We don´t want users to read. We want users to understand.

How do you share this mindset within service design teams?

Ask yourself – Will our users understand want we are telling them? What action is expected to be performed?

To achieve this we need the “right content”. What´s the right content?

  • A lot less then we think it is;
  • Enough detail as it needs to be, not more;
  • Relevant to the user (relevance needs to adapt to your different personas);
  • Content they can fit in their heads without too much cognitive load.

Easy, right?

No, it´s a challenge, mainly because you need to put yourself on your users shoes… head… context… needs.

Our working memory is pretty limited and, in most scenarios I work, there´s a “natural” urge to communicate more content then our users can handle.

So what´s key here?

Be kindly ruthless, include only what´s needed. Keep the focus on the main success journey for the user. This way it´s easier to keep the focus on the relevant content.

Most of the times less is more…

 It´s easy to overestimate the right amount of content. What´s the best way to know how much is to much?

Ask your boss 😉 … or do user research and try it out testing with real users. It´s not that time consuming and your product owner and end users will appreciate. See for yourself and share the findings with the whole service design team.

While sailing I have a similar issue regarding how much content I can retain…

While at the helm (as my success journey is stearing the boat as fast as I can), I constantly glimpse the data displays. Since it doesn’t show only relevant data, more often then it should, crew members notice that I am sailing too high or too low… not good for sailing fast 😉