Monthly Archives: November 2014

Designing for the hOS – Human Operating System

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Our Brain Hardware runs on the hOS

I remember as a child being fascinated by documentaries about primitive tribes who survived, even thrived, by being at one with their environment. They seemed to have had a sixth sense when it came to finding food and hunting. The hunters would know the direction their quarry was heading and how far ahead they were, not just by their foot tracks, but also by broken twigs, patches of fur, and other wilderness forensics. The hunter was in tune with the sun and wind and could make quick judgments based on observation and intuition.

We are all potential tribal hunters because all humans share remarkable powers of observation and intuition. It is what perpetuates our species. Primitive man was more directly dependent on these skills for survival than we are today, but we have the same senses, and the same brains. We are born with these capabilities: a shared hOS- Human Operating System. Our hOS learns from our experiences and enables us to fulfill our basic needs and pursue our wants. We are all programmed by our experience and adapted to our contemporary time and circumstance. We are continuously unconsciously sensing and responding to our environment and behaving accordingly.

Where primitive man used these skills to hunt prey and find dry firewood, we use them to do more mundane things like drive cars and, yes, shop and buy. Science tells us that we are not consciously aware of 95% of the decisions we make, an important requirement of living in a complex, potentially over-stimulating world. Our hOS is designed to push routine activities into our basil ganglia; an area of our brains that works quickly and reflexively to address familiar tasks. This frees our conscious mind to handle new things without being overburdened with stimuli, but more importantly, allows our emotional brain, the amygdala, to guide us by how we feel.

We no longer track rabbits in the snow, but when we shop we are utilizing the same skills of observation and intuition. We “know” where things on our lists should be, what should be adjacent to what, and when and how to use store signs and read situations from the behavior of other shoppers. We know what to avoid or ignore and what to engage and embrace.

But confusion leads to stress and makes our system crash. When our environment throws a threat at us, or doesn’t make sense, we get flush with adrenaline and want to run or lash out. According to Daniel Goldman the stress hijacks our amygdala and we act irrationally. In order to proceed we need to restart. This is a bad situation when we are trying to build brands and create successful retail experiences.

The experience design must acknowledge this hOS reality and simultaneously accommodate and seduce… be basil ganglia friendly and amygdala ticklish. It’s like a hit pop song the first time you hear it, with the unconsciously familiar rhythm and melody combined with a surprising “hook” and catchy lyrics that make us smile.

Experience design needs to accommodate the subtle cues that shoppers depend on to feel at ease, like instinctive navigation, intuitive adjacencies, and adequate information so they will not get stressed. Great experience design always needs to begin with the elimination of pain-points, otherwise the experience will be deemed unworthy… bad hunting grounds.

To be hOS-friendly an experience needs to have respect for the momentum that the shopper already has and the feelings that motivate them. What experiences are already cataloged in the basil ganglia that should not be challenged? What are the consistent cues that are shared across the retail landscape that create a perception of good hunting grounds? Don’t obstruct the need to be efficient, effective and unthreatened only to be different. Designing around these known needs will enable the emotional aspects of the experience to be fully felt and the differentiating aspects of the brand to be salient. They will allow the amygdala to trigger the positive feelings and emotions that drive preference and choice.

If our primitive tribal ancestor were along with us as we shop they would be impressed by our ability to hunt in this seemingly overwhelming environment called a store, let alone successfully complete an online order. But, underneath it all is the need to appeal to the same basic code, the same hOS, sensing and reacting, enjoying the hunt enough to return to your hunting grounds.

Bill Chidley is a Partner and Co-Founder at ChangeUp. Creating Innovating Experiences that Drive Growth. http://www.changeupinc.com

Strategy and Design- Just Like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers

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Great duos are rare, but legendary. Abbott and Costello, Lewis and Martin, and of course Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers are classic examples from the glory days of Hollywood. But what makes Fred and Ginger different is that they didn’t use the comic and “straight man” formula, where one half uses the other to exaggerate or dramatize their wit. Fred and Ginger amazed us with their extraordinary, complimentary moves and interactions together. They were two but connected as one.

Unfortunately, strategy and design are often not great dance partners, and when they do dance together, they each seem to hear different music.

Design is a way of looking at the world that seeks diverse inputs, but relishes the singular sense of authorship in the outcome – a complex sort of collaborative individualism. Strategy is an input, but can sound like a scratchy old vinyl record. Designers would rather dance to their own music and strategy is something to be fast-forwarded through on the way to creativity; a requirement of the work versus an ingredient.

The scratches come from the collision of two worldviews. Design is concerned with solving problems from a new, enlightened perspective, ideally unburdened by business motives. Strategy is often perceived by designers to be about assigning business tools and motives to limit or constrain, or worse, prescribe solutions.  After all, great design cleans up the mess left by unbridled business practices and “marketing”, right?

The problem is widespread and ongoing in the creative agency/design business. In fact, many leaders in the industry have a hard time defining what “strategy” even is. At one end of the spectrum there are the big “innovation accelerator” firms who charge handsomely for months-long engagements; leaving their clients with beautiful, but vaguely actionable presentations. At the other end is a tidy review of client-provided research with some conjured up “so whats”. There are also firms that get labeled as creative but not strategic, and others strategic but not very creative. How can these two capabilities co-exist and both become strengths? What should strategy deliver, how should it be crafted, and how should clients and creatives digest it?

The irony is that design needs a purpose – a clear problem to solve, and strategy should be embraced as providing that. Most often the disconnection is a clash of personalities and priorities more than content. The goal is a Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers fit with strategy and design that creates something greater than each alone. This sort of collaboration requires an understanding of the role of strategy, and the role of design, and fostering respect. (And, by the way, creativity is not mutually exclusive.)  Getting it right is challenging, but magical when it happens.

As a separate but needed partner to design, the role of strategy needs to be clear. What should strategy bring to the dance?

  • Strategy distills the key business questions that must be answered; defining the problem and uncovering opportunities with research and analytics.
  • It challenges the myths and lore of an organization by assigning the appropriate role to opinion and fad in order to illuminate what really matters.
  • It makes what is known and what is discovered relatable and remarkable. Great strategy is data in the hands of a storyteller.
  • Strategy defines what success looks like, motivating and aligning the team on a common mission despite their differing perspectives.
  • Strategists identify how business value is to be created by applying Design and Brand Thinking, elevating the understanding of how a sustainable competitive advantage can be achieved.
  • And finally, strategy translates design and creative deliverables into a language that non-designers can comprehend and socialize internally.

Business challenges today are more complex than ever, needing to integrate physical and digital experiences, products and services, brand delivery, and ongoing meaningful innovation.  Strategy is a necessity, otherwise design efforts can be well intended but diffuse and confused- a mere effort in educated guesses and self-justification. To be an effective partner with design, strategy must reframe business challenges and propose solutions in ways that can be a guiding inspiration to designers, not dictated outcomes. Strategy and design need to be dance partners for clients to see value. The choreography is a joint venture, and the performance is unimaginably better together.

Bill Chidley is a Partner and Co-Founder at ChangeUp. Creating Innovating Experiences that Drive Growth. http://www.changeupinc.com