00:00welcome to week four of my accommodator
00:03startup school this is going to be a
00:05great session we have Gary tan who is my
00:09good friend former partner at Y
00:11Combinator the founder of Posterous the
00:14founder of initialized capital which is
00:16what he's doing now and an amazing
00:19designer who's going to talk about about
00:22product design and and how to make that
00:25an advantage as you're building
00:27something people want
00:28and then following Gary we have cat man
00:32yeah like who who is my current partner
00:35at YC and Craig cannon to talk about how
00:39you can use public relations and and
00:42content to acquire users to to improve
00:48the prospects of your company before we
00:51get going I want to just mention a few
00:54rapid administrative matters if you miss
00:58an update I know everyone's trying to
01:01get their updates in so that they can
01:02meet the graduation criteria do not fear
01:07for now the easiest thing to do is to
01:10send your update in an email to startup
01:13school at Y Combinator comm it's okay
01:19secondly we have as many of you know
01:22just done a merge of a number of your
01:24groups hopefully it goes incredibly
01:28smoothly for everyone certainly it won't
01:30and if for example there's a problem
01:33with your group if there's no moderator
01:35please let us know as soon as you can
01:37again to start up school at Y Combinator
01:39calm that's the easiest way to do that
01:41if for some reason you think you're in
01:44the wrong group it doesn't work for some
01:47reason let us know and we'll accommodate
01:48you to the best extent that we can if
01:55you haven't launched we recommend that
01:58you launch if you at all can that sounds
02:01if that sounds like a broken record it
02:03should and with that let's get going I
02:08will I am hugely pleased to introduce
02:20thank you guys for coming all the way
02:22out and spending time with me to hear
02:24about design and well you know frankly
02:28design can be incredibly complicated and
02:31there's a lot to it but you know in
02:34hopefully an hour possibly a little bit
02:35longer we're gonna get through about a
02:37hundred slides so I tried to cram down
02:39basically everything that I knew that
02:42founders would get wrong or you know run
02:45into problems with all the time and so
02:49it's not going to be super in-depth it's
02:53think of this is more these are the
02:56terms that you need to know these are
02:58the basic concepts you need to know and
03:00you know personally I am actually
03:05self-taught and so you know the first
03:08thing that I really wanted to start off
03:09with is actually I mean it's almost
03:11cliche to associate Steve Jobs with
03:13design but I think that this is one of
03:16the most important things if you're in
03:18this room or watching on on the Internet
03:21you probably already understand this
03:23this is why you're starting a start-up
03:24it's that everything around you that you
03:27call life was made up by people that
03:30were no smarter than you and you can
03:32change it you can influence it and you
03:35can build your own things that other
03:37people can use and Steve says once you
03:42learn that you'll never be the same
03:43again and so the thing I really want to
03:47underscore here is what is design it's
03:50about making and building these things
03:52that other people can use and if you
03:56remove one word from that sentence it
04:00actually doesn't work and so what we're
04:04gonna explore today is you know well
04:06what is design why does it matter we're
04:09gonna go deep on both the concepts
04:12around product design interaction design
04:14and visual design but we're also gonna
04:17see tactically how do you actually do it
04:20yourself if even if you have no design
04:23background whatsoever if you're a human
04:25being if you're smart
04:27if you can put yourselves in the shoes
04:28of other people well you too can do it
04:32yourself and in fact as founders you
04:34probably need to and then finally we're
04:38going to walk through well you know when
04:41should you hire and how should you do it
04:43you know when should you use a
04:44consulting firm things like that
04:45practical matters so I spent my 10,000
04:50hours you know in actually I was trained
04:54as an engineer so I've never been to
04:55school for being a designer but I taught
04:59myself you know whether it's books
05:03I just always found myself not just in
05:05my code editor but also in Photoshop
05:08trying to dream up trying to figure out
05:10what should it look like how do I want
05:12people to feel what should I be building
05:14before I actually put it to code so I've
05:19been a program manager I was employing
05:22number 10 at Palantir and then YC funded
05:25me back in 2008 with a company called
05:29Posterous which we will actually use as
05:31an example for some of how I've thought
05:34about product in the past and how you
05:35might be able to apply that to your
05:37startup in the future and finally I
05:39spent you know 10 batches working with
05:42companies initially actually just as
05:44designer and residents so I sat here in
05:47this room doing office hours with more
05:49than a thousand founders just like you
05:52just starting out how do I build my
05:54first homepage what's my first time
05:56experience and then after that what do I
05:59how do I build a design process a
06:01product process and so what you're about
06:04to see is basically the distilling of
06:06those 10,000 hours one of the things
06:10that I am most excited about the you
06:13know when it comes to design is this
06:16ability to actually you know sort of put
06:19together the iconography of something
06:22that is very significant and so you know
06:25when I joined talent here's just 10
06:28people and we got to design this logo
06:30and one of the my favorite things about
06:32it is this mix of both meaning and
06:37aesthetics and so on the face of it
06:40you know one of the things I really
06:42wanted to do was sort of really
06:47underscore what Palantir was about and
06:49so you know at one level this word mark
06:52but with this specific logo is actually
06:57a Palantir it's actually an orb on a
06:59pedestal from Lord of the Rings it let
07:01you see into your enemy's secrets so on
07:03a very literal level it made sense but a
07:08more subtle level of this that was very
07:11important to us as we were building that
07:13company was that this is also a human
07:17reading a book and so one of the major
07:19themes of Palantir broadly is that you
07:23know we're at this moment in society
07:25where computers are able to help us
07:27understand the world around us in a much
07:30more fundamental way and so what I can
07:33you know what a computer is is basically
07:34the infinite book and so that was just
07:38one example of where I've seen you know
07:40design actually will help put together a
07:42culture for a company and it's fun it's
07:46just fun to be able to translate you
07:48know all of these different pieces of a
07:51company and why we're here what it's
07:53about into something that can you know
07:55go on a t-shirt or on hat and I had
07:57actually and so really really big
08:01disclaimer I'm an engineer by training
08:03I've never went to school I'd you know
08:05never went to school formally for this
08:07stuff totally self-taught you know I was
08:11a founder so I applied this just like
08:14you I did it myself and now I'm a VC
08:17basically by accident and so the things
08:20that I'm talking about today will be a
08:21hyper simplification you know if we
08:24wanted to we could turn this into easily
08:26a 10-week course just about each given
08:29section but instead what I want this to
08:32be is a road map so you might hear these
08:36terms you know there will be times in
08:38your startup like perhaps now perhaps
08:41tomorrow that you'll want to actually
08:42start applying these things you know
08:44Google's your friend like there's
08:46everything in the world that you need to
08:48know it's out there and so
08:50you know the computer is truly the
08:53bicycle for the mind and so the other
08:57thing that I really want to underscore
08:58is you know we talk about design as the
09:00singular thing on its own but it truly
09:02is deeply integrated in this broader
09:05picture of you know how do you create
09:07great products it's not just design on
09:10its own it's how design actually
09:11interfaces with all the other pieces of
09:14the pie so you know it takes great
09:16product management you know in addition
09:19to that great design and engineering and
09:21customer support it's all of these
09:22things and especially at your stage you
09:25know don't box yourself in you know you
09:28have to know that you are the the
