Do you know what sucks? Making IKEA furniture. Taking the pieces out of the packet and looking at the image of the completed item. The perfect ending. But – SPOILERS – it’s an ending we already knew. The ending was the perfect version we liked in the shop. Getting to that point now is not a unique and beautiful experience. It’s a chore. And it always takes longer than expected. And what is this enormous metal bar that’s left over at the end? And where did this weird screw come from?
It’s like waiting for a pizza delivery. Do you enjoy that? No. Because there’s a perfect idea of an ending you already know and any deviation from that – any – is a grotesque affront to human dignity.
And unfortunately UX resides firmly in the same category. No one (no one outside the professional sphere anyhow) really talks about good UX. But like a late pizza, like an IKEA cupboard that fell down, they sure notice when they don’t like it.
And what they don’t like tends to be a surprise ending.
And yet
People really like surprise endings elsewhere. People will actually go out of their way to avoid cpmpleting a journey when the ending is uncertain. A readily available ending at the back of their Agatha Christie novel? They could skip there. They don’t. They read and read. Hours pass. It’s almost like the sense of working towards a mystery is hardwired into the human brain. We love it. Can’t get enough. There’s probably something similar going on in the brain of someone who likes to gamble. They just don’t want the tool they use to get there to provide the same variables. It’s what psychologists refer to as Reward Prediction Error. The slight confounding of expectations, in a positive direction, makes an experience meaningful and memorable and makes us want to repeat it.
Does RPE become more passive as we age?
Ever watched a group of children interact with a new environment? They are always looking to see if they can climb it. Taking the world as a puzzle to be solved. It often looks strange to adults because we don’t see the world like that anymore.
Most of the time, we’re designing web experiences with the idea that the user is goal-focused (looking to achieve something) rather than exploration focused. In the early days of the internet, we were more tolerant of ‘exploring’ spaces. Now we’re used to the protocols, we expect the experience to be slick, respecting our limited time and attention spans. We’ve ‘grown up’ as web users. We no longer see the web as somewhere to explore.
In screenwriting, the job is to ensure that the viewer is sufficiently entertained to continue to the next scene. It’s a simple yet, at the same time, impossibly difficult task. The web experience is similar. We want the user to continue down the necessary steps without thinking about the steps, just the journey to completion. The flow should be completely intuitive.
We can track where our users’ eyes are settling on the screen, and see where their attention is going. But there are more receptors in the visual cortex that deal with interpreting information than taking it in. Can we be sure that they’re seeing the same thing? Feeling the same thing?
How do we take them on a story journey? How do we bring the element of ‘mystery box’ to something that we think people want to be as unobtrusive as possible?
JJ Abrams mystery box
The screenwriters’ task makes for an apt comparison with UX, because they’re in an even more tricky situation than we are. If they lose the viewers attention, they fail to bring them to the conclusion of the story.
The filmmaker JJ Abrams talks about how he uses the concept of mystery boxes (for TED) here.
That is, he pops mystery into the story. Questions for the viewer. And the discovery of the meaning or the answer to the mystery drives the viewer from one scene to the next, usually leading to a new mystery. Sort of like a flow.
In Star Wars, Luke Skywalker is just kicking around on Tatooine until he buys some droids and discovers a message. A beautiful princess saying ‘Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope.’
Who is the princess? Who is Obi-Wan Kenobi? Why is he her only hope? Three mystery boxes that the viewer will ‘follow’ in search of answers, driving the story. The only thing the viewer is sure of is that genre conventions mean the ‘journey’ will be packed with adventure.
A web flow is similar. Taking what we expect (the journey will ask for my details for sign up, my address if it involves something being delivered). A promise to retain these details so I don’t need to repeat this boring bit again. The ‘mystery box’ might involve decisions I didn’t expect to make (up sell, or offer me deals on similar products if I buy right now). And to conclude, a screen that clearly explains that my task has been completed.
But can a web experience utilise the concept of the mystery box more fully to make a more engaging user experience? Or do we always want to complete our task and go? And does that depend on the type of product or service they’re looking for?
Halpern Ben-Zhi and the psychology of ageing
One of the most challenging groups to get right from a UX perspective are people over 65. They’re an enormous and enormously diverse age group. Often caricatured as cane-wielding dodderers, in fact, many over-65s today are as fit and active as Mick Jagger. Mr Jagger is, of course, among their number.
