Positive experiences are the key to happiness

People remember feelings more than they remember details. When you look back and think of happy times, chances are you’ll think of events first. Often you can remember hardly anything about those events other than it was a good event and thinking of it makes you happy. If you design an app, event, website, or a product in a way that it produces a pleasant experience, then people will remember that positive experience.

Ever go to a restaurant where the food was just OK, but they treated you like family, and the customer service was superb? More than likely you later praised the restaurant and returned despite there being better tasting options. The opposite is also true, great food can be ruined by poor service and rude employees.

In technology you will often see two competing products. One is chock full of features and very powerful. The other is more limited, but the things it does do it does very well. If you’ve ever owned the more powerful device and asked somebody why they like the other, you’ll hear answers like, “It just works,” or “I like how easy it is to use.” If you can combine something that works well and is easy to use, it’s a winning combination.

Design positive experiences and people will respond positively. That should be the primary goal of every project,