09:30Shepherd of your product and you're
09:32going to have to do every single one of
09:33these things so what is design why does
09:37it matter in a nutshell it really is
09:41just these two very simple things to me
09:43it's a it's just creating things for
09:45users that work well and delight them
09:48and those are two sometimes disparate
09:50things that will as well as we'll see
09:52you know some of the most inspiring
09:56companies to me in the world you know
10:00they have design as a very core piece of
10:02what they do and so you know you can't
10:05talk about design without talking about
10:07Steve Jobs and Apple obviously but the
10:10first misconception that is probably the
10:12most common misconception is that design
10:16it truly is not merely how it looks it
10:18is actually also how it works and that's
10:21why in the slides that we you know that
10:23are coming up we're gonna talk a lot
10:24about that process on how it works you
10:27know what should it do and you know what
10:30are the problems I like to think about
10:33like and you know I just got my first
10:35like a camera and I kind of can't
10:38believe I waited this long I love to
10:39finally get one but you know one of the
10:43really interesting things about Leica as
10:45a brand it truly is this beautiful
10:48design this incredible brand but then it
10:50is also fun functional it's also about
10:53the your deeply the functionality what
10:56you know why is this thing better than
10:58all the other things that existed before
11:01so you know a review from 1929 actually
11:04just straight-up told you that you know
11:06a Leica at that time was basically
11:09magical it was you know eight times
11:11lighter and you know ten times cheaper
11:14it was an incredible machine for its
11:17time and it's still a pretty amazing
11:19machine to other physical products as
11:23well one of the great design
11:26inspirations for me and for a lot of
11:28other people out there is actually DD
11:30roms who built all of these very simple
11:33incredibly beautiful products that were
11:36incredibly usable and one of the most
11:38important things that I think that he
11:41really showed us in his designs is that
11:43good design is actually as little design
11:45as possible so minimalism and so that's
11:48you know a point that will return to
11:50several times in this presentation but
11:53you know the key thing here is how do
11:55you create things that are not burdened
11:56with non-essentials you know it really
11:59is about purity about simplicity and you
12:02know just to drive at home I mean this
12:05is a guiding sort of force and sort of
12:07everything that you know we see in the
12:09marketplace today it's you know history
12:12doesn't repeat it rhymes and you know
12:15another theme that we'll get back to in
12:17this talk is actually simply the fact
12:19that there's very little and totally new
12:21Under the Sun in fact as designers you
12:24probably shouldn't be spending too much
12:26time trying to be extremely novel
12:28because novelty is the opposite of
12:32functionality and so what do I mean by
12:37that earlier we talked about form versus
12:41function in the form of delight and
12:44works well these were sort of the two
12:45yin and yang the opposing forces when
12:48you're trying to put together a design
12:50you know we obviously always want
12:52something to be beautiful want something
12:54to make you feel good make the user feel
12:56good but at the same time you know and
12:59delight is also a part of novelty it's
13:01that hey this is new I've never seen
13:03this before this is interesting you know
13:05I want to see more of this like let me
13:08turn the page let me click next but at
13:11the same time function is the thing that
13:14that's the steak that's you know if if
13:16delight is the sizzle and works well as
13:19a steak that's why we're here we're
13:20trying to get something done and so you
13:24know part of the problem with you know
13:27form over function and this actually
13:28happens even in the best products I mean
13:31I'd like to call out Apple for it's not
13:34I mean that is you know the definition
13:36of form over function I mean this is a
13:39photo from their marketing website and
13:41certainly it's incredibly novel
13:43certainly it serves the purpose of a
13:45marketer to be able to have this very
13:47novel different thing and differentiate
13:49it from you know all of these other
13:52smartphones out there but in terms of
13:54function when I'm watching a video this
13:56is categorically worse like why am i you
13:59know I'm not here for the knotch I'm
14:00here for the content and this happens
14:03all over the place you might go to a
14:05restaurant later tonight and it's a
14:07beautiful restaurant incredibly well
14:09decorated a very very thoughtful
14:12incredible food but you'll walk in and
14:14you'll sit down at this seat and gosh
14:18it's so romantic but I really can't read
14:20my menu I can't even order like I you
14:22know this is again an example of form
14:25this idea you know well we want to make
14:27people feel like this is a romantic
14:29premium incredible experience but then
14:31if I can't even read the menu why am I
14:34and so and this happens all the time I
14:38mean you know they're one of my favorite
14:42books that I highly recommend that you
14:43read is a Don Norma's design of everyday
14:46things and he basically has a whole
14:47chapter about this on doors that are
14:50incredibly beautiful but you have no
14:52idea how to use them and so this is you
14:55know one of the more absurd situations
14:58of like someone actually had a right
14:59pull on this thing because too many
15:02people were just could not figure out
15:04how to use a door a door is one of the
15:06simplest things that you could possibly
15:07try to use but you know when you put
15:11form over function if you put the wrong
15:13door or you know it's too elegant
15:14there's not it's not clear how you use
15:17it well that's you know missing the
15:19point and so if you take a moment and
15:24try to think through like why is it that
15:28over function so much in you know the
15:30things we use the products we use just
15:33walking around in our daily lives you
15:35know why does this happen you know
15:37clearly this should not happen and so
15:40that form should follow function and
15:43deep down I really want to emphasize the
15:47one thing that frankly as founders I
15:50think you need to spend a lot of time on
15:53and that's empathy this is the thing
15:56that I admire you know one of the things
15:58that I admired the most about my time
16:01both working at YC but also as a founder
16:04going through Y Combinator back in 2008
16:07it was that sitting down with Paul
16:09Graham he would give us such incredible
16:11advice about specifically how what are
16:15your users thinking you know what are
16:17they feeling what why are they here
16:20and really being able to peel away the
16:21layers of like you know I know we're
16:23sitting in a room looking at this
16:24particular UI but you know put yourself
16:26in the shoes of someone who has never
16:30and this is something we'll come back to
16:32again and again you know and you know
16:35one of the things that I put actually in
16:37you know my recommendations for design
16:39resources and on its face it's kind of
16:42absurd this is this depression-era book
16:44written by Dale Carnegie a self-help
16:46book but I actually think that it should
16:48basically be required reading for
16:50founders it's that you know one must
16:54actually become genuinely interested in
16:56other people you actually have to see
16:58their point of view you you don't want
17:00to be able to be sympathetic like
17:01understand what are their ideas what do
17:03they understand and you know what do
17:05they actually want and you know this
17:07goes back to YC itself the first day you
17:09get into I see you get a t-shirt that
17:11says you know make something people want
17:14and I think I don't know if they still
17:17do this but do they do you still get a
17:20t-shirt if you get an exit that says I
17:24made something people want yes I need to
17:26get mine by the way oh shoot okay maybe
17:32that's why I haven't gotten mine yet oh
17:37so one of the things that's really
17:39interesting about building highly
17:41technological products is that we often
17:44think about them is incredibly
17:46complicated you know machinery but the
17:50most useful mental model for me in what
17:52I've been doing is actually that you
17:54know to not think of it as you know
17:55building a car or even building a
17:57website or you know writing software or
18:00anything like that it's actually about
18:02throwing the best possible party you
