The subtle art of making users look good as John King
How to hack design tools for profound B2B products experiences
There were Many heroes born in the 2020 election. CNN magic wall and John King were second to none. The software now commonly ascribed to as the magic wall, developed by New Yorker firm Code and Theory, astounded countless. But more importantly, it made its user CNN’s chief national correspondent John King look transcendent. Elevated to superhuman King appeared in media as a mastermind and expert in electoral data and trend analysis. There’s no argument that King is an expert in the field, but the piece of code made him seem extraordinary.
Dr Elaine H. Jackson, who might not be famous as much as John King, but is equally on the top of her game physician. Dr Jackson is known as a doctor with great work ethics and expertise amongst her colleagues. However, her patients regularly accuse her of spending more time on screen, often looking at electronic health record (EHR) over talking to them. Without a doubt, it cannot be Dr Jackson’s fault; the problem is far too common beyond her practice in Kensington, New York. Recent research by a top EHR reveals that a physician spends over 16 minutes on EHR per each patient visit. Ironically, this piece of code, probably using the same technology as the Magic Wall, makes its user look far from extraordinary.
In design, it is common practice to do an in-depth analysis of users emotional states. These studies help designers to build products that have not only great features but also extraordinary moments. User Journey Maps are one such technique that visually illustrates the flow of events with psychological dispositions.
Both the EHR and the Magic Wall are commonly referred to as Business to Business (B2B) products, oppose to their counterpart Business to Customer (B2C) products, B2B products helps businesses to deliver a product or service to their end-users. In Dr Jacprovidecase, the EHR helps her to deliver the service to patients. In contrast, Code and Theory Magic Wall helps CNN to deliver a service to their viewers who anxiously waited for the exit of you-know-who.
Generally, design techniques, like user journey map which inherited from industrial design, focus on building great experiences for its user. Hence they focus heavily on probing emotional states of its direct user.
These are comprehensive tools for designing B2C products and services; However, in B2B, for a great experience and impressive peaks, it is essential to understand not just the user, but also the services user tries to deliver. In other words, B2C design is making your user happy and accomplished, whereas B2B design is about making your user get their job done so that they can serve their user to be happy and accomplished.
The problem with using B2C design techniques for B2B design is, The B2C methods focus on users’ emotions and creating moments, but B2B is not just about the users’ emotions, its about users’ user (end-users emotions too. The Dr Jackson’s EHR designers have ignored the physiological demands of patients, whereas King’s Magic wall designers not only catered for viewers needs but also elevated King to a superhero. B2B product designers job is to make every user look great as John King. It’s a job of helping the user to craft powerful moments for their end-users.
Great B2B products always make its’ user looks great!
One hack I have been using in designing B2B product experiences is the modification of traditional design tools. Mainly to understand jobs my user tries to do and emotional states of their end-user. Inclusion of these extra layers of information helps to gain more contextual understanding. It helps to avoid creating Dr Jackson experiences while elevating users to King rank.
The followings are a few modification examples; we tested the same principle with almost all design techniques.
User Journey Maps modified for B2B design.
A typical Journey Map focusing on user emotions:
The modified version of the Journey Map includes extra layers of information on both user and end-user:
Design Hypothesis templates adjusted for B2B design.
A typical hypothesis focusing on user assumptions and value versus the modified version includes value creation for the end-user:
Statement of Value of User Stories adapted for B2B design.
A typical statement of value describing the job and value of a user versus the modified version includes end-user and value creation objective for them:
Every user, irrespective of their state and type deserved to look great as John King, who appears superhuman in this interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
