Using the example of creating an online store, we learn what is businessability
About user-centered design, or the process of designing information systems focused on the needs of the end user, has already been said so much that it seems as though nothing can be added (and it is not necessary). At every conference, symposium, rally, professional get-together, 99% of all words that are said will somehow affect the importance of the user's inner world, their desires, needs, expectations, habits, etc.
To me, this approach seems too superficial, so “for beginners,” for two reasons:
1. The owner of the business makes an order for design and design, which means that he, and not the end user, will evaluate the results of labor and pay for the work. In other words, if the designer does not receive a% from each perfect order from an online store, then the meaningfulness of orientation towards the end user drastically disappears. After all, if the same navigation does not please a particular boss, then the end customer may never see it, no matter how he dreamed of just this way of navigating through the pages.
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2. Any (absolutely any? Yes) person is extremely inspired, manageable and amenable to the simplest manipulations. It is possible to embed any idea into his consciousness today with such ridiculous simplicity that it is even somehow absurd to turn around to search and reveal his natural desires. Today, it is not at all necessary to immerse a potential buyer into a third level of sleep in order to explain and articulate clearly - what he really wants, he simply does not even suspect about it. Proof:
In my opinion, the principle “The less we love a woman - the more we like her” - we apply it absolutely everywhere. Most people will be sincerely grateful to you if you save them from the agony of choice, self-digging and attempts to understand their own tastes and values. It is necessary to tell them directly that it will be just cool this way and that, and every person will be grateful to you for saving his time and mental strength to find his own point of view. Therefore, I do not see the point of declaring the user-oriented approach fundamental for information systems of the 21st century.
So, at the same time, while many of you delve into the darkness of the souls of ordinary people, there is a more professional approach to the design and development of information systems, which immediately, without embellishment and unnecessary equivalences, declares a total focus on the interests and possibilities of business, that is the selling and not the buying side, which can be called as businessability. And now, using the example of one completely real case, we will look at how it looks in practice.
Brief
The primary brief or development task is also present in this approach, but it contains completely different points and concepts than the usual brief with its hysterical laughable points: “sites that you like”, “which sections should be on the site in your opinion”, "Your favorite header size" and other extremely unprofessional passages.
When adult uncles decide to use the business-business approach, the existing and approved general business plan of the company, or a strategy document for the next 5 years, or even examination in the form of a study of existing processes in the company (or not charts) becomes an ideal brief for development. with the percentage of users of social networks among schoolchildren, and a clear description of how it all works for the customer in fact) of at least 50 pages. In the end, a professional brief may even look like this:
What is the difference - you ask, because here and there the description of customers takes most of the time? The difference in courage in connection with the existing technical and business constraints to be able to create their own rules and impose their will on the client, contrary to established rules and patterns. That is, if you cannot deliver goods to a neighboring city at an adequate price, you need to be able to remove the “Delivery” section from your sample design layout with an unwavering hand, and not leave it empty “for later”, as is done today in most cases.
Or, let's move on to the current case of an elite online alcohol store. His main idea when selling an exclusive drink was that no one could buy it himself, I mean, you can only receive it as a gift (by sending a corresponding request to a friend through a social network) or first buy a gift for a friend, and only then get from him the opposite gesture of politeness is for himself. So the expert was originally decided by the customer on the basis of the careful work done by him, and no matter how it is from the point of view of ordinary UX, it does not create additional restrictions and barriers - but I had to work precisely with such input data. That is, I once again draw your attention - the interests and needs of the typical buyer “to buy everything quickly and cheaply” were thrown into the basket in order to give the product a special status, create a halo of inaccessibility and over-anger. The business strategy in this approach was initially more important than simplicity and convenience, since this is how the excitement of the hunter for the most unattainable prey was awakened in a man.
The next important thesis that needed to be worked with was that the customer’s company paid great attention to the delivery of the product itself — excellent packaging, an enclosed printed booklet, a character figurine (more on this below), jade to cool an elite drink (since ordinary ice melts exclusive goods during melting) and even the possibility of helicopter delivery within a few hours. There was a certificate in the box notifying that this person received a unique drink as a gift from such a wonderful friend and business partner. And this is all that had to be shown as clearly as possible, which is why the customer has already shot several dozen video packaging of each drink, in order to create the impression of manual order picking online.