18:05possibly can and so if you think about
18:07great parties you've been to there's no
18:10you're ushered right in a human being
18:12some ideally someone you know someone
18:14who's very friendly comes to you and
18:15says hey welcome I am so glad you're
18:18here here are your friends oh let me
18:22you know beers are over here and so you
18:25know that sort of politeness that
18:27inviting welcomed nature that
18:30thoughtfulness that's something that you
18:33really have to keep in mind as you do
18:35you know your work as not just a
18:37designer but as a founder and the key
18:40piece here is actually knowing what
18:42problem you're actually solving just
18:45being very crystal clear and you know
18:47this is sort of if I'm you know starting
18:49to sound like a you know sort of if I'm
18:52repeating myself I mean that that in a
18:54nutshell is I think what you're going to
18:56get over and over again at startup
18:57school is that really how do how do we
19:00be as crisp as possible about here's the
19:02problem in you know that we need to
19:04solve and this is sort of the core tenet
19:07of design thinking as well and so part
19:10of the problem with not knowing what
19:12your problem is and in going back to
19:14lack of empathy and going back to you
19:18know basically form over function is
19:22that if you don't know who that user is
19:25what their problem is then you are in
19:28danger of creating something like this
19:30so if you you know to basically each of
19:32these do sort of talk about a particular
19:35price you know they refer to a
19:36particular problem that someone might
19:38have but if you buy any of these
19:40products and you have that problem
19:41you're trying to solve now you have two
19:43problems if anything each one of these
19:47these inventions were created mainly to
19:50serve the central problem of their the
19:52inventor of the inventor wanting
19:54something to solve and so you know this
19:56is the opposite again like you know just
19:58to give more examples this is the
20:00opposite of empathy this is something
20:02this is you putting novelty putting you
20:04know one's own interests ahead of your
20:08users of society of you know the people
20:10around you and so at the end of the day
20:13if there's no problem then there's no
20:15solution it ends up being designed for
20:17its own sake and you know design for its
20:19own sake isn't design its art you know
20:22and there's nothing wrong with art I
20:23love art but you know that's not what we
20:25here for actually it's you know founders
20:28creating things that people don't
20:29actually need or you know engineers do
20:33this too we you know make stuff that we
20:34think we need and then actually it's not
20:37something you know it's not better it's
20:39not novel it's not something that other
20:40people actually want and that's a
20:42problem so there are so many types of
20:46design you know it's no mistake that
20:49some of the most obvious examples of
20:51companies that are designed driven there
20:53are actually hardware companies there
20:55are as many kinds of design as you know
20:59types of things that humans need it's no
21:01mistake by that you know architecture is
21:04absolutely a form of design branding and
21:07identity you know communication design
21:10being able to communicate something
21:11using data and iconography or Maps or
21:15charts furniture design you know a piece
21:19of furniture easily has all of the
21:21Meccan all the same mechanisms as
21:23anything else that a human being might
21:25use a landscape design how does someone
21:27go into a place how do they use it where
21:30you know where do they know where to go
21:32you know packaging so how does this make
21:36me feel when this arrives with my
21:37doorstep if this is a gift you know why
21:39is there a gift box anyway and you know
21:41what you know what is the form and
21:44function of each piece each piece of
21:46this physical object or you know
21:48transportation design like a car is one
21:50of the most evocative things it's you're
21:52almost entirely pure emotion but for the
21:57people in this room you know I think
21:59that these are probably the ones that
22:01most relevant to you and we're gonna
22:02spend a bunch of time talking about that
22:04and so this is again an extreme
22:07oversimplification but the way I would
22:11break it down in terms of design for
22:13startups really is product design so
22:15what's the problem and who's it for
22:18interaction design so you know how do we
22:20actually do that right how do I actually
22:23you know create wireframes create the
22:26flows create the sort of intermediate
22:29step between that and the you know pixel
22:33perfect ready to go ready to implement
22:35thing and the visual design actually
22:38really is about that last mile and you
22:40know part of the reason why we divide
22:42this up this way you know to be frank
22:45the ideal is that you have a co-founder
22:48on your team who's able to do all of
22:50these and then if they can code that's
22:51amazing if they year they can do
22:52business to you that's incredible all
22:54right but that's obviously a unicorn
22:56like you know unicorns are incredibly
22:58rare they do exist though and I'm sure
23:02there are a few unicorns in this room as
23:04a matter of fact and if you know
23:06certainly quite a few watching online so
23:09you know shout out to the unicorns in
23:12the room and so part of it is you will
23:18find very specific people who have
23:21experience and who are extremely good
23:23usually at one of these things if you
23:25can find someone who's good at a few of
23:27them you're really really blessed and
23:30if you can find someone who can do all
23:31of those things immediately make them a
23:33co-founder but only if you've known them
23:35for a while so going back to the overall
23:40product process I mean there is sort of
23:42a sequential aspect to it truly you
23:45start with product design you know in
23:48each of these it really is a little bit
23:50of a water flow sometimes you really
23:52can't start interaction design without
23:54actually capturing requirements and then
23:57finally of course engineering you know
24:00ideally you're kind of in conversation
24:02all the way through but you know
24:05engineering and actually implementation
24:08often that is something that happens
24:09afterwards so let's dig in a little bit
24:12to product design and so
24:15what's funny is I'm cheating a little
24:16bit here so I am actually mashing
24:19product management in to this but to me
24:22I actually just can't do I can't do
24:26product without I can't do the design
24:29process without doing this part and so
24:32it really is thinking about the business
24:33case what's the problem who has the
24:36problem what are all the possible ways
24:38to solve the problem and what's the
24:40actual priority for each of those parts
24:43and so you know indulge me I know this
24:47isn't exactly formally a part of design
24:49I just don't know how you could possibly
24:51do design without doing this part too
24:53and you know every single one of these
24:56things has a fairly specific deliverable
24:58and so in this case you know the
25:01deliverable here is a PR d-- a product
25:04requirement document or you know you can
25:07also call it a spec and so the
25:11interesting thing is there's not really
25:13one way to do product design just as
25:17this you could call this product
25:18management some Microsoft calls a
25:21program management and then some
25:23organizations you know sort of
25:25de-emphasize some of this stuff and they
25:27just call it project management but the
25:29project manager still actually has to
25:31think through all of these things so you
25:34know the labels matter less the fact
25:37that you do them matters a lot more and
25:39so this is actually the the actual
25:44content of my YC application from you
25:47know basically January of 2008 or I
25:50think it was February and so everything
25:53that you know it you really do sort of
25:56have to start with a problem statement
25:57it's uh you know what we were trying to
26:00solve is this ability to post online we
26:04looked at online services at the time
26:07you know blog platforms have been out
26:09for a while but they're you know pretty
26:11stale actually and the iPhone was brand
26:14new and then we looked at email as sort
26:17of this Universal way to get content
26:19online and we thought this is a novel
26:22different way to actually do it and so
26:25one of the most valuable things that you
26:27can do once you have that
26:29the statement is actually to think
26:30through who are these very very specific
26:33people who have this problem and so I'm