Yet over 65s grew up in, and spent most of their lives, in an era before the internet. Research tells us they are less familiar with ‘common’ design styles. That’s to say that when WhatsApp presents three arrows at the top of their phone screen, they won’t necessarily intuit which one brings them where they need to go. They have different search strategies. They are more likely to abandon an online journey if they face errors. Because the online world developed after they became adults, they are more likely to blame themselves for errors. Like me with my IKEA furniture, when something goes wrong, the friendly little builder man becomes a rebuke. This task is easy! Everyone finds it easy! Why are all these screws left over? I feel shame. They do too.
Research suggests that when buttons are clearly labelled older adults can find the one they need 88% of time (compared with 60% of the time when labels aren’t present). We know that reaction times decrease as people age. This means that actions that demand a response within a time frame are more stressful for them. Stress leads to abandoning the journey. When older people feel more in control of the speed of the journey, of the pace at which they need to read and respond, they are more likely to follow the journey to completion.
Error messages also lead to abandoning the journey. Older users don’t necessarily know what is meant by, for example, a 404 error. Clearer labelling of exactly what has gone wrong, and the next steps to take to fix it, can reduce the likelihood of them feeling they are to blame for the error. The less they feel responsible, the less likely they are to abandon the journey.
We’re so used to streamlining the journey but with older users friction can act as function. Are they sure they want to abandon the cart/delete profile/abandon the journey here? When we ask them for confirmation, we can guide them back. Just like when we enter a Zoom meeting and ask ‘Can you see me? Can you hear me?’ older users want and respond to feedback when they act online.
As with stories, different user groups will demand different engagement levels. In the future, just like with storytellers, UX will require audience specialists to ensure the best experience for the target users.
How stories keep us on the journey
| Story | Am I to blame if/ when it fails? | Likely to abandon? | Familiarity | Mystery/ novelty element | Spoilers? | Enjoyment of the journey |
| Shrek | No, passive | No, passive | Very, fairy stories | Expectations confounded, eg. Prince Charming is evil and an idiot | No, but the ending is not unexpected | 8/10. An easy, familiar world that consistently toys with expectations to make the familiar novel |
| IKEA furniture | Yes, clear instructions presented as ‘easy’ | In rare instances. Journey often takes longer than expected | Very | None, any deviation from expectation is an error | Total. The perfect ending is depicted on the box | 3/10. The only time I consider it is when it goes wrong |
| Pizza delivery process | Sometimes. The process is very established, human error somewhere nearly always accounts for dissatisfaction | No. Human error factor means complaint to resolve is more likely | Very | None, any deviation from expectation is an error | Total. The perfect ending is depicted on the menu | 3/10. The only time I consider it is when it goes wrong |
| The Poseidon Adventure | No, passive | No, passive | Very | The familiar environment of a cruise ship (designed to be easy to use) literally flipped upside down | None. Each formerly familiar room presents unique challenges when flipped. Ending is dramatically satisfying | 8/10. The familiar and comfortable becomes terrifying. Each room is a new mystery box to be solved. |
| Murder on the Orient Express | No, passive | No, passive | Very | Locked room. One of these people must have committed the murder. Clear but limited alternatives | None. We are kept guessing about the outcome until the end | 8/10. Dramatically satisfying by giving us clear alternatives, but limiting the number of variables. Allows for conjecture but limits its scope. |
| Titanic | No, passive | No, passive | Very | We know the ending. The thrill is seeing what will happen to the people we meet along the way | We know the ending | 7/10. Even when the ending is known, we can enjoy the journey when we are able to invest emotionally. |
| Oedipus | No, passive | Possible. Culturally disturbing subject matter. | Very | The ending is prophesied. We enjoy watching the inevitable come to pass despite the protagonist’s best efforts to avoid it. | We know the ending but how it comes to pass is intrinsic to the drama and enjoyment of the story | 9/10. When the ending is known, making a feature of this can be dramatically satisfying. This same technique is used with great power in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. It’s used with less narrative force in Harry Potter too. |
Some of the most satisfying story journeys involve complete spoilers. I know how it ends. And I really want to get to that end to see how we got there. The ending is inevitable, regardless of how wild the steps are. The steps are a source of wonder.
Really unsatisfying journeys involve complete spoilers and regimented steps to reach that conclusion. Any deviation in these steps will ruin the perfect ending. There is stress in the steps.
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