by vkidd32
But you raise the key points -- for a lot of us, our products aren't the ultimate *destination*, but a means to doing something else that we ARE (or can be) passionate about. 37signals creates products that let users spend more time in flow -- using 37signals software to do something ELSE, which could be the thing they ARE passionate about.
Highlighted by vkidd32
some of that passion spills onto the product/tool that allowed you to experience that optimal experience or "flow state".
Highlighted by vkidd32
Nikon has an outstanding online photography course (free) to help me kick ass with my new Nikon, but that course teaches me how to be a photography expert, not a *camera* expert. When people are passionate about tools (like cameras, skis, software, learning books), it's because those tools have allowed them to learn/grow/kick-ass doing the REAL thing they're passionate about.
Highlighted by vkidd32
That's what's so cool about 37signals stuff--it steps back and lets you do what you're REALLY passionate about. With your example of the resolution list, you're right that in the example you gave it's more about discovery, but discovery is itself a form of learning--in the end, you have more knowledge and/or skills around, say, hacking your life : )
Highlighted by vkidd32
if I say that 37signals (or even Nikon) has "passionate users", it's because people are passionate about what they're able to do with the tools 37signals and Nikon provide, rather than passion that's explicity FOR the products themselves. In reality, we don't have to make much of a distinction, though.
Highlighted by vkidd32
whatever tool or company helps me do what I REALLY am passionate about, is potentially the object of some of my passion.
Highlighted by vkidd32
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