26:37gonna use Posterous an example to walk
26:40you through personas and so personas are
26:44just one tool for designers or product
26:47people to think through who are these
26:50very very specific people and it's just
26:54you know there's not really one way to
26:55do this either but this is what we did
26:57you know we thought about our users
26:59really is three different types David
27:01the dad is sort of one of them you know
27:03we kind of want to identify them as
27:05human as you know specific human beings
27:07like this is a very abridged version
27:09that you might do you know sometimes you
27:11fill them in on backstory like what
27:13school did they go to or you know what
27:15kind of family did they grow up in or
27:17you know or very specific things like
27:19you know what type of phone do they use
27:22or what type of computer do they use did
27:23you know back then it was did they use
27:25Internet Explorer or did they use Chrome
27:27did they use you know I'm not sure if
27:29Safari was even out yet you know what
27:32are they used for email you're what type
27:35of technology what level of comfort with
27:37technology do they have and so that will
27:41actually help you a lot when you're
27:42making decisions about well what are you
27:45trying to do and you know what are the
27:47what are the features that really matter
27:49another persona we had was actually
27:52David's family and so we you know
27:55captured this in the form of grace the
27:57grandma you know and some of this is
28:00actually in tension as well she's a
28:02little bit less she has it uses an a
28:05sous netbook she uses hotmail she
28:08doesn't really understand exactly how to
28:09use it and part of the reason why this
28:12is incredibly important is thinking
28:14through different you know both modality
28:16and level of comfort with technologies
28:21often some of the most important things
28:23like you know you guys some of you in
28:24this room are actively thinking about
28:27building things for totally late adopter
28:30industries you know some of the best YC
28:33companies in the past five years have
28:34been you know they're being deployed to
28:36construction to you know global freight
28:40and so if you walk into any office in
28:42you know you're gonna find some
28:43tech-savvy people but not a lot and so
28:46you know even for you know enterprise
28:50companies for b2b companies in the room
28:52these personas it's still a very
28:54valuable exercise because it makes it
28:56very clear you know you might have your
28:58decision maker you might have your
28:59executive and then you might have your
29:01in line level worker and there are
29:02capabilities with you know their
29:04motivations why they're here they might
29:07be very different and finally we also
29:10had you know this was the dawning of
29:13social media is sort of the Cambrian era
29:16of social networks and so it wasn't
29:18clear that Twitter was going to win yet
29:20there were sort of a dozen different
29:22social networks that were happening and
29:24so this was another persona she you know
29:26she had very specific needs and so we
29:29were trying to build something for her
29:31as well and so one of the things you
29:35really do have to do as you think
29:38through a sprint you know whether it's
29:40the next two weeks or the next month you
29:42know the shorter the better frankly you
29:45know a PRG document basically will
29:47detail here are the actual features of
29:50what we're trying to build and so
29:53there's not really one way to do it you
29:55just get them try to bucket them into
29:58coherent features that make sense so in
30:01our case you know one way to do it for
30:04us would be post by email with plain
30:06text that's just one coherent thing
30:07that's a capability you know you can
30:09hand this to an engineer and they would
30:10understand what exactly that was and
30:14then post by email without an account so
30:16one of the things that we did for
30:17Posterous that was very novel was that
30:19we didn't have a signup flow on our home
30:22page all you had to do was send an email
30:24from whatever email client you actually
30:26already had and you could attach
30:28anything to it and we would just reply
30:30with your new URL and what we that was
30:33very intentional in that we wanted to
30:36cement a totally new novel behavior that
30:39nobody had ever done so you could just
30:42email post at posture calm and we take
30:44care of the rest the interesting thing
30:47was that wasn't the the capability
30:48itself was not novel there were other
30:51people who were doing it but it wasn't a
30:54central part of the flow
30:56and so you know once your cape once
31:00you're able to do bait the basics of it
31:01you know there are other things that you
31:03want to be able to do photo attachments
31:06being able to take multiple attachments
31:08and turn into a web gallery being able
31:10to support videos and then finally a
31:13security aspect that was very important
31:15for us early on was that you know we
31:17launched at TechCrunch
31:18Michael Arrington himself actually
31:20reviewed us and he immediately he knew
31:23that if he started using it everyone
31:26else in the valley at the time
31:27definitely had his email address and so
31:29he almost immediately tried to get his
31:32technical friends to try and hack him
31:34and luckily we had already figured that
31:37one out so it wasn't possible for
31:38someone to actually spoof his Posterous
31:42email address and that was novel and you
31:44know actually important for us and so I
31:48want to pause there and actually say
31:51earlier when I said it was these steps I
31:54actually lied there's actually an
31:56additional step in here this whole
31:58exercise when you're talking about users
32:01this is actually called user research so
32:03if you see that term out there if you
32:05you know end up trying to hire people
32:07for that role this is sort of where it
32:09fits it's that you know then frankly if
32:12you're working on your startup you
32:14should be you know just doing this as a
32:16matter of course like you should not be
32:18you know outsourcing this this is just a
32:21basic piece of customer development
32:23understanding your users spending time
32:26with them you know being able to write
32:28down specific personas for these are the
32:30types of users we want to we want to use
32:33our product and to be as basically crisp
32:37as possible around you know what their
32:39needs are you know that we call that
32:40user research and this actually does
32:42done right it does actually happen
32:44before you even you know start thinking
32:46about what problems solve at some level
32:49so you know if some of you out there are
32:52trying to figure out what problem to
32:54solve sometimes you could just go and
32:56talk to people who you want to build
32:57software for and that has worked for
32:59people that that will shake out their
33:05so once you actually know what these
33:07requirements are the next step really is
33:09prioritization and so this is just a
33:12guideline this is just work for me in
33:13the past there's not one way to do it
33:15but you know this is more so basic
33:19project management 101 but being able to
33:23assign these priorities to the specific
33:26features is actually a very very useful
33:28and important exercise you know p0 is
33:31pretty self-explanatory just start on
33:33the this is just the core thing if we
33:35don't do this then you know what are we
33:37here for and so you know p1 is what you
33:42would consider you know the next the
33:44next obvious step you just wouldn't ship
33:46without it but maybe it's not quite as
33:49core and then you know if you think
33:52about this in the terms of say a two
33:54week or three weeks sprint you know you
33:56try and get all the p0 bugs the p1 bugs
33:59you know then actually sorry I skipped
34:01ahead a little bit in that you know if
34:04you haven't started using a bug database
34:05in your software development you
34:07absolutely should in fact that's one of
34:10the key ways that you you know you as a
34:12as a small team you might not need it
34:14but as you grow your team it can be one
34:16of the most fundamental ways that you
34:18can make sure that you're doing the
34:20right things as a product you know
34:22especially as your team grows having a
34:24bug database and assigning these
34:26priorities and you know it doesn't have
34:28to be this you as a team could you
34:30figure out what these priorities mean
34:32for you but being able to sort of manage
34:35a given sprint just at the beginning by
34:38putting these bugs in linking to a PRD
34:40document or all of the you know the
34:42wireframes or the visual comps that you
