Introducing a flaw in his power allowed for better storytelling and an engaging experience. This is one of the reasons Marvel was a bigger success. Stan Lee created his characters with flaws and inadequacies that allowed for character development.
Conan O'Brien said, "It's our failure to become our perceived ideal that ultimately defines us and makes us unique." I am my inadequacies and so are you. Now this doesn't mean we need to embrace all of them as they are. We need to acknowledge our potential and work towards the best version of ourselves even knowing we will never achieve it.
So why is this important for product design? Let's start with perfection. I believe it doesn't exist. One person's perfect is another person's suboptimal experience.
How can the inadequacies of a product make it desirable? Now, I want you to think about it in a different way. What problem are you actually trying to solve? What are the unnecessary features and content that products typically have in that market? What product features are assumed to be necessary for your product by yourself and your competition that offer little to no value? Maybe it did at one point and has faded away due to new features and content. Maybe it was added from playing the "better, faster product than the competition game" and never created real value.
UX and UI designers have a term to keep them focused. MVP. Minimum Viable Product. They are constantly asking this question as they develop functions and features and solve problems. I feel like this term is starting to become a buzz word and it's losing its meaning but the intent is what it says. It's a brutal mindset.
Apply this approach to products. What complexity can be removed to then offer a simpler method? Simpler doesn't necessarily mean simpler for you to execute internally. It means a simpler experience for the end user. There are times when a simple experience for the end user means added complexity for the internal team and behind-the-scenes processing. On your existing product or on a product you are developing, what are low-value features or interactions? What is a brutally simple version of your product? It might make you uncomfortable thinking of launching a product with almost all of the features removed against your competition with full-featured products. There are wildly successful products that have been designed, built, and sold by companies that understand this approach.
The NutriBullet is the perfect example of this. I don't really need to describe it to you. I'm sure you already know what it is. Is this a good blender for everybody? Absolutely not. The product development team had clarity on what the product identity was and specifically who was for. It is unique and interesting because of its lack of features and functions. It is the simplest version of a blender. It's for people that value speed and simplicity over the nuance of personalization and optimization.
Now they didn't just take a blender and remove all the features. That's not the point I'm trying to make. The simplicity of the on/off control as the only control created a wonderful foundation. Meaningful features can be added that create real value. The blender jar became the cup you drink out of. This also reduced the number of dishes that need to be cleaned in the sink. They made the size small enough for an individual and a larger size for sharing or to save for later. It's small and compact for easy storage or if left on the counter, it doesn't take up much space. The consistency of the liquid is controlled by how long you leave it on. One of my favorite design decisions on this product was how they completely changed the interface. The user wasn't interacting with a traditional blender that didn't have any features. A product like that would present itself as just a decontented object and the perception would be that it is a lower-tier basic model.
Changing the aesthetics and the interaction made it feel like a brand-new product. It doesn't look or feel like a normal blender. That disconnects the comparison and it gets evaluated as a unique object. It is an innovative new product. That is the second most important idea to get from this article.
To recap: strip down your product to its essential task or function. You don't need a fully featured product. Remove all the features that aren't essential or are low value. Remove the features that allow personalization and nuance. Get back to the very basic, simplest form. Now use that as your foundation to cater to your user's needs and expectations. Be crystal clear on what your product is not, write it down. Prevent feature creep. Understand who your users are. All of the additional features and interactions must align with that goal. Redesign the interactions and the aesthetics to present a new to the world product.
I hope this approach to innovation inspires you to think about your products differently.
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