Video in the basket - at which usability conference you will hear such as an example of the top of convenience and unsurpassed design thinking? But we had the courage to act contrary to all the established rules.
In total, we had 4 varieties of the drink, 4 exposure options each, 4 options for the capacity of the bottle - a total of 64 options. How many design rules needed to place product items on the product catalog page in rows and columns? Immediately make a reservation that for the answer: “Probably only 16 on the screen, with filters by volume or by age?” - the previous designer was driven out by the customer in disgrace. A unique product can not stand on the 16 pieces on the shelves, but only discounted consumer goods. Thus, it was decided that on the landing page the show will start with the demonstration of four different recipes that set the style and image of the future order. For a more obvious association, each unique drink was invented for each drink recipe, a figurine of which was attached to each order for free.
Prototypes
The main task of the designer: how to portray the domestic elite alcoholic beverage on the screen, which is carefully branded, is positioned for import? The scenario is already clear: 4 types of drink are presented, on the presented prototype, the buyer first chooses one of the four varieties of the elite drink, clicking on the character, who is the embodiment and the protagonist of the taste qualities of this variety. By the way, for the article on Megamind, the concept of selected characters was slightly changed, since here it is more important to show the thinking process, and not to advertise the product itself:
Then, moving on to the next page, the buyer selects the shutter speed and the last third step is determined with the container (volume) of the drink.
Thus, there is no sample basket on the site (an online store without a basket? Horror-horror), but there is a well-tuned order wizard, which purposefully guides the user’s rather vague needs for an unusual unique gift - into real life.
Gift decoration
Simplicity, speed and convenience in the design of piece goods - the key to success? Utter nonsense, so decided by market experts on the part of the customer. Their argument looks iron: in order to buy a car, people are willing to spend a few days on all the paperwork; and the desired child is waiting for 9 months; the same unique thing as a passport - generally make out for years. What does this mean in practice?
People can wait. People are ready to fill out 150 forms and questionnaires. People even like a little misery, which they poetically call anticipation. And based on all these customer concepts, the gift design form was not made too simple, because for the sake of a good product you can spend the extra 10-15 minutes, taking them away from your beloved VKontakte.
Where, at what time, the type of box, what the courier should look like, what to say in words, from whom, why, why, whether I want a similar present as a confirmation of many years of cooperation - the output was a complicated anti-wearable form, also deliberately playing out of reach. For relief and help - only a phone number and a lively girl operator with a pencil at the ready, a kind of voice interface.
Probably, such a work process will seem extremely boring to many. I know several designers who adore in the process of moving the gray squares on the screen to independently determine the marketing concept, single-handedly plan the tactics of defeating all competitors and the general concept of sales. So specialists are very closely in the narrow framework of the already developed concept, they want more creativity, art-directorship, a flight of fancy. Well, when for such a prototype there is a payment at the rate of the level of commercial director or deputy director for marketing this company - this is excellent, and indeed very exciting - to become really everything for the customer at once, and as a brave captain - to save the entire team during a storm, confident hand guiding the site to the new uncharted shores.
But, in my opinion, it’s still better to have all concepts and business strategies in command who have worked in the field of study for at least 10-15 years and know such subtleties and details of the market niche that cannot be comprehended in a few weeks / months of participation in project, poking into the graphics editor.
More briefly this thought was formulated by the customer himself: “If you know the market better than me, why have you not done your online store yet and have not earned millions on it? I would leave usability, hire me as a supplier, and for a couple of years I would live in London with such a girl. Do you plan to draw pictures for others until the age of 50? ” It is this common sense that causes respect for working people and business people.
Answers to questions skeptics
1) “But how will this work in practice and will it not be necessary to change everything within six months after launch?” - Pavel Globa will give you the most accurate answer, successfully predicting oil price fluctuations and a per-minute weather forecast for the Murom region.
2) “Or maybe you're lying, and you will all die tomorrow and never follow the pathetic super-megaplan for the next five years you have delivered?” - maybe, maybe we are all dead for a long time and this is our universal hell.
In my opinion, the main thing for today in the dammo project has been achieved: the current task set by the customer is brilliant (in his own words), a perfect mutual understanding and desire to work together further is developed, making current adjustments to the sales strategy and structure of the site online, giving the project is flexible to adapt to new sanctions, current demand, seasonality and the Dow Jones index. An excellent relationship between living people in a team is a thousand times more important and a million times more difficult to achieve than replacing the color of the button, correcting the fonts or adding a couple of new functions on the current site.