34:45know an engineer needs that can be one
34:47way coherently you can run your whole
34:49product and engineering organization and
34:53so you know as we go down one of the
34:57things that has always worked for me is
34:59actually you know a lot of the devil in
35:01the details is actually in priority two
35:03and three because things will always go
35:05wrong almost guaranteed I mean I just
35:08have never been through any sprint or
35:10any release that you know they're just
35:12things that are totally unforeseen that
35:15break things and so part of the reason
35:17why this priority prioritization is very
35:19important is that it makes sure that you
35:23try to set up realistic goals you know
35:26one of the most dangerous things in
35:27product development period is that if
35:29you don't have these priorities you
35:31don't know what to cut and so that
35:33two-week sprint might become three weeks
35:35four weeks six weeks you know two months
35:38three months and then you never
35:40right you know and so we'll talk about
35:43that in a little bit but this is really
35:45why priority matters and so in this case
35:50you know it's pretty straightforward
35:52post by email with plain text hey that's
35:54must-haves we're just gonna start that
35:55first and then one of the things that
35:59you know you don't always write this in
36:01the spec but it's something that's just
36:03very useful as you think through this
36:06stage of your product development
36:08process it's really helpful to think
36:10through who of my personas who of my
36:13users need or want this and you know is
36:15that important what's the interaction
36:16between them you know post by email
36:20without an account well some of our less
36:23technical users are actually very scared
36:25by signing up for new new products and
36:29so being able to do this without an
36:30account really opens up our user base to
36:34the whole set of people who are not very
36:36technically savvy and then Photo
36:40attachments support David and Irene as
36:42power users they both you know it's 2008
36:44they you know they had the newest most
36:47beautiful iPhone and so is immediately
36:49the thing that they really really wanted
36:51to do and you know p2u as you go down
36:56you can kind of break down what is
36:59important and what is less important so
37:01you know to be frank this has never
37:04happened before in my life but if you're
37:05very very lucky and your product
37:07development goes awesome in that
37:08particular sprint that's often one thing
37:11that you can just start you know it's
37:12valuable to have p2 and p3 things as a
37:16part of a given sprint simply because
37:18sometimes you'll just have extra time
37:20and someone will be able to get farther
37:22along than you hoped and so the other
37:24way to you know reason why it's useful
37:26is that then you can think of
37:28your product across different Sprint's
37:30so you might be doing a release this
37:32month and then p3 file video file
37:35support at least you know if you're a
37:38software engineer knows that that's
37:39something that they want to do well when
37:41they're factoring when they're actually
37:42writing those classes or writing you
37:44know writing the library or architecture
37:47of that code they'll know that they
37:49can't make it just for photos they'll
37:51also be able to support other types of
37:53media and that can actually save
37:55everyone on the team a lot more rework
37:57and so you know one of the key
38:01difficulties of product is always trying
38:04to figure out you know what are we doing
38:05now and what are we doing later and so
38:07priority and being able to be very crisp
38:10about these requirements that's one of
38:11the most fundamental ways that you can
38:13make sure like release to release you
38:15you know that the products going in the
38:17right direction and so that's you know
38:21really really product management 101 but
38:24if you do this you will be far ahead of
38:28pretty much you know a lot of your peers
38:31a lot of pee a lot of people don't even
38:33do this very basic step of writing down
38:36what these features are who are they for
38:37where the problems were trying to solve
38:39and then what are the respective
38:41priorities you know and one of the
38:45classic reasons why you know we kind of
38:47talked about this already but if you do
38:49these the prioritization up front then
38:52p.m. again product gets very easy
38:55because you can just cut off the bottom
38:56everyone sort of knows well you know
38:59we're gonna start with P zeros first
39:01then P ones and then oh if we're ahead
39:03like let's do the P twos and the P 3s
39:06well again the key thing that everyone
39:10and all of you will run into this you
39:12really have three things in front of you
39:15scope quality and time so you know how
39:18much you do that's the part of the
39:19prioritization quality the reality of it
39:23is this is not encompassed by your PRD
39:27it's just purely in how people use your
39:30product you know how many bugs are there
39:32are there things in there that just
39:34don't work and that you know that's sort
39:36of always an issue and finally time you
39:42you know do all the features you want
39:44with the highest possible quality but
39:47you know you might have to slip your
39:49date by two weeks three weeks four weeks
39:51and you know if you don't cut scope
39:53likewise well you might be able to hit
39:56your time but you know users are going
39:58to run into thousand bucks in production
40:00and you're not gonna like that and so if
40:03we work backwards from that then this is
40:07precisely the process you use to sort of
40:09fight that and so you know the other
40:13thing that is very common there are the
40:15reason why prioritization is incredibly
40:17important is that you know without this
40:20well you you basically can head off a
40:23lot of really strange product decisions
40:25at the pass and so if you ever get
40:28incredibly frustrated with you know
40:30you're deep in some settings panel in
40:33you know your iPhone or something you
40:35know any sort of product and you're like
40:37why is it broken like that well it's
40:39probably beeping it's probably because
40:41someone failed to do this properly and
40:44so they just said you know what eff it
40:46we'll just ship it and so you know it's
40:50a real danger like product quality and
40:51products you know really really fail
40:53simply because prioritization and these
40:56basic requirements are not really
40:58figured out and so finally you know and
41:03the classic thing that you know personas
41:06really help you with is sort of this
41:08classic trade-off of you're gonna have
41:10users who are incredibly savvy and some
41:14people who are incredibly unsaved II and
41:16how do you actually deal with that how
41:18do you think through not just what
41:20you're going to do but also how do you
41:22represent it on the screen and so all of
41:24these things are incredibly important
41:26for this very first part which is just
41:29pure product design so interaction
41:32design so you know who the user is you
41:35know what the problem is how do we
41:37actually translate that into you know
41:40something that you know you can actually
41:41start working on and so the question is
41:44you ask how will they actually do it
41:47what are their goals you know and how do
41:49they achieve it and so at the end of the
41:50day what you're trying to get to is
41:53either a prototype or a wireframe and so
41:56what these things are are basically you
42:00might use it a tool like OmniGraffle or
42:02you know there's quite a few prototyping
42:06wireframing tools that are out there and
42:08what you want to do is figure out just
42:12the text just the call to actions just
42:15the flow screen the screen you don't
42:19want to care you don't want to care
42:20about color you want to care about you
42:23know really how it looks what font you
42:25use you don't even really have to worry
42:27about layout too much though it is you
42:30know I would start thinking about layout
42:32you know as a part of this process and
42:36so the most interesting important aspect
42:41of interaction design is actually that
42:43people treat you know then this is kind
42:45of a very shocking thing to me I did
42:46research at Stanford for the late
42:49professor cliff Nass and he built an
42:52entire career at Stanford based on this
42:54notion that people treat computers like
42:57people and you know it turns out that if
43:00a computer is polite to you you know a
43:05person will be likewise polite back or
43:07you know being negative will sort of
43:09elicit the same response almost every
43:12psychological principle that
