Susan M. Weinschenk's Blog

Let’s say you come over to visit at my house. It’s getting dark and I ask you to turn on a lamp that’s next to your chair. I phrase the request as, “Would you please turn on the electric lamp?”

You might wonder why I would call it an “electric lamp.” Why didn’t I just ask you to turn on the lamp?

If you talk to someone who is 65 or older about researching a topic, for example, looking for a recipe that includes eggplant, you’re likely to hear them say something like, “I’ll go look that up online” or “I’ll look that up on the Internet.”

If you have the same conversation with someone younger, they’re likely to say, “I’ll go find a recipe” or “Let me see what I can find.”

Adding the word “online” or the phrase “on the Internet” is like saying it’s an electric lamp. So what does it matter that the language is a little different? It shows a different mental model.

People who grew up before the advent of the Internet think of the Internet as a place to go. It’s like going to the library, or going to the store. People who grew up with the Internet don’t have that same mental model.

If you have one mental model about the Internet and are designing or writing about products, you’re likely to use language that conveys your mental model. That’s fine if the people you’re designing or writing for have the same mental model that you do. But if they don’t, then they’ll find parts of your language or your design to be either quaint or confusing.

Takeaways

If you’re older and designing or writing for younger people, ensure that your language matches the audience. For example, filter out references to “go online” or “on the Internet.”If you’re younger and designing or writing for older people, be aware that older people have a different mental model. Make sure to test your designs, labels, and instructions with people who are older to make sure your mental model hasn’t caused confusion in your design or language.

Andrew Reed researched age differences in preference for the number of choices (2013).

Across a variety of different types of decisions, older people preferred fewer choices compared to younger people. The age range was 18 to 90. The lessening in desire for choices was a linear relationship: the older people were, the fewer choices they desired.

Takeaways

When you’re designing for younger audiences, offer at least the perception of more choices (remembering that if you give people too many choices, they won’t choose anything).When you’re designing for older audiences, you don’t have to offer as many choices.

Figure 83.1 shows Google and Figure 83.2 shows Naver. Which search engine visual design do you prefer?

FIGURE 83.1 Google search engine home page.

FIGURE 83.2 Naver search engine.

Naver.com is the search engine for South Korea. Google is the search engine for lots of other places. Whether you found the Google design more visually appealing or whether you found the Naver design more visually appealing has a lot to do with how old you are, whether you’re a woman or a man, and where you live.

Katharina Reinecke and Krzysztof Gajos (2014) researched different visual designs around the world, with men and women of different ages. Here’s what they found:

People over 40 preferred more colorful designs compared to younger people. This preference was even stronger among people over 50.Across all ages, women preferred websites that were more colorful than men did.Men preferred websites with a gray or white background and some saturated primary colors.Women preferred color schemes with fewer contrasting colors.People from Finland, Russia, and Poland liked websites without a lot of colors. People from Malaysia, Chile, and Macedonia preferred websites with a lot of color.People from countries near each other tended to like the same amount of colors. For example, Northern European countries didn’t like a lot of colors.People in English-speaking countries preferred more color than those in Northern European countries.

Takeaways

If your target audience is primarily men, consider a white or gray background with a contrasting color.If your target audience is primarily women, consider using more color, but fewer contrasting colors.When you’re designing for a specific geographical area, make sure you’re familiar with the color and visual design preferences for that region.Test your visual design with your target audience.When you’re designing for a geographic area that you’re unfamiliar with, be sure to have someone who’s familiar with that area on the team to guide you.

Here are some facts about video and online gamers as of 2022 (from the ESA – The Entertainment Software Association):

Two-thirds of Americans (over 215 million) play games regularly, and 75% of those are over the age of 18. The average age is 33 years old.A smartphone is the preferred device for 70% of the gamers. Video game consoles are popular, as are computers. Tablets are less popular for gaming. More than half of the gamers say they play on multiple devices.The most popular type of gaming is puzzles.For older gamers (over age 65) playing to exercise the brain is a common reason. Under 65 the most common reasons to play are to have fun, pass time, and relax.There is a fairly even gender split between men and women.83% of gamers play with others, rather than playing alone.

Geographic Differences

According to the explodingtopics.com website, Asia has the most gamers, (probably because Asia has more people than other parts of the world). And Japan and the UK have the highest percentages of gaming (but not the largest numbers of gamers).

Takeaways

Research who the audience is for your particular game and watch out for making decisions based on stereotypes.Gamers now are all types and ages. Making assumptions without data about your particular audience could cost you poor design decisions.

Several organizations, include GSMA and the Pew research center conduct research on the gender gap in cell phone and smartphone use as well as access online in general. The gender gap is related to geographical region. In some areas (some parts of Europe and the US), there is very little to no gender gap in online access. In other areas of the world (some parts of Asia and Africa), the gender gap is as high as 30%.

Less online access means less economic mobility through access to information, literacy, and job opportunities.

Takeaways

When you’re designing online products for parts of the world where there’s a large gender gap in online access, it’s likely that most of your target audience is men.When you’re designing online products for parts of the world where there’s a large gender gap in online access, the women who are using your product are likely higher in education and income than many of the other women in that area.Check to see what the gender gap for online access is for the part of the world you are designing before you design.

The Pew Research Center conducts research on the ownership of smartphones versus basic cellphones. As of 2019 most people in the countries with “advanced economies” have a smartphone, but in countries that are considered “emerging economies” there are fewer people with smartphones.

For example, in South Korea 95% of adults have a smartphone, and 5% have a basic cellphone. In Sweden 86% have a smart phone, 12% have a basic phone, and 2% have no mobile phone. In Indonesia 42% have a smart phone, 28% have a basic phone, and 29% have no mobile phone. In Nigeria 39% have a smartphone, 44% have a basic phone, and 17% have no mobile phone. And the lowest numbers for smart phones are in India where 24% have a smartphone, 40% have a basic cellphone and 35% have no mobile phone.

The basic cellphones can send and receive calls, texts, and even do some basic mobile banking, but not access apps and effectively use the Internet.

Younger people, those with more education, and those who speak English are more likely to have smartphones.

Note
In many of the emerging economies, very few households have a landline phone. For example, in Africa, only 3 percent of households have a landline phone. Landline phones never penetrated in Africa. Africa skipped landlines and went straight to cell phones. (However, the number of homes in the world without landlines is actually growing, as many places abandon landlines to only have a smartphone).

Takeaways

When you’re designing products for a particular part of the world, find out whether that area has a large adoption of smartphones.Although “mobile first” is a common design principle, don’t assume that mobile use is consistent around the world. Before planning a smartphone app, make sure you understand the smartphone penetration for the countries where your product will be used.

According to a survey by Millward Brown Digital if a task is quick (5 minutes), all generations prefer to do the task on a smartphone. But if the task is longer, then all generations prefer to do the task on a laptop or desktop.

But there’s a generational difference in the stated reason why they want to switch devices: people under 30 and people over 60 say it’s because they want a larger screen, while people of ages in between say it’s because they want faster speed and performance.

Takeaways

When you’re designing a task that’s going to take more than 5 minutes to complete, assume that people might not be using a smartphone or may switch from a smartphone to a larger device.Whether you emphasize advantages of speed and performance vs a larger screen should depend on the age of your target audience.

The Pew Research Center conducts research on technology use.
Below are the findings for different age ranges (18–29, 30–49, 50-64, 65 and older) of people in the US with various technologies.

Almost everyone from ages 18 to 50 uses a smart phone. For the group from 50-64 usage drops to 83%, and drops down to 61% for people over 65.Around 80% of people in the 18 to 50 age group use social media, with the number dropping to 73% for the 50 to 64 age group, and down to 45% for the over 65 group.Everyone uses the internet. There is not much difference amongst the age groups in terms of use vs. not use, however the amount of internet time does vary with age. Half of those ages 18 to 29 said they were online “almost constantly,” compared with 42% of 30-49 year olds, 22% of those 50 to 64 and 8% of those 65 and older.Young people are more likely to use their smartphones to avoid boredom or avoid people than are older people.

Takeaways

Watch out for making too many age assumptions. It is common for designers to assume that the younger you are the more technology you use. This is true for some types of technology, but not for all.Instead of making assumptions, research the particular usage you are interested in for your products and use the actual data.

It may seem like people are using their smartphones to text a friend, check social media, or browse the news if they’re bored, but according to the Pew Research Center more than half of the people with smartphones have also used their phones for many tasks:

62 percent get information about a health issue57 percent use online banking44 percent look for a place to live40 percent access government services30 percent take a class18 percent apply for a job

People with lower incomes are almost twice as likely to use a smartphone to look up employment information and four times as likely to apply for a job with their smartphones.

Takeaways

When you provide job listings for lower-income people online, remember that most of them will be accessing the information and applying via a smartphone. Make sure your product is designed to work well with a smartphone.When you provide local or world news, products related to health, banking, employment, or online education, assume that a large percentage of your target audience is accessing your information from a smartphone. Make sure your designs work on a smartphone.

Let’s say that you’re the CEO of a large retail clothing brand. You have stores throughout the world, and you have a website. People buy shirts, pants, skirts, belts, and so on at your stores and at your site.

If you want people to enjoy the shopping process with your brand, and to be excited about buying your products, what should you do?
Let’s say your answer is: “I’m going to make shopping in the stores the best shopping experience possible. We’ll have in-store events, models wearing the clothes in the stores, and exciting sales. We’ll stock the stores with all colors and sizes, so people can be sure that when they come in, we’ll have what they want.”

No, not a good answer. I’ll give you another try by asking a slightly different question: If people are buying products from your online store, what’s the most important thing you can do to get them excited about buying a product from you?

Now you aren’t sure what to say. You thought your answer to the first question was great, but then I told you it wasn’t. You stumble for a minute and then you light up and say, “We’ll give them free overnight shipping!”

Nope, also not a good answer.

Excitement And Anticipation

Robert Sapolsky is a neuroscientist who studies dopamine in the brain. He trains monkeys to know that when a light comes on that is a signal. Once the signal arrives (the light comes on), the monkeys know that if they press a button 10 times, after the 10th time, a food treat will appear.

Sapolsky measures the amount and timing of dopamine release in the monkeys’ brains during the cycle of signal—pressing—food treat. Figure 76.1 shows the results.

Sapolsky points out that the dopamine release starts as soon as the signal arrives, and ends at the end of the bar pressing. Many people think that dopamine is released when the brain receives a reward, but dopamine is actually released in anticipation of a reward. It’s the dopamine that keeps the monkeys pressing the bar until the treat arrives.

In the first experiment, the monkeys received the treat as soon as they pressed the bar 10 times. In the second experiment the monkeys received the food treat only 50 percent of the time after they pressed the bar. What happened to the dopamine in that situation? Figure 76.2 shows that twice as much dopamine was released, even though a treat was given only half of the time.

FIGURE 76.1 Dopamine release for monkeys pressing a bar to receive a food treat.

FIGURE 76.2 Twice as much dopamine was released when there was only a 50/50 chance of getting the food treat.

And in the third and fourth experiments, Sapolsky gave the treat 25 percent of the time or 75 percent of the time. Interestingly, when the treat was given either 25 percent of the time or 75 percent of the time, the dopamine release was the same, and it was halfway between the 100 percent and 50 percent chance of getting a food treat.

It’s All About Unpredictability And Anticipation

When the monkeys got the treat all the time, a fair amount of dopamine was released during the pressing phase. When getting the treat was unpredictable, the amount of dopamine went up. Unpredictability increases anticipation. In the 25- and 75-percent situations, there was actually more predictability. If the monkey got a food treat 25 percent of the time, it meant that they mostly didn’t get one. If they got a food treat 75 percent of the time, it meant that they mostly got one. Getting the food treat 50 percent of the time was the least predictable situation.

Figure 76.3 shows what the dopamine chart looked like with the 25-percent and 75-percent condition included.

FIGURE 76.3 All three conditions.

Instant Gratification Isn’t Always The Answer

So what do monkeys pressing a bar have to do with online shopping? When people place an order for a product online, they don’t get the product right away. They have to wait. And in the waiting is anticipation. As designers, we tend to think that instant gratification is of the utmost importance. But we should think instead about the entire shopping experience. It’s important to find the right spot on the anticipation/instant gratification continuum. If you go too far on the side of instant gratification, then there’s no dopamine-fueled anticipation. On the other hand, if you make people wait a really long time, they may be more annoyed with your brand than delighted. People are unlikely to be willing to wait three months for the shirt they ordered without your brand eroding.

Why Free Overnight Shipping May Not Be The Answer

I’m aware that when I talk about these issues, some of this is not logical and some online retailers don’t agree with me. But remember that these feelings that your customers are having aren’t necessarily logical either.

In interviews I conducted about online shopping, I was surprised to discover the following:

People didn’t necessarily want free overnight shipping. They wanted control over when the item(s) would arrive more than they wanted it overnight. For many urban people who didn’t have a car, it was especially important for them to be able to control the day and time of the delivery as much as possible.People commented on the excitement of waiting for the product to arrive.People wanted online shopping to be fun. They weren’t just looking for a quick and efficient way to shop.

Takeaways

You can make online shopping as exciting as in-store shopping if you build in anticipation.Give people as much control as possible over the day and time of delivery of their online purchases.