To me, this approach seems too superficial, so “for beginners,” for two reasons:
1. The owner of the business makes an order for design and design, which means that he, and not the end user, will evaluate the results of labor and pay for the work. In other words, if the designer does not receive a% from each perfect order from an online store, then the meaningfulness of orientation towards the end user drastically disappears. After all, if the same navigation does not please a particular boss, then the end customer may never see it, no matter how he dreamed of just this way of navigating through the pages.
')
2. Any (absolutely any? Yes) person is extremely inspired, manageable and amenable to the simplest manipulations. It is possible to embed any idea into his consciousness today with such ridiculous simplicity that it is even somehow absurd to turn around to search and reveal his natural desires. Today, it is not at all necessary to immerse a potential buyer into a third level of sleep in order to explain and articulate clearly - what he really wants, he simply does not even suspect about it. Proof:
In my opinion, the principle “The less we love a woman - the more we like her” - we apply it absolutely everywhere. Most people will be sincerely grateful to you if you save them from the agony of choice, self-digging and attempts to understand their own tastes and values. It is necessary to tell them directly that it will be just cool this way and that, and every person will be grateful to you for saving his time and mental strength to find his own point of view. Therefore, I do not see the point of declaring the user-oriented approach fundamental for information systems of the 21st century.
So, at the same time, while many of you delve into the darkness of the souls of ordinary people, there is a more professional approach to the design and development of information systems, which immediately, without embellishment and unnecessary equivalences, declares a total focus on the interests and possibilities of business, that is the selling and not the buying side, which can be called as businessability. And now, using the example of one completely real case, we will look at how it looks in practice.
Brief
The primary brief or development task is also present in this approach, but it contains completely different points and concepts than the usual brief with its hysterical laughable points: “sites that you like”, “which sections should be on the site in your opinion”, "Your favorite header size" and other extremely unprofessional passages.
When adult uncles decide to use the business-business approach, the existing and approved general business plan of the company, or a strategy document for the next 5 years, or even examination in the form of a study of existing processes in the company (or not charts) becomes an ideal brief for development. with the percentage of users of social networks among schoolchildren, and a clear description of how it all works for the customer in fact) of at least 50 pages. In the end, a professional brief may even look like this:
What is the difference - you ask, because here and there the description of customers takes most of the time? The difference in courage in connection with the existing technical and business constraints to be able to create their own rules and impose their will on the client, contrary to established rules and patterns. That is, if you cannot deliver goods to a neighboring city at an adequate price, you need to be able to remove the “Delivery” section from your sample design layout with an unwavering hand, and not leave it empty “for later”, as is done today in most cases.
Or, let's move on to the current case of an elite online alcohol store. His main idea when selling an exclusive drink was that no one could buy it himself, I mean, you can only receive it as a gift (by sending a corresponding request to a friend through a social network) or first buy a gift for a friend, and only then get from him the opposite gesture of politeness is for himself. So the expert was originally decided by the customer on the basis of the careful work done by him, and no matter how it is from the point of view of ordinary UX, it does not create additional restrictions and barriers - but I had to work precisely with such input data. That is, I once again draw your attention - the interests and needs of the typical buyer “to buy everything quickly and cheaply” were thrown into the basket in order to give the product a special status, create a halo of inaccessibility and over-anger. The business strategy in this approach was initially more important than simplicity and convenience, since this is how the excitement of the hunter for the most unattainable prey was awakened in a man.
The next important thesis that needed to be worked with was that the customer’s company paid great attention to the delivery of the product itself — excellent packaging, an enclosed printed booklet, a character figurine (more on this below), jade to cool an elite drink (since ordinary ice melts exclusive goods during melting) and even the possibility of helicopter delivery within a few hours. There was a certificate in the box notifying that this person received a unique drink as a gift from such a wonderful friend and business partner. And this is all that had to be shown as clearly as possible, which is why the customer has already shot several dozen video packaging of each drink, in order to create the impression of manual order picking online.
Video in the basket - at which usability conference you will hear such as an example of the top of convenience and unsurpassed design thinking? But we had the courage to act contrary to all the established rules.