43:14psychologists have proven cliff nasan
43:17byron Reeves and BJ Fogg at Stanford
43:20were able to show that people mirror
43:23with computers even without any sort of
43:26anthropomorphic assists without without
43:29you know Clippy without you know an
43:30avatar without anything like that truly
43:33every interaction you have with
43:35computers they're actually a
43:36conversation as a conversation that
43:38happens over and over and over again
43:40because it's written in pixels is
43:42written in design it's written in code
43:43and so what is this about at the end a
43:47day like you know interaction design is
43:49actually about commands it's actually
43:52about telling people what to do and you
43:55actually doing it people are incredibly
43:57suggestible actually one of the most
43:59interesting psychological phenomenon
44:00that I can think of it maybe explains
44:04Trump and a lot of other things
44:06actually when you absorb media whether
44:09it's reading or you know any type of
44:11media period you actually read that
44:13stuff in your own voice and so that
44:15actually becomes you know deeper that
44:17you know kind of a part of you and so as
44:20an interaction designer and interaction
44:21designers not merely the person who
44:23figures out where the buttons go or what
44:24the layout might be or what the flow is
44:26it's also they're also the writers they
44:28actually are trying to influence people
44:31directly by using direct command
44:34language and so this is actually one of
44:36the most common mistakes that founders
44:38make they write like this and well you
44:42know so just to put a point on this
44:44really command language is about you
44:46know people will do whatever you tell
44:47them to do you just do really do have to
44:50tell them and so you know this is a
44:53super common thing in fact I'm pretty
44:55sure you know a lot of you are making
44:57this mistake in your home page copy and
44:59your design and your first-time
45:00experience you know it's passive voice
45:04your your you know you're not showing
45:06you're telling and you're just
45:09describing something about what you're
45:11doing and sort of this you know sort of
45:13third party disembodied voice and I
45:17thought a lot about why this is I
45:18actually think big companies actually
45:22can get away with this if you go to most
45:24big company websites they are actually
45:26written in a very passive voice you know
45:29if you go to Microsoft's homepage and
45:31start clicking through the products like
45:32the product names are like blah blah
45:34blah server Edition admin you know 2009
45:38whatever it is like this insane word
45:40salad and if you read it you have no
45:43idea what that product is and who's it
45:45for but Microsoft can do that because
45:48it's incredibly big and it has a scale
45:50that's unimaginable and it has a sales
45:53force that will go out and sell their
45:55product and they have incredible amounts
45:57of capital but you as a start-up cannot
45:59afford that and so everything that you
46:02write needs to be direct it has to be a
46:05direct personal voice and you need the
46:07call to action be incredibly obvious
46:09like you know the previous you know why
46:12is that sigh why is this so small like
46:14this happens all the time actually
46:15people never are opinionated
46:18about what you want the next user to do
46:20and so you know this is an extreme
46:22example obviously but you know what you
46:24want is you know contrast you want to be
46:27incredibly direct you want to use
46:29command language and you want the call
46:31to action be you know someone goes to
46:33that webpage and they just know they go
46:35to that mobile app and they just know
46:37what they need to do so you know the
46:43other part of interaction design that is
46:44actually also very important is trying
46:45to figure out how do you you know aside
46:48from direct command language how do you
46:49get people to actually do things and so
46:52obviously this is an oversimplification
46:54but I generally think about this in two
46:57ways one is how do you remove actions
47:00one of the things that Paul Graham
47:02really directly you know called out to
47:05me on our signup page back in 2008 was
47:07why the hell do you have a confirm
47:09password you know well I mean you have
47:13their email address if they if it's
47:14broken just ask them to you know click
47:17forgot password it's fine
47:18it's really not that bad to just have
47:21them type a wrong password and have them
47:22recover it and most people won't type
47:24the wrong password so it's fine
47:26why would you for this strange case that
47:29doesn't happen that often and it's
47:31actually really interesting if you
47:33remove that confirmed password it
47:36actually will increase conversion on a
47:38signup flow by as much as 50 percent on
47:41average so it's significant you know
47:44cognitive load is an incredibly real
47:45issue the other strategy that you can
47:48really use is how do you chop up an
47:50action if it's incredibly complicated
47:53how do you break it up into steps and so
47:55you know I like to use this example this
47:57is Lego Windows 95 is this absurd you
48:00know I mean one of the first Wizards
48:01really to come out but you know I think
48:04that there is an a timeless aspect to it
48:06you know the other thing that I often
48:08think about because you know some of you
48:10in this room will be doing fairly b2b
48:12enterprise you just like complicated
48:14configuration steps you know kind of
48:17like doing your taxes actually you don't
48:19have to do the taxes that often but when
48:21you do it can get really complicated you
48:22got you know you might have branching
48:24flow you might have a lot that you have
48:26to take care of and so the other thing
48:28that you can do is actually chop up
48:31more intelligently with a wizard and so
48:34you know these are a couple patterns
48:36that you can use and then I want to kind
48:38of stop there and sort of really point
48:40out another super big misconception that
48:43in beginning designers or people doing
48:46yourself you know have you know they
48:48sort of run into all the time they're
48:50always trying to do something incredibly
48:51novel and at the interaction design
48:53stage I don't recommend that
48:56I actually really recommend that you
48:58just steal what works and so you know
49:01don't reinvent the wheel that's very
49:03important for you to be aware of what
49:05are the conventions and things that
49:06people already use and so you know these
49:10are very basic ones for instance you
49:12know pull-to-refresh
49:12is something that works incredibly well
49:14a lot of apps do it but you know it's
49:17become a convention because it's easy
49:19and natural to use it's satisfying it's
49:21great to use swipe left to right you
49:24know this was from mailbox app which
49:26sold to Dropbox and so you know there's
49:29a reason why you know mailbox was
49:31incredibly innovative but the reality
49:34was like you guys generally don't need
49:36to and you can get really really far
49:38with just design patterns and so you
49:42know this does take a little bit of time
49:44and frankly anyone who uses computers
49:46for any amount of time you can just
49:48click through all of these things and
49:49you'll just you know the the you know
49:53synapses of recognition will just kind
49:55of come to you you'll just realize oh my
49:57god there's actually so much that you
50:00know you have already seen that you can
50:02just steal wholesale and that's actually
50:05what is desirable for you for most of
50:07your designs you don't want to be novel
50:09you want to be something that gets
50:10people to the right place as quickly as
50:14and so they're just so many visa I can't
50:17possibly cover the home like that would
50:19be its own 10-week course so you know I
50:22highly recommend you know go to that
50:24website and check it out and so one of
50:28the really interesting things I do want
50:30to call out and you know it's sort of a
50:32danger zone for using design patterns
50:33you know one of the more common ones
50:35that I've seen is actually you know
50:37using the wrong kind of pagination like
50:39you know one of the things that
50:42can be very frustrating to use I've seen
50:44you know people designed for the web and
50:46they actually use these little dots to
50:49represent where you are in sort of a
50:52swiping navigation but you're on the web
50:54and you're using a touchpad
50:56and that makes no sense at all and in
50:58fact it's really really bad and so you
51:00have to be incredibly careful with
51:02mixing modalities you know and even each
51:05one of these design patterns as you
