philthy

Dramatic Features
Chris Conley

designing drama into the interface

catching people’s imagination

an exciting, emotional, or unexpected series of events or set of circumstances

we know these four components of product design:
function - does it work
usability - can people use it
aesthetics - is it nice to look at
drama - is it meaningful <– focusing on this

pixar - pure resonance with people, they work on a film straight from start to finish (no powerpoints or email flurries or requirements lists) and build a billion dollar business every time they make a film

software production should be more like film production!

the analytical/verbal has taken over the creative/tangible through things like market research - the two should be pretty equal

interaction is choreographed

iphone state change — wiggling of icons (state, not mode) - this wiggling creates personality, delight, and an emotion about the experience

wiggling, flicking (interesting interactions!)

the state and transition is embodied in the experience

dimensions of drama:
context and staging
character(s) (apple’s wiggling icons become “they”)
goal or purpose
action/reaction/behavior - common form of dramatic storeytelling
emotion (all of them)
what happens in the real world

your elements are characters
(similar principles in game design)

recognize the value of criticism, taking that criticism and using it to go back and make your work better - we’ve lost this in our companies, people are too invested in defending their ideas

take people’s ideas, listen to them all and don’t commit to do or not do any of them, take all those ideas back to your drawing board to make the work better