22 principles to improve the user experience

Fire Fish Note: Pixar animation studio (Pixar Animation Studios), referred to as Pixar. In 1986, after Steve Jobs took 10 million, he created "Toy Story", "Finding Nemo", "Mind Secret Service" and other classic 3D animated films. In 2006, Pixar was bought by Disney for 7.4 billion dollars and became part of the Walt Disney Company.

A few years ago, Emma coats The 22 rules on storytelling that she learned during her time as a Pixar mirror artist on Twitter.

These rules are "learned by the directors and colleagues at Pixar, by listening to the writers and directors talking about their work, and the experiments and mistakes that I made in my own films, the combination of everything I learned," she wrote in a blog post later in the paper.

After reading the rules, I couldn't help thinking about their application in UX design.

User Experience (UX) designers know the importance of telling a good story-we are committed to making our users have a comprehensive understanding of the consistency, accuracy, and intuition of our work.

Recognizing the relationship between these rules, we can interpret Emma's rules perfectly as a basis for good user experience (UX). Think of these as a series of guidelines to improve your design.

[Pixar Animation principle 01] role Halo: Trying more possibilities is more commendable than success.

[Corresponding UX principle] UX design can never be accomplished overnight. Users value the products and services are in constant progress, they are willing to the system for the update, suffering to wait for a week or two.

[Pixar animation principle 02] Remember to look at what is interesting from the perspective of the audience rather than from the writer's perspective, because there is a lot of difference.

[corresponding to the UX principle] products that look good visually may not be what users need or desire. Analyze users ' needs through data analysis and listen to their complaints in user interviews.

Designers should still attach importance to intuition, users do not always come up with the most relevant or appropriate solution, of course, even so, sometimes you need to change the design to make the user feel that their views have been heard.

You need to change the design to make the user feel that their opinion has been heard.

[Pixar Animation principle 03] is important for theme service, but you can't see the whole story in the end. If that's not the case, start rewriting it.

[corresponding to the UX principle] keeping your vision is critical to your product, but being overly perfect can make you a difficult one. As the saying goes, "early release, often updated," We should keep in mind.

The first release always avoids some embarrassing things, but if you don't, you're slowing down the product-you're most likely to stifle its success. If your product is lightweight and focused, you can quickly evaluate the user's feedback and apply it to the next iteration.

[Pixar Animation principle 04] A long time ago, there was an ___. Every day _____. One day _____ _____ because of this, ______. Because that ______. Until the last ______.

[corresponds to the UX principle] a perfect solution to a timeless problem that can transform and solidify the user narrative. This type of narrative can be a guiding star in the early stages of the project, so that you and your team are not going the wrong way.

For ___ (blank user type) with these ___ (user's problem/frustration) ___, this product ___ (add valuable props) ___, unlike ___ (list of competing goods) ___ has ___ (list the value/detractors of the competition) ___, we ___ ( List the places where we are different) ___.

[Pixar animation principle 05] Simplify, focus, and integrate roles, bypassing detours, seemingly missing something important, and you are actually liberating yourself.

The [corresponding UX principle] simplifies, concentrates on the product itself, the integration function, discards the useless, the unnecessary function to the product is more harmful than the benefit. Discard them, you may feel that your product is reducing value, but focus on the product core to obtain user attention.

[Pixar Animation principle 06] What is your character good at? What do you like? Throw them what they don't like, find them trouble, and see what they do?

[corresponding to the UX principle] what is your product's role? Now you can assume some of the relevant issues that you will not be experiencing for the time being.

Are your systems still strong or are you running out of these problems? Do you think you need to constantly adjust to the problems that you are experiencing now? If you need to add some functionality to solve the problem, you must carefully consider whether it is necessary or not to publish.

[Pixar Animation Principle 07] Think about the end of a story before you think about how to do it. To tell the truth, the ending is the hardest part, and it's best to think clearly before you start.

[corresponding to UX principles] what is the user's ideal experience? What problems are you trying to solve for them? What do you think of as the user's best experience? Making these questions clear in the early stages of your work can give you a more complete idea of the process and help you make decisions quickly. It is also one of the most important measures of your success.

Before you add other new features, finish and post your product first.

[Pixar animation principle 08] Even if your story is not perfect, you have to finish it. Only in the ideal state can the best of both worlds, you can only promise to do better next time.

[corresponds to the UX principle] before you add other new features, finish and release your product first. Any perfect product is done by constantly updating iterations. When you have finished the core functions, and then solve other problems, you will slowly and better.

To clarify the next stage of the new features, you finish the first generation of products to start to focus on the user's individual click action and data feedback.

This chart is a good representation of the time benefits of reducing the initial functionality to get the smallest available product. Through this curve, you can obviously find that with the development of technology more difficult, the product growth curve from the fast slow. So it can save you a few weeks or months to find and subtract some less-needed features.

[Pixar Animation principle 09] When you don't know what to do, make a list of all the things that can't be done, and the way you usually get out of it will show up.

[corresponds to the UX principle] if you're in trouble, don't get caught up in your first thoughts, list all the ideas that can or will not be realized, or you never know that a bold idea can be a miracle.

[Pixar animation Principle 10] break down your favorite stories, the ones you like in these stories are your thoughts, and you need to recognize them before you use them.

[correspond to UX principles] evaluate your favorite products and software. The elements you love in these products are also the aesthetic and internal drive you design, which determines the intuitive feeling you have when interacting with the technology. If your interaction with this product is harmonious, it may be the same for other people.

[Pixar animation principle 11] Write it on paper and refine the details. If it's just a perfect idea to stay in your head, you'll never have a chance to share it with others.