51:06implement them you should sort of think
51:08through like well why am I here what
51:10does the user trying to do and does this
51:12make sense for my modality here's
51:16probably the most tactical part of the
51:18whole talk but we're gonna start off
51:20with a little bit of theory you know
51:22visual design really is about you know
51:25again these things really do blend
51:28together it's the interaction design and
51:30visual design are you know they're super
51:33linked and it really is how you tell a
51:37user what is important at the visual
51:40level you know what emotions do we want
51:41to evoke how do we want them to feel and
51:44the output of this is either you know
51:46pixel level compositions usually you
51:49know Photoshop or you know sometimes the
51:52actual HTML CSS and so the really
51:58interesting thing here is that you know
52:00to go back to function over form you
52:02know when you're forced to be simple you
52:04actually have to solve the real problem
52:05so you know they want to start off by
52:08just saying like let's just avoid as
52:10much ornament as possible like you you
52:11know ultimately we're here to build
52:14something that solves people's problems
52:16and it's about that substance when my
52:19favorite design thinkers is actually
52:21edward tufte he has a great book called
52:23the visual display of quantitative
52:25information and so one of the key
52:28concepts that he talks about is chart
52:30junk so he just can't stand chart junk
52:33you know then these are just examples of
52:35it you know here's a chart but there's
52:37no y-axis and we don't know what the
52:39x-axis means either and you know why
52:41what why is that a green background and
52:44you know for this map like why are these
52:47these are these you know strange
52:49gradients and what do they mean like and
52:52then you know again what
52:54the major misconceptions that people
52:56starting out have around visual design
52:58is like you know visual design is not
53:00actually about necessarily expressing
53:04the key thing is what are you trying to
53:07what what information that you're trying
53:09to get across and so one of the key
53:12principles that you can actually apply
53:14is you know just look at any design that
53:16you're doing and just try to figure out
53:17you know if it can be removed without
53:19taking away any meaning so that includes
53:22you know text that includes lines
53:25borders you know really anything I mean
53:28even colons like I you know the pet
53:30peeve of mine is like seeing colons all
53:32over a form on the web or you know in a
53:35mobile app and it's like you know if you
53:36removed it like would you even notice it
53:38in fact it looks cleaner and so this is
53:40you know a stupid example but an
53:42incredibly basic one that you know you
53:44can apply over and over again throughout
53:45anything that you do you know ornaments
53:48at the end they are not signal you're
53:51really like then this is a very
53:53opinionated version of design of course
53:55but it's just work for me it's that you
53:57know we want to eliminate this type of
53:59ornament because we want to focus on
54:01that which is useful and so how do we
54:05actually do that okay so I have actually
54:08just three very simple principles that
54:10you can use in visual design the first
54:12and most important is actually contrast
54:15and so I'll just walk you through a very
54:17simple example the most basic type of
54:21contrast that you can give is bold
54:23versus not bold more important less
54:26important incredibly simple the other
54:29that bold is not the only way you can
54:31actually denote what is important versus
54:33not you can use color and so that's an
54:36incredibly valuable tool you can also
54:37use size and so immediately you can kind
54:40of see you know as a visual designer I
54:43am being opinionated about what you
54:45should pay attention to when and what is
54:48important and what is less important and
54:51so what's funny is if we unwind those
54:53things all of these suddenly become
54:56basically the same level if everything
54:59nothing is bold and so that's something
55:01that you should definitely remember as
55:03you go about your business and you try
55:07anything it's you know all of you
55:09choices around color around weight you
55:12know it really is a question of contrast
55:13and so it goes both to the less
55:16important but also the more important
55:17you know if you want to you can use
55:20color and weight and size to also make
55:22something even more important
55:24the final really cool trick that I like
55:27to use as I'm you know you you can kind
55:30of we call it the squint test so if you
55:32can look if you look at any webpage any
55:35effective mobile app immediately if you
55:37just squint your eyes at it if you can't
55:39make out the details of what's on that
55:41page but you can just make out the basic
55:44shapes of you can you know without
55:47having the ability to read any of this
55:49you kind of know oh there's something
55:51your eyes immediately drawn to the thing
55:54that is the highest contrast the highest
55:56weight on the page and so this is a very
55:58basic you know basically your hammer for
56:01visual design is contrast related to
56:05that is closeness and so you know you as
56:08a designer can take related flows
56:10related ideas and put them together to
56:14make them actually relate it and that
56:15you know serves your purpose as a
56:17designer and so I can't tell you how
56:19often this is just a personal pet peeve
56:21of mine you have this login page and
56:24then why you know what is going on there
56:26like why why is the login page it's like
56:28it's very confusing because the user
56:29will come here and say why is the login
56:31there is it like a part of creating an
56:33account it doesn't look like it's a part
56:34of that other thing you know that to me
56:37feel so much better and so it's a very
56:40simple principle but you know one to be
56:42very very mindful of but if you put all
56:45it both just those two very simple
56:47concepts together you get visual
56:49hierarchy and this is where a grid
56:51really comes into play this is why
56:52bootstrap from Twitter was this
56:54incredible tool that just suddenly put
56:56in the hands of everyone here you know
56:59the basic building blocks of being able
57:01to create great visual design
57:02do-it-yourself style in a nutshell you
57:07know sort of not to break it down to the
57:08CSS level but you could literally just
57:10create divs that were of any size that
57:13would automatically flow into a flexible
57:16grid and that's incredibly valuable and
57:19this is just you know literally the
57:21boilerplate stuff off of the old version
57:24of bootstrap but you know it's a good
57:26example of using a grid and so why this
57:30is important well you know we can
57:32overlay this grid and we can actually
57:33see that we are immediately you know and
57:37so you can see how the headings actually
57:39just line up to particular sections of
57:43this visual design and it's important
57:45because users when they're using your
57:48site they're coming to your site and
57:50trying to figure out you know why am I
57:51here what am I trying to do and they
57:53will immediately be drawn to the highest
57:56remember the squint test you'll
57:58immediately go ahead like headings exist
58:00exactly for this reason a user will go
58:02to a web page or an app and they'll
58:05actually just scan the page and they'll
58:07look for the highest contrast things and
58:08try to figure out is this what I want is
58:10what I'm looking for I have a goal is it
58:13you know is this going to get me what I
58:14want and then if so then they'll
58:16actually direct their you know if if I
58:19do care about that part then immediately
58:20I'm going to dive deeper into you know
58:22exactly that part and so visual hartney
58:25is your best tool for giving your users
58:28you know basically the guideposts like
58:30this is the way to go so okay now we got
58:36visual hierarchy but you know what do I
58:38do with all of these lines and you know
58:40why are there so many you know how do I
58:41use color you know there's it can be
58:44very confusing and this is a common
58:46mistake for people who do DIY is they
58:48just you know put boxes all over
58:50everything or they use lines and things
58:52like that here's my super EXTREME
58:54oversimplification on how to do your own
58:56layout you know basically figure out
59:00what you need to put on the page and
59:01then first you know try to use padding
59:05and margin to the extent that you can
59:06you know you can use a grid you can put
59:08related things close to each other and
