Lessons from the field: Bringing digital products to emerging markets

This talk was given at FrontTalks, Yekaterinburg, 16 September 2017.

In the tech industry, we’re constantly chasing innovation – the new and the shiny, the slickest UI, the latest framework, an immersive user experience. We’re understandably excited about the possibilities inherent in a world of powerful hand-held devices, super-fast connections, and a user base with the means and the know-how to buy into whatever next big thing we put out there.

But there exists another kind of digital landscape – places where conditions are imperfect, where networks are flawed, where technical literacy is low, where kilobytes are precious; a world where our carefully-crafted digital experiences stutter and crawl and obfuscate and perplex, and ultimately fail. There are billions of people around the world that now have access to connected smart phones, but many can afford only a few megabytes of data here and there, have low-cost, low-specced smartphones, unreliable electricity sources to charge them, and are learning to use digital interfaces for the first time in their lives.

So how can we make sure that keeping up with the cutting edge won’t exclude people in these fast-growing emerging economies? In this talk we’ll go through examples from working with novice tech users in West Africa and discover how they navigate and comprehend interfaces, input data, and understand screen flows. You’ll gain some insight into the context and the constraints, learn how certain UI patterns and conventions hinder or help, and leave with an understanding of how to include these millions of new users in your product thinking.

Transcript

1. LESSONS FROM THE FIELD
   Bringing digital products to
   emerging markets
   ! @allyelle
   

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2. Who will be using our products
   in the coming years?
   

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3. THE NEXT BILLION
   

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4. THE NEXT BILLION
   

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5. Most people in the developed world are already
   connected consumers.
   

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6. Europe
   80% connected
   

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7. USA
   75% connected
   

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8. Australia
   85% connected
   

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9. Canada
   88% connected
   

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10. The Next Billion will connect from cities in emerging
    economies – Lagos, São Paulo, New Delhi, Nairobi.
    

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11. These markets have much
    lower rates of connectivity.
    

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12. Mexico & Brazil
    50% connected
    

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13. South Asia
    24% connected
    

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14. Sub-Saharan Africa
    22% connected
    

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15. The rate of connectivity in these resource-poor countries
    has lagged, but is changing rapidly. The cost of mobile
    data is decreasing, and the availability of cheap handsets
    is increasing.
    

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16. Cheap smartphones are widely available from street
    vendors.
    

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17. In Nigeria, 300MB of mobile data can be bought for
    around 500 Naira (80 ruble).
    

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18. This is opening up new worlds of knowledge,
    communication, and opportunity for many people.
    

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19. But the barrier to entry still exists.
    Many people can afford only a few megabytes of data
    here and there, have low-cost, low-specced
    smartphones, unreliable electricity sources to charge
    them, and some are learning to use digital interfaces for
    the first time in their lives.
    

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20. What can we do to keep lowering the barriers?
    

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21. So... why is an Australian-born, German-resident person
    talking about this? !
    These are both very well-connected, affluent places.
    

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23. I'm Ally Long
    @allyelle
    

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24. I’m a product designer and front-end developer.
    

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25. I've worked on shiny brand experiences at creative
    agencies.
    

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27. But I've also worked with NGOs and non-profits on
    software for public health and markets in West Africa,
    with partners like UNICEF, WHO, the Gates Foundation,
    the Institute of Tropical Medicine, and various West
    African government departments.
    

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28. I've worked on programs for vaccine delivery, polio
    eradication, Ebola response, and African Sleeping
    Sickness.
    

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29. The issues were urgent and grave, and the technical
    challenges were significant, but fascinating.
    

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30. Mapping un-surveyed areas...
    

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31. Designing mobile data
    collection tools for novice tech
    users...
    

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32. The logistical challenges of
    remote, unconnected
    locations...
    

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33. And doing a lot of this at scale
    across various countries.
    

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34. Now I'm working with a
    company called Field
    Intelligence.
    

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36. We try to take on big public health problems in Nigeria,
    Central African Republic and beyond, and to prove that
    they can be solved with the right technology, the right
    design, and the right market-shaping approaches.
    

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37. Our approach is on solving
    problems on the ground, collecting
    insights in the field, being in touch
    with real users and real problems
    in hard places.
    

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38. We're working on tools to get life-saving vaccines...
    

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39. through a cold chain system at various levels of
    government...
    

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40. ... to the children in remote settlements that need them
    the most.
    

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41. It’s made challenging by poor infrastructure, unreliable
    power and connectivity, fragmented processes, and
    constant states of emergency.
    

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42. How do we begin to approach these problems in our
    products?
    Poor connectivity, a resource-constrained environment,
    and a user base with a large portion of novice users –
    the scale of these challenges are hard to grasp when
    working in a European context.
    This talk will guide you through helping users (no matter
    what their background) to interact in complex systems
    by giving them simpler, more intuitive ways of working.
    

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43. The typical tech user in Africa...
    

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44. Of course there isn't one.
    

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45. Tech users in Africa fall across a broad spectrum of
    experience, resources, education, and tech savviness.
    Many people in West Africa are masters of technology.
    There are thriving tech scenes. But there are others who
    are total novices / newbies, this is what I'm focussing on
    today.
    

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46. Typical devices
    

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47. Smartphones often look something like