{"id":17054,"date":"2022-11-30T14:37:17","date_gmt":"2022-11-30T14:37:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uxmag.com\/?p=17054"},"modified":"2022-11-30T14:37:20","modified_gmt":"2022-11-30T14:37:20","slug":"building-delight-in-your-design-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uxmag.com\/articles\/building-delight-in-your-design-system","title":{"rendered":"Building Delight in Your Design System"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is an edited version of the talk that I delivered to\u00a0Design Matters<\/a>\u00a0in Copenhagen in September, 2022.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Delight is a word that is thrown around by designers a lot, usually when they want to complain about the work they\u2019re not being allowed to do, or, like me, when they\u2019re on a soapbox, trying to tell other designers how to do their jobs. So, why is delight important, and what should we be talking about when we use the word \u2018delight<\/em>\u2019?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the internet of dictionaries, to \u2018delight\u2019 someone is to give great joy or satisfaction. There are two parts to that: Joy and satisfaction. Personally, I think a lot of focus when we talk about delight tends to focus on the joy part primarily, and not as much on the satisfaction. We aim for delight on a surface level, and not at a deeper level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deep Delight vs Surface Delight<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This isn’t a new thought. In fact, it’s been mainly stolen from\u00a0Aaron Walter<\/a>\u00a0in his\u00a0NNGroup article<\/a>, and in his (fantastic) book\u00a0Designing for Emotion<\/a>. Aaron redrew Maslow\u2019s heirarchy of needs into his heirarchy of user needs. As you can see above, he suggests that without functionality, reliability and usability (in that order), we can\u2019t achieve achieve pleasurable experiences, no matter how hard the design tries. As part of that, he identifies that these first three (functional, reliable, usable) are responsible for deep delight, whereas the pleasure is only surface delight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Aaron
Aaron Walter’s heirarchy of user needs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ll only be able to effectively satisfy someone if your product delivers on the deep delight: if your product works as it\u2019s expected to, or surprises the user by working better than it\u2019s expected to; if it deliver the information that is required, when it\u2019s required; If it anticipates the user\u2019s needs and gets it right; If it learns from the user and adapts, either through fancy AI or just through the product team actually listening and making product changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Basically, creating an exceptional user experience is a precondition for deep delight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it’s important \u2014 Deep delight is how you create lifetime customer value. Deep delight is how you have your product be embedded in a user\u2019s day to day life. Deep delight is how you create psychological safety with your customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, deep delight being important doesn’t erase the importance surface delight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using MaccyDs to stretch the analogy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Surface delight is the difference between McDonalds and a fancy restaurant. Bear with me… When you break it down, McDonald\u2019s is an incredibly efficient machine that prioritises consistency, quality and usability. They satisfy the basic needs pretty darn well, from the ordering process, to the speed of production, to the fact that a Big Mac tastes pretty much the same no matter where you go. But it\u2019s the focus on pleasure via ingredients, techniques and atmosphere among other things that elevates a Nobu or a Fat Duck. Both a fancy restaurant and McDonald’s satisfy the basic needs, but the focus on creating an elevated, pleasurable experience is what gets people talking. It\u2019s what gives people FOMO. It\u2019s what makes people excited to tell their friends about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Especially in the saturated market we live in today, where it\u2019s rare to have an app or website that truly differentiates on core experience, or heck, even layout, the surface delight is often the area to most easily differentiate. Creating happiness, joy or any other positive emotional reactions can mean you stand out and excel. Basically, surface delight is an amplifier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Noriaki<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Enter the Kano<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If you want some more science around this, Noriaki Kano developed\u00a0the Kano model<\/a>\u00a0back in the 80s that shows that customer loyalty is connected to our emotional responses to product features. He did a similar thing, in that he split up these features into a hierarchy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n