In total, we had 4 varieties of the drink, 4 exposure options each, 4 options for the capacity of the bottle - a total of 64 options. How many design rules needed to place product items on the product catalog page in rows and columns? Immediately make a reservation that for the answer: “Probably only 16 on the screen, with filters by volume or by age?” - the previous designer was driven out by the customer in disgrace. A unique product can not stand on the 16 pieces on the shelves, but only discounted consumer goods. Thus, it was decided that on the landing page the show will start with the demonstration of four different recipes that set the style and image of the future order. For a more obvious association, each unique drink was invented for each drink recipe, a figurine of which was attached to each order for free.
Prototypes
The main task of the designer: how to portray the domestic elite alcoholic beverage on the screen, which is carefully branded, is positioned for import? The scenario is already clear: 4 types of drink are presented, on the presented prototype, the buyer first chooses one of the four varieties of the elite drink, clicking on the character, who is the embodiment and the protagonist of the taste qualities of this variety. By the way, for the article on Megamind, the concept of selected characters was slightly changed, since here it is more important to show the thinking process, and not to advertise the product itself:
Then, moving on to the next page, the buyer selects the shutter speed and the last third step is determined with the container (volume) of the drink.
Thus, there is no sample basket on the site (an online store without a basket? Horror-horror), but there is a well-tuned order wizard, which purposefully guides the user’s rather vague needs for an unusual unique gift - into real life.
Gift decoration
Simplicity, speed and convenience in the design of piece goods - the key to success? Utter nonsense, so decided by market experts on the part of the customer. Their argument looks iron: in order to buy a car, people are willing to spend a few days on all the paperwork; and the desired child is waiting for 9 months; the same unique thing as a passport - generally make out for years. What does this mean in practice?
People can wait. People are ready to fill out 150 forms and questionnaires. People even like a little misery, which they poetically call anticipation. And based on all these customer concepts, the gift design form was not made too simple, because for the sake of a good product you can spend the extra 10-15 minutes, taking them away from your beloved VKontakte.
Where, at what time, the type of box, what the courier should look like, what to say in words, from whom, why, why, whether I want a similar present as a confirmation of many years of cooperation - the output was a complicated anti-wearable form, also deliberately playing out of reach. For relief and help - only a phone number and a lively girl operator with a pencil at the ready, a kind of voice interface.
Probably, such a work process will seem extremely boring to many. I know several designers who adore in the process of moving the gray squares on the screen to independently determine the marketing concept, single-handedly plan the tactics of defeating all competitors and the general concept of sales. So specialists are very closely in the narrow framework of the already developed concept, they want more creativity, art-directorship, a flight of fancy. Well, when for such a prototype there is a payment at the rate of the level of commercial director or deputy director for marketing this company - this is excellent, and indeed very exciting - to become really everything for the customer at once, and as a brave captain - to save the entire team during a storm, confident hand guiding the site to the new uncharted shores.
But, in my opinion, it’s still better to have all concepts and business strategies in command who have worked in the field of study for at least 10-15 years and know such subtleties and details of the market niche that cannot be comprehended in a few weeks / months of participation in project, poking into the graphics editor.
More briefly this thought was formulated by the customer himself: “If you know the market better than me, why have you not done your online store yet and have not earned millions on it? I would leave usability, hire me as a supplier, and for a couple of years I would live in London with such a girl. Do you plan to draw pictures for others until the age of 50? ” It is this common sense that causes respect for working people and business people.
Answers to questions skeptics
1) “But how will this work in practice and will it not be necessary to change everything within six months after launch?” - Pavel Globa will give you the most accurate answer, successfully predicting oil price fluctuations and a per-minute weather forecast for the Murom region.
2) “Or maybe you're lying, and you will all die tomorrow and never follow the pathetic super-megaplan for the next five years you have delivered?” - maybe, maybe we are all dead for a long time and this is our universal hell.
In my opinion, the main thing for today in the dammo project has been achieved: the current task set by the customer is brilliant (in his own words), a perfect mutual understanding and desire to work together further is developed, making current adjustments to the sales strategy and structure of the site online, giving the project is flexible to adapt to new sanctions, current demand, seasonality and the Dow Jones index. An excellent relationship between living people in a team is a thousand times more important and a million times more difficult to achieve than replacing the color of the button, correcting the fonts or adding a couple of new functions on the current site.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/292704/
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