What is delightful design
It’s about anticipating users’ needs and solve it in a way that’s a little different and unexpectedly pleasant.
Increasingly, we hear phrases like, “we need to create delightful experiences for our customers.” It’s great to see companies setting such goals. As Tim Cook stated at WWDC 2024, Apple’s goal is to introduce new intelligence capabilities that “inspire developers, delight users…” I’ve been wondering for a while 🤔: what exactly is delightful design?
In the podcast The Art of Designing for Delight, Jenny Wen used an analogy to explain delightful design that resonates with me: it’s like going to a restaurant where the server anticipates your needs. The moment you drop your fork, the next thing is on its way. That’s the point when you know it’s great service. Delight comes from anticipating users’ needs. When applied to product design, delight also comes from solutions that are slightly different, unexpected, and better than the status quo. To summarize, there are two key points in delightful design 🌟: anticipating users’ needs and providing unexpected solutions that pleasantly surprise the user.
I started to look at examples that personally delight me. One standout example of anticipating users’ needs is Apple’s password-sharing feature. When I try to connect to a Wi-Fi network, all I need is the password. Traditionally, this is very frustrating because passwords are designed to be hard to remember, with lengthy and unusual characters. But Apple has turned this frustration into delight. They smartly prompt another Apple device to share the password. With just a click, my need is fulfilled. Other continuity features, like copying on one device and pasting on another, also bring delight and joy when using Apple products.
FigJam’s stamp and emote wheel is a great example of solving a problem in an unexpected and improved way. Instead of a traditional dropdown list, FigJam takes inspiration from video game interfaces by using a wheel for selecting stamps and emotes. This design not only boosts efficiency but also infuses a sense of playfulness and fun. The wheel allows users to scan all options and make swift, effortless selections. It’s akin to how video game players need to rapidly switch abilities during gameplay. Efficiency and playfulness are crucial in FigJam’s collaborative environment, where users want to engage with each other and react promptly to others’ inputs, such as giving thumbs up or sending emojis. FigJam smartly adopts this intuitive pattern to meet their users’ needs.
The definition of delightful design may evolve, but at its core, designers should strive to anticipate users’ needs and develop innovative, creative solutions.