Usability, Yeah We Got That
Posted August 29, 2010
on:- In: ux
- 7 Comments
The sentiment in the UX community is pretty clear, that usability thing, yeah we got that. For example, Dana Chisnell recently wrote an article for UX Magazine called Beyond Frustration: Three Levels of Happy Design, while Chris Fahey talked about The Human Interface at the IA Summit, and let’s not forget Kathy Sierra’s thoughts on What comes after usability?
So what does come after usability? This is my initial stab at the answer. I thought that perhaps I should approach it from the psychological point of view by using Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, we are designing for people after all. Here is the (draft) diagram that I came up with:
At the base is functionality – the product must be able to perform a function, otherwise everything else is meaningless.
Then, usability – people should be able to learn/understand how to perform the function
Sociality – here is where things get murky, according Maslow, the third level in the hierarchy is love/belonging. Perhaps a product should provide a sense of belonging. This does not necessarily mean embedding facebook into every system, it could just be aligning with a brand (such as Apple), or surfacing interesting aggregate behaviors.
Self-Fulfillment – I am not sure if perhaps self-fulfillment comes before or after sociality, in some ways they are a bit linked to each other, so the categories aren’t so clear cut. Here I am talking about truly helping the end-user kick ass (channeling Kathy Sierra here), by enabling flow, happiness, personal growth, self-awareness, or behavioral change. In some respects, this is what it truly means to create a place where a user can have an experience.
Generativity – At this point the user feels a sense of ownership and has internalized the value of the product. Its important to provide a feedback channel that helps generate new ideas and excitement, and enables the product an the user to continue to evolve together. This is what it truly means to be viral.
I don’t have all of this worked out in my head yet, so I know that I will be revisiting this concept again in the future. Thoughts?
7 Responses to "Usability, Yeah We Got That"

I’m a little unconvinced of “sociality” as the next step after usability. Love/belonging could also be one’s relationship to a service/site/product, too. I’m thinking about how my OXO Good Grips vegetable peeler makes me smile every time I take it out of its drawer, or how I’ve named and personified my car, Sophie.
Is that where you were moving by mentioning “aligning with a brand”?
I’m thinking also of Bill Moggridge in Objectified, where he talks about designing products that get better over time – it takes time to develop a relationship – a sense of Love/belonging – with an object.


Interesting post — food for thought! Maybe you could take something from the older version of the USDA Food Pyramid and place Sociality and Self-Fulfillment on the same level? Also, I would say that the user has an experience regardless (be it good, bad, or in between), so I’d like to know more about what you have in mind in the last sentence of Self-Fulfillment.
I work on a lot of systems whose users are employees of the client (mostly government agencies) and don’t have a choice of whether to use them or not. In these cases, “viral” is not applicable but I think generativity could still be, in terms of contributing ideas for change.


Very Nice Idea… Congrats!


Hi Alla,
If you are not aware of it already you should definitley check out Patrick Jordan’s book “Designing Pleasurable Products” (http://www.amazon.com/Designing-Pleasurable-Products-Patrick-Jordan/dp/0415298873)
He uses Maslow’s pyramid in a similar way and makes a very compelling case for it. Great read.

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