My five principles for creating great product experiences

I've changed the way I approach designing experiences to consider the bigger picture. Here's how...

Since joining InVision two years ago, I've had the immense privilege of working with many talented product designers, owners. Together, we've built an incredible team collaboration platform called Freehand.

There's always so much to consider when you're designing a new product. It can be quite overwhelming.

Just me? 😅

To simplify things a little, I've changed the way I approach designing experiences to consider the bigger picture.

Now, I think in terms of these five guiding principles...

Cohesive

Take a step back and consider the end-to-end journey
It doesn't matter whether you're running a growth experiment or launching a new feature or capability; every change you make either adds to or detracts from the coherence of the overall experience.

Inclusive

How are we setting our users up for success?
To connect with our users at the individual level, we must go beyond solving for their goals and understand the humans behind the actions. That means considering their unique environment, context, and abilities as well.

Familiar

Designing for intuition is a pattern-matching game
An intuitive experience is a predictable one that builds on known patterns. Familiarity inspires confidence, which in turn unlocks curiosity. So, let's optimize for familiarity and provide users with a shortcut to value.

Progressive

It’s all too easy to overwhelm users with choice
Information architecture (IA) and discoverability are independent considerations. Keep your IA simple and teach users how to fish when they need to find something specific. Obsess over opportunities to progressively disclose options and proactively suggest next actions that inspire discovery.

Self-Aware

Augment sensory characteristics of the experience depending on the context
The visual and tactile elements of an experience need to align with your goals. If the purpose of the experience is to inspire, it should evoke a different feeling than if the goal were to simplify the perceived complexity of a process.