59:10then next use a line if you have to and
59:13so you know 90% of the time you can
59:16probably get away with just using you
59:18know a proper grid with enough spacing
59:21putting related things together with
59:23good headings thinking through the
59:24contrast but finally you know a box is
59:28actually a very important thing
59:30it draws a lot of attention so that's
59:32why you'll see it so commonly on you
59:35know websites around a call to action it
59:37you know really is a high contrast thing
59:39so but be very very careful when you use
59:41it because otherwise you know you kind
59:43of end up with this sauce of a ton of
59:45boxes and you know I have no idea what's
59:47important and what I should be doing
59:48whereas if you use the grid if you use
59:51this sort of visual hierarchy it is very
59:53straightforward you know the other thing
59:55that's very valuable is like you don't
59:57have to fill every single design you
59:59know margin de margin white space can be
01:00:02incredibly useful you know sometimes
01:00:05even helping direct a user helping to
01:00:08explain what's going on like having you
01:00:10know space on the side just gives you a
01:00:12place to put that or to just you know
01:00:15focus focus the users attention and so
01:00:19you know those are incredibly basic but
01:00:22you know a lot of these minimal
01:00:24techniques are really from you know the
01:00:27folks who created Helvetica from Swiss
01:00:30design in the you know mid 19th mid 20th
01:00:33century you know and so there's these
01:00:36are incredibly simple things but the use
01:00:39of contrasts the use of a grid and the
01:00:41use of color can actually do a lot okay
01:00:47so I said that we're almost done with
01:00:49the tactical part but I lied because
01:00:51there is actually a part that I did not
01:00:55cover yet most people think about design
01:00:57is the creation part but it's definitely
01:00:59not the only part and here's the reason
01:01:03why you know if you ever put yourself
01:01:05you know some of you have you took the
01:01:07airport you took an airplane and walk
01:01:10through SFO Airport and maybe that was
01:01:12the first time you've ever been you know
01:01:14every Airport is this you know itself is
01:01:17designed and one of the issues with a
01:01:20badly designed Airport or a badly
01:01:22designed user experience is that we
01:01:24don't know where to go we don't know
01:01:26where we are and we don't you know the
01:01:28signs are placed in the wrong place and
01:01:30there's actually it's actually
01:01:32incredibly hard if you put yourself in
01:01:34the shoes of the the airport designer
01:01:37the architect who created this Airport
01:01:39and more specifically the person who put
01:01:41up the you who designed where the signs
01:01:44you know you have the design you know
01:01:47where everything is you're sitting there
01:01:48and you know your design tool and you
01:01:50know where everything like it's all
01:01:51loaded in your head but how are you
01:01:53going to know for someone who's never
01:01:55been that Airport you know what am I
01:01:58looking at you know I'm at every given
01:02:01point in that in that Airport you know
01:02:03what am i trying to do what are my goals
01:02:05and you know lack of proper signage is
01:02:09one of the thing I'd get lost in
01:02:10airports all the time I got lost in like
01:02:12Paris accidentally like just like this
01:02:14weekend actually and so this is actually
01:02:17what feedback is designed to solve and
01:02:20so there's actually two types of that
01:02:22you know both designers and founders
01:02:24should be really really aware of one is
01:02:25usability testing so actually that
01:02:28moment between the wireframe and you
01:02:30know you can kind of even do this in
01:02:31parallel like once you have the
01:02:33wireframe you can actually start doing
01:02:35usability testing with the wireframe you
01:02:37can print it out and actually sit down
01:02:39with people who have never seen it
01:02:40before and just sort of walk them
01:02:42through it or even better say you know
01:02:45just ask open-ended questions you know
01:02:46what are we looking at you know you can
01:02:48prompt them a little bit with like oh
01:02:50well you're here to do blah blah blah
01:02:51and it's like what are you reading what
01:02:53are you going to click next you know
01:02:55what why am I here that's before you
01:02:58even write a line of code you can do a
01:03:00lot to test out whether or not this
01:03:02thing is going to work and it's way
01:03:03cheaper to do that then actually I have
01:03:05to fix it in a bug in code later and
01:03:08then the other part that is way way
01:03:09under appreciated but is extremely
01:03:12important for great product is actually
01:03:13customer support most people treat their
01:03:15support line is basically like kind of a
01:03:19shredder you know they just don't even
01:03:21look at it they don't reply to it but
01:03:24the reality of product is that you know
01:03:27most and this is an extremely extremely
01:03:29common problem for people building
01:03:31things for other people is that we
01:03:33always assume that the product that
01:03:35we're creating well it's just the
01:03:37visible part right it's the 80% case you
01:03:41know it's the ideal case in your
01:03:43wireframe there in the requirement
01:03:45document but the best requirement
01:03:47documents the best wireframe is the best
01:03:49designs the best ship thing actually
01:03:52solve all of these other use cases that
01:03:54you know a PM might sit there and say oh
01:03:58this happens but there are actually ten
01:04:00thousand things like that that once in a
01:04:02blue moon happen and if you add them all
01:04:04up well you have a broken product and so
01:04:06that's one of the most fundamental
01:04:07reasons why we are so dissatisfied with
01:04:11the products that we use day to day it's
01:04:13that some p.m. or some designer looked
01:04:15at that and said oh when is that ever
01:04:17going to happen so the devil truly is in
01:04:22these long tail bugs and you you know as
01:04:24a founder of the best part it is like I
01:04:26mean these big companies they they don't
01:04:28think about this at all like they
01:04:29literally make it impossible for you
01:04:33know designers and engineers and the
01:04:34product team to actually have anything
01:04:37to do with customer support they just
01:04:38think of their users as cattle and so
01:04:40the greatest advantage that you have in
01:04:43this room is that your human being you
01:04:46built it yourself and when someone comes
01:04:48to you and says oh my god I'm stuck here
01:04:50what happened you don't have to just
01:04:52throw that email in the garbage you can
01:04:54say oh my god that's a bug oh I'm gonna
01:04:56fix it and then once you do that you
01:04:59have an evangelist for life because we
01:05:01live in a world with products that are
01:05:03incredibly impersonal you know we're
01:05:05alone in this you know incredible place
01:05:08that like you know we are so frustrated
01:05:11when our products don't work and nobody
01:05:13listens and so if you're the creator of
01:05:15that product and you listen well you
01:05:18know you only need a couple hundred
01:05:19people like that and you're well on your
01:05:21way to something that could be
01:05:22incredibly powerful you know to steal
01:05:25you know quote from Paul Buchheit don't
01:05:27try and go and make something that you
01:05:30know a thousand people kind of like you
01:05:32really need to go and create something
01:05:33that a hundred people absolutely love
01:05:35and customer support is the way you can
01:05:37do that and so you know and design the
01:05:40designer the person who actually puts
01:05:41together the wireframes who like thinks
01:05:44through the user they're the best on the
01:05:47whole team to actually think through
01:05:48that so you know they're awesome at
01:05:50advocating for the user and this process
01:05:52is incredibly complicated but I just
01:05:54want you to make sure that you know like
01:05:56these are the parts of you know how I
01:05:58think about a great product it's you
01:06:00know it's not just used for research
01:06:01it's all of these things one after the
01:06:03other and usability testing and customer
01:06:05support are the key pieces of this and
01:06:10you know you're never done with just one
01:06:11sprint you're basically in a perpetual
01:06:13cycle of doing this over and over again
01:06:15and you really do need to you don't need
01:06:18people doing every single piece of this
01:06:20but you do need to spend a little bit of
01:06:23time thinking about each piece of this
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