What horror films can teach us about UX
“We all go a little mad sometimes… Haven’t you?”
Psycho (1960)
The other day I was watching one of my favourite ‘cult’ horror films called ‘Phantasm’. To this day I struggle to explain exactly why I love it so much, so I started thinking about it in more depth.
After some time, I still struggled to think why. So I started to think why I liked the whole horror genre instead by starting to draw comparisons to what I deem to be crucial considerations to a good user journey and good design principles. Which I’ve listed below…
*This is mainly just a good excuse for me to write about horror movies and UX.
1. Be predictable
We all grew up watching classic 1970/1980’s slasher horror films. You know the ones.. where the girl is running through the woods being chased by some masked maniac only to trip over.. yeah that one.
Although we know what’s going to happen, it’s still enjoyable. We as humans like things to be as easy to understand as possible. Be true to what problem you’re trying to solve, exactly like a slasher horror film from the 1970's.
2. Know your audience
Blindly assuming you understand what your audience wants can be a big mistake. Before releasing a new product or feature, try to understand the following points:
- Who’s my target audience?
- Am I solving a real problem?
- Is there something already existing out in the market? If so, what additional problem can I solve? How can I plug the gap?
There’s plenty of classic horror films out there that end up releasing multiple volumes which end up either being ‘terrible’ or completely ‘useless’ to the overall story or theme of that film. One of my favourites is ‘children of the corn’ but how many do we need following the same theme?
Don’t make the same mistake and assume you know exactly what your users want. If you’re competing with an existing product really try to identify what additional issues you can solve and what difference you can make to the market and the end user.
3. Don’t overcrowd the journey
Keep your site clear and try to truly justify every element that sits on each page.
We all watched ‘scream’ whilst growing up, most of us had the same mask for a halloween party. ‘Scream’ was the villain, with the mask becoming an object of fear. The plot was simple, high school kids being hunted down one by one by a person in a mask, it wasn’t necessarily relatable but easy to attach ourselves to the story.
Imagine now having 6 different ‘Villains in scream masks’, ‘a monster’ and 4 ‘killer ghosts’. You’d end up having a mess of a plot and one which would be very difficult to understand…
- What is the main purpose of each item?
- Do you need that particular content block? If so, why?
- Does my navigation really need 8 different links to similar content? What can I do to tailor that content into more manageable and clearer content
4. Focus on the real users
Communicate with your client and really try to understand their problem and how you can solve it. If you can also speak to some of their users then grab that opportunity with both hands. Try to gather as much information, statistics and user cases as you can.
Now, I’m not saying I expected them to try and calmly talk to Michael Myers in the halloween films whilst he’s creeping down their hallway… but hey, maybe he just wanted someone to sit down and listen to the real problems in hand. Our users aren’t fictional characters, they’re real people.
Next time you do a round table with your clients (internal or external) try not to imagine the ‘family table’ scene from ‘Texas chainsaw massacre.
5. Team player
You may have seen ‘Wrong Turn’ which is a fairly recent movie in comparison to others I’ve mentioned. There’s a family of killers who hunt their victims in groups within the Georgia forest with a clearly defined ‘team-orientated’ strategy. In fact they only get killed themselves once separated from their team.
Draw on as much influence as you can within your own team. As a developer make sure you’re working with your product experts, designers and vice versa.
Iterate your ideas into light prototypes and gather as much feedback as possible and get it usability tested with real clients. A designers problem could be a developers problem and a developers problem could also become a designers problem, work closely and share your ideas. Don’t isolate yourself in your own creative bubble.
Thanks
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