I can’t blame Halloween for the fact that I woke up thinking about zombies. Sure, if there is any day where it is completely legitimate to think about ghouls and ghosts, then today is the day. Unfortunately, I must confess that I think about zombies a whole lot more than just one day of the year. In fact, when I step back to really think about it, I realize that I think about and interact with zombie themes a whole heckuva lot: I play games with zombies, I read about zombies, I watch zombies in TV shows and movies, and for the coup de grace of nerdiness, I continually ask my spouse “what would our next move be here if a zombie apocalypse was happening right now?!?”
Luckily, before I finished packing my bag for some self-imposed R&R at the local sanitarium, I realized something very important – I’m not alone here.
Zombies and the concept of a zombie apocalypse are hot right now: They are everywhere in the media, our entertainment, and the collective American cultural psyche. In fact, I’ve heard some people complain this trope is so prevalent that they are personally suffering from “zombie fatigue.” Luckily, a reminder to these dissidents about the alternatives out there right now (sparkly vampires, tweenyone?) usually jostles them to their senses – there are worse fixations.
Regardless of your personal state of undead malaise, we are still left with a question: why do we keep talking about zombies?
This is where I slide into my arm-chair psychologist… er, consummate user experience researcher role – and start to dissect the question and develop some hypotheses.
Of course, this analysis circles back to the concept of experiences and how we can apply what we learn from these stories to everyday user experience design.
(And yes, I recognize that segway is as rotten as the corpse-laden topic itself. Hrrmph.)
Lesson 1: Good design features intuitive goal(s)
A central theme of a good zombie apocalypse story is always the same: the last remnants of human society attempt to survive in an apocalyptic world where everyone else is a zombie. It is “us vs. them.” It is a story with a pinpoint focus, a singular goal: survive.
When we interact with something – whether it is a website, an appliance, or a game, we approach that interaction with a goal or a set of goals.
Without speaking a word (or guttural roar), the fictional zombie apocalypse provides the reader/viewer/player with a singular goal that we get easily. In fact, we get it intuitively. The zombie apocalypse story doesn’t need to educate you about the goal – you just know it. Good interactions are oftentimes the same – you don’t need to be educated – you know it. You see a door handle, you pull it. You see a piece of delicious food, you eat it.
Good design understands the goals its users will have, and makes sure it is as intuitive as possible for users to successfully pursue those goals using the design.
Lesson 2: Users like control
If you Google “zombie apocalypse,” a popular theme appears: tips and tactics for surviving. Much of the excitement of the fictional zombie apocalypse scenario comes from the mental questioning process we go through when we observe the story’s protagonists. Questions such as “what would I do here?,” or “what should they do next?” are commonplace when you are participating in such a story.
The zombie apocalypse scenario provides us with a platform where we get to explore two things we really enjoy: the ability to control our destiny (decision making) and the opportunity to learn.
From a design perspective, an important concept is well known: “always keep your users in control.” For example, in a well-designed website, a user will know where they are at and understand (or be able to easily find) where they want to go next. Zombie fiction excites us by ever-so-slightly toying with the lever of control without wresting that control away from us. In zombie fiction, all the basics are still understood – unlike in sci-fi or fantasy, where the question may be “how does this work,” the question is more like “what do I do next?” Good zombie fiction doesn’t destroy the basic rules of the world (other than the leap of faith that zombies can exist), so the viewers maintain a semblance of control that is focused on future action.
Good design provides users with the opportunity to explore an environment that makes sense to them in a manner which they choose.
Lesson 3: Users like to learn
As mentioned in lesson 2 above, zombie fiction prompts us to ask “what do we do next?!?” This question is a prompt for exploration, of which exploration is fundamental to learning, and of which learning is a fundamental human need. We already talked about how the rules of the world haven’t changed in a zombie apocalypse. However, the change of context (we must survive!) forces us to look at how we must interact in new or different ways.
Survivors are challenged to develop a course of action (plan), execute that plan (act), assess the effectiveness of that plan (evaluate), and then repeat this process ad infinitum. The constant challenges our survivors face are intriguing, but it is how our survivors go about tackling these challenges that is so exciting; even more so when the alternative to successfully accomplishing the goal (survival) is death.
Good design (especially game design) provides continual opportunities for exploration (i.e. learning) and the sense of accomplishment that comes from the learning process.
Lesson 4: We are social beings
A core theme found in the zombie apocalypse mythos is that of a small band of survivors who must stand together against the horde of zombies and the ravages of the new world they live in. Even better zombie fiction begins to explore what happens to these humans (and their interactions) when they are subjected to the pressures of this new world. The same itch that is scratched with reality TV is explored in this fiction. In fact, if you look at it mechanically, the zombie apocalypse is really just window-dressing for an elaborate play of human interaction.
This is the same for technology and design. Good design never forgets why it is there. Even better design acknowledges that it will play a role in the interactions of more than one human and their interactions with each other. Someone once noted (was it Clay Shirky?) that every technology will eventually be used in a social context. A zombie apocalypse gives us a window into how a design (the survivors’ plans for survival) play out in a social environment. Zombie stories are not exciting because of the zombies; they are exciting because of the people in these stories.
Good design not only takes into account its use by a singular person, but also the potential use by many people and/or its role in a larger sociological environment.
Just remember: bad design is just as scary as undead, flesh-eating zombies.
Happy Halloween!
p.s. – if you like mixing your user experience/usability discussion with zombies, you may also want to check out Craig Tomlin’s “Be a Usability Zombie” post.