[corresponds to the UX principle] turn your mind's thoughts into tangible objects so that you can quickly solicit opinions from others to get a lot of effective and detailed feedback. If you're working on a team, write down your thoughts on the whiteboard, organize your thoughts in the boardroom, and brainstorm ideas that can make your thoughts better.

You can take a look at the handsome website where we were brainstorming at the initial design research stage.

[Pixar Animation principle 12] First think about the most important things in the brain, and then enumerate the second, third, four, and five, and then use the enumeration to clearly comb your thoughts, which will give you a big surprise.

[corresponds to the UX principle] This method can be applied to most creative work.

[Pixar animation principle 13] gives your character an attitude. In your writing process, passivity or variability may be more comfortable for you, but it is poison to your audience.

[corresponds to the UX principle] you need to give your product a unique package and feel. A product that has been designed to play a security card will not have a memory point, and the audience will soon be tired of this product.

[Pixar Animation principle 14] Why are you telling this story? It can cause your inner faith where is the source of the surging? This is the heart of storytelling.

[corresponds to the UX principle] Why do you want to solve this problem? What makes you think your user community will be happy when this problem is resolved? How much will it affect your user community's life after it is resolved? You should know that if the solution to this problem has a positive impact on your users, Then these users will be spontaneous in the network to share your product, so there will be multiple users will benefit from the solution you have given.

[Pixar Animation Principle 15] Imagine how you would feel if you were the protagonist in such a situation. Honest thinking makes the situation more believable.

[corresponding to UX principles] genuinely from the user's point of view, throw away those business restrictions, completely honest to themselves. Once you start looking at your users in a position of transposition, those unnecessary solutions and ideas will be easier to judge and eliminate.

Our user research process involves consulting a large number of related documents and collating data for key users and customers. We analyze the focus of processing these user data and group them according to similar ideas. By doing so, we can evaluate the rationality of the user's priority and determine in which areas we should focus on for the user.

Our user research process involves consulting a large number of related documents and collating data for key users and customers. We analyze the focus of processing these user data and group them according to similar ideas. By doing so, we can evaluate the rationality of the user's priority and determine in which areas we should focus on for the user.

[Pixar Animation Principle 16] What's the stakes in this game? We have enough reasons to support the role. But what if he doesn't succeed? calculate probability.

[corresponds to the UX principle] trying to break your inherent design. Find out where specific users will hit the wall and feel their problems are overlooked. These problems may at first make you feel almost impossible to solve, but please stick to it. The more impossible a problem can be solved, the greater the interest in the user's input once the solution is resolved. This also gives them a reason to support the success of your product, promote the reputation of the product, and better confront the competitor.

No design is useless, but it takes a process to take effect.

[Pixar animation principle 17] There is no job that does not work hard. If it doesn't work, go ahead naturally and it becomes useful later.

[corresponds to the UX principle] No design is useless, but it takes a process to take effect.

If you have never had a bad idea in your head, you can't think of any good ideas. Try to put an idea first, and if it works, you'll use it later.

[Pixar Animation principle 18] You must know yourself clearly: the difference between doing your best and being busy. A good story is a test, not a refinement.

Your best work will come from the concept of exchange between you and your peers. If you're just doing repetitive work in a closed space, you'll definitely overlook important issues.

Your best work will come from the concept of exchange between you and your peers.

[Pixar Animation principle 19] The coincidence of getting the characters into trouble is wonderful, but the coincidence of getting the characters out of trouble is deceptive.

[corresponding to UX principles] find situations that make users frustrated, distracted, or dissatisfied. Documenting and solving these problems will be a step closer to realizing what you are slowly groping for.

Instead, be careful to convince yourself that users, like you, have the skills to solve their problems. If this is not obvious, this is the difficulty.

[Pixar animation principle 20] Exercises: If you remove the part of the movie that you don't like. How are you going to regroup them in your favorite episode?

[corresponding to the UX principle] Remove features you don't like in your product, and think about how you can solve these problems. What functions are valid and which ones are not? Perhaps some of the features do not need to exist at all. Understanding the functional relationship between product features and identifying weaknesses is a good exercise for improving the product perspective, as an outsider role evaluation software will help you set a standard to evaluate your product.

[Pixar Animation principle 21] You should identify and understand your story background and character, not just a "cool". What makes you understand this?

[corresponding to the UX principle] you should identify with your users and the large number of specific environments they are in. Standing at the user's point of view will give you an excellent entry point.

But it is impossible to have the right answer every time. The only truly solid solution is to conduct early and frequent user testing. There is no product, idea, or idea that can go beyond this rule.

[Pixar animation Principle 22] What is the essence of your story? Is it the most cost-effective way of storytelling? If you know the answer, you can start creating the whole story from there.

[corresponding to the UX principle] what is the essence of your product? What is the most economical and effective version?

Although this has become a popular slogan, the least viable product (MVP) is the most accurate way to describe the expected results. Reducing the functionality and scope of a product is often complex and difficult, and the non minimal feasibility feature is not as easy to determine.

Try to revisit your "elevator lobby" and compare the current status of the product. Are you able to do one thing well enough that your product can also solve the 2nd or 3rd level problem? If not, you may need to reduce it to the next release.

Note: "Elevator lobby" (elevator pitch), that is, in a very attractive way to succinctly explain his point of view. Also known as the elevator law, for example, you are in the elevator, only 30 seconds to promote the product to a big customer with a relationship company's future and must succeed.

Thank you very much, Emma Coats.

I'd like to thank Emma Coats in particular. We are all storytellers, and I believe her 22 principles can be absorbed by many other industries. As creators, we should try to show some conceptual thinking to you from the meaningful decision-making process. As a product designer, the more we try to brainstorm from other professions, the more likely we are to understand the commonality of the user experience.