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The holidays are over and if we were nice, and not naughty, many of us have a new raft of tech devices in hand, from new smartphones to the latest voice-enabled systems to VR headsets. CES is also behind us, and new technology devices and distractions are soon to ship in the coming weeks and months. Thanks to an emotionally-charged and divisive presidential election, 2016 drew us further into social media and online news. Is it possible to be more absorbed with our technology devices?
Indeed, we live in a "heads down" world, where spending time with screens — phones, computers, tablets, TVs — has become second nature. Is that such a bad thing? Only if we allow ourselves to get out of balance between the physical and digital worlds. When that happens, do we blame the technology itself or the design of user experience around the technology? Lastly, is it possible to shift this technology focus into more "heads up", socially-vibrant experiences?
It is possible, and recent insights from consumers and industry experts tell us that people want more social balance between our screens and our friends and family. A recent survey of consumers explored the potential for integrating in-person social experiences with technology to nurture that fundamental human craving for togetherness. And by togetherness, we mean being physically in the same room, looking at and interacting with each other. You know, the "old-school" way of socializing.
The survey explored digital game usage and design as a proxy for this type of consumer experience. The data showed that a majority of consumers appreciate and seek out games that connect them to others in a meaningful way: 66 percent wish that more digital games were designed to bring friends and family together. It might surprise you to know that millennials are even more inclined, with 88 percent wanting games designed to activate socializing. Additionally, Entertainment Software Association's 2016 survey found that 42 percent of gamers feel that games help them spend time with friends and family.
Gaming and social media have drawn more social interactions online, so as the pendulum swings towards more in-person social experiences, now is the time for designers, brand marketers and technologists to rethink the user experience and respond to this shift.
To explore this shift, we gathered a panel of design and technology experts from Silicon Valley and beyond to discuss insights, observations and a new design manifesto for heads-up digital experiences. The panel included Brent Bushnell, CEO of Two Bit Circus; Tara Franz, UX Researcher at Facebook; Dr. Renee Dua, Founder and Chief Medical Officer at Heal; Brett Lovelady, CEO of Astro and our own Espen Tuft, VP of Digital Products at Sequence.
Riffing on the data from the digital game survey, the panel talked about opportunities in games, but also explored other use cases.
Bushnell, who creates experiential entertainment and group games to bring people together in fun and meaningful ways, posits that we're naturally social animals and we are always seeking new, novel experiences. In the game industry, this means designing new and different experiences - which could include the social aspect. "Think about it - the highest resolution way to engage is in person."
Voice-enabled systems like Amazon's Echo also integrate technology and in-person interaction and provide an opportunity for a social-oriented user experience. "Voice-enabled interfaces have a shared public access - they don't exclude me from interacting with other people since I'm not reliant on a screen or keyboard," said Tuft.
"I'm really excited about this space. It enables interaction with tangible goods. It frees up your hands. You want to have experiences that are more heads up? Get the phone out of my hands and that changes the interaction," added Lovelady.
A real-world application of technology and in-person experiences that can have a profound impact is health care. Heal is a mobile app that uses technology to bring back old-school techniques in health care: the on-demand service enables patients to schedule house calls from qualified physicians. "Heal is there to solidify the relationship between doctor and patient by making eye contact. Talk about changing the dynamic. When we study our own outcomes, it's clear that a heads up approach to a user experience is good medicine," said Dr. Dua of Heal.
The applications for more "digital togetherness" and positive social experiences extend to entertainment, education and frankly any experience that calls for more social balance. To realize this potential, there are key, simple design tenets that form a manifesto.
The panel of experts agreed that observation and a strong understanding of your intended audience is a critical starting point. Then approach your design with a "human-first" way of thinking." The best thing that we can do is build a version and then get it in front of people," comments Bushnell, "And then continue that observation to see how people interact using the technology."
Each of the experts weighed in with their brief, yet critical guiding principles to design digital experiences to promote togetherness:
Bushnell: "Make it way simpler than you think. People don't want instructions. Simple. Social. Impenetrable."
Franza: "Make it social, make it magical - we're all wizards."
Lovelady: "Protect and enable curiosity."
Tuft: "Design for human moments in our businesses. Turn the KPI into a human moment."
Dr. Dua: "Solve a problem."
It's a new year and a new world of possibilities. Embracing this manifesto to strike balance between technology and social experiences will facilitate important "heads up" human connections in many aspects of our lives. This in turn gives brands of all shapes an opportunity to deliver a new type of customer experience.