The scarcest resource in the 21st Century will not be technology, but it will be the users’ attention.
As easy as it sounds, we are living in an era of distractive design and technology today. Every single day we have to come across many annoying electronic devices that seek our constant attention. So how do you compete in this very digital world for the very scarce resource i.e., our attention?
An era of distractive technology
Technology has enormously changed human life, but on the other hand, there are tremendous side effects it has on our lifestyle. With an increase in the technological approach of problem-solving, we have lost peace and attention. Due to the involvement of technology to this level, a large number of people have distraction and anxiety problems. So how to design a product which can solve real-life problems without annoying and distraction. Let’s uncover some techniques to consider while creating a new product.
Why would product design companies focus on avoiding distractive designs in the first place?
Every single developer, product owner, and a designer dream of a user who pays undivided attention to the products. For them, an ideal product would be the one which their target market is keen to learn about, to download every new update and to know how to connect them to other devices. What they don’t realize is, everyone in the market has the same desire.
No wonder people end up being overwhelmed by the continuous flow of information, and they feel distracted from reality. According to Cisco, there will be a total of 50 billion devices by 2020. People might ask: Is the new technology suitable for us? We already have so many issues with the current tools. Do we need more?
Distractive design cannot survive
It’s critical to learn why the distractive design won’t survive. Developers need to design technology that becomes a vital part of the life of an end-user instead of a distraction. A non-distractive plan would provide several methods for smoothly capturing the attention of the user but only when it’s necessary.
Why is it essential to respect the user’s attention?
In today’s busy life, it is essential to take care of users’ attention. Your product should make your users happy by allowing them to accomplish their goals with the least mental cost. End-users love products that are useful and add extra value to their lives while consuming less effort and time. They prefer products that make them more comfortable, less stressed, and less distracted. Such types of products can add value to user satisfaction and allows them to use it for a long time.
Create successful products and avoid distractive designs by respecting users’ attention. Succesful products work well, launch and they are easy to use, and they remain unobtrusive. It is the first step to maintain your product position for a long time in the market. Secondly, it is a physiological fact that once the user gets used to any product, he stays loyal to it. Once a user finds a lovable product, he sticks to it and remains faithful. If you have lovable products, the good news is, your loyal customers will contribute to a more stable business.
Product design companies pay closer attention to the following essential things to ensure their product is successful.
Grasp Attention Only if it is Necessary
Grasping the attention doesn’t mean you have to send unnecessary push notifications all the time to inform your users about every single event in the application. Warn your user only if a significant incident happened. Tell them only if it needs user’s attention others wiser keep quiet and work in the background.
You can’t expect the user to interact all the time, like in real life, because it is time consuming and ultimately adds mental tiredness. Users usually try to get rid of products that have a regular notification system even for a small event. Be like tea cattle and try to communicate only if it requires user attention for a real problem.
Design Simple and Easy Interface
A great product design and development company tries to minimize the time a user needs to perform a specific task. Use images and icons to make it easy to understand the interface of the product.
Users love applications that perform a task within the first 3 seconds. So do not try to make it more complicated because it can result in distraction. Help users to understand it better by providing a user guide about every function. You can even shoot a small video clip about how to use the product.
Allow Users To Make Decision
Allow the user to take the final decision. Try to bring the best out of them by giving it to their hands. For example, Google provides a large number of search results, but it does not make the final decision on what to search and what to get. Do not consider your users as a robot. Give them the option to take discussions on their own and don’t try to be one of them.
Integrate Minimal Technology
Always design your product with the minimum use of technology. Try to use technology only if it is necessary. Automating everything with artificial intelligence would not help you to get user’s attention but result in distraction.
Try to focus on the core objective of the product design and do not add other technological features to make it more advances. It will not add innovation and technology but frustration and anxiety.
Bottom line
In the modern era of technology, attention becomes the scarcest resource for humankind. We have a large number of electronic devices to solve our daily life problems, but we do not have enough time to use them all. Unfortunately, we do not have enough time to give attention to every product. They became the source of distraction and anxiety. Product design companies should focus on designing products to capture user’s attention in a crowd of thousands of competitors. Make it simple and easy to use by offering a user-friendly graphical interface. Design your product to solve user problems in the minimum amount of time and mental effort.