Day 81: The Mystery of Creating Delight

I found it extremely difficult to focus today and didn’t really get anything done. Although days like this never feel good, I’m trying to remember that this, too, is just a part of the process.

One of the challenges I’ve been having is making group streaks into a compelling product experience. Most of the things I build are utility-focused, where things are fairly straightforward and the important thing is that they work well. I enjoy the craftsmanship that goes into building these “boring” tools — even if you’re just making hammers, there’s a deep satisfaction that comes from doing it well and knowing that you’re putting together the best freaking hammer you can.

Group streaks is unique among all the things I’ve built thus far since I got back into coding in June because it’s social — the draw comes from its potential for delight, not just utility. Sure, it’ll be helpful to have the accountability to a group of people so that you don’t go over your browsing limit, but there’s also so much opportunity for making that whole dynamic quite fun. Maybe when you’re close to hitting your limit, people in your group could click a button that lets you know that they’re keeping an eye on you. Would that be fun?

Thinking along the lines of “what would make this a delightful experience” is fairly difficult for me because it’s not something I’ve actively invested in exploring. During my time as a product manager at Google working on Search and Maps, I spent a lot of time thinking through how to make things useful and clear, but not so much in how to create experiences that users rave about. So when I encounter products that do inspire delight, it feels almost like magic. I can easily identify it, but creating it is a different story. It feels like the people behind things I find delightful have honed some X factor that I’d love to develop. For example, when I came across Josh W Comeau’s blog, I was struck by how all the little touches made it so much fun to click around and explore. I immediately shared his site with a bunch of friends and still find opportunities to bring it up to people. That’s the feeling I want to inspire when people use things I make, but it’s not clear how to develop this skillset.

I suspect a big part of the answer is putting effort into studying and practicing design — not just UI design and making things pretty, but also interaction and UX design where I learn to identify what exactly makes products lovable and something that people are eager to share with their friends. How does one learn to become a better designer? How does one learn to inspire delight?