UX and Innovation

Digital Marketing - Study Notes:

Can be evolution, not revolution

As Tim Brown notes:

“Great design thinkers observe the world in minute detail. They notice things that others do not and use their insights to inspire innovation.”

It is worth noting some of the other factors and influences that may come into play or be imposed on a UX project. We hear a lot about innovation and the need to be innovative when we create something for users to interact with. Very often, this can be misinformed or misconstrued. While a broad goal for a web project may be to be innovative, sometimes this becomes a false target, and as an end in itself, it can result in much wasted effort. Innovation can appear very unassuming for users, and research can help to discover and define what innovation might represent.

What is innovation?

Here are three simple examples of innovation, each worthy as a goal on a website project.

• Making it easier for customers to self-serve can be innovative. This can be a business objective for the project. Anything that empowers customers to achieve something for themselves can be an innovation.
• For products that require a lot of configuration, putting more of that process in the hands of customers will almost certainly be innovative.
• For an online process that is usually prolonged and painful for users to complete, then removing steps in this process or condensing the process in some way, can, similarly, be an innovation.

As an example, imagine an airline booking process that improved ideas and flights where selected, making the process more delightful or enjoyable. Wouldn’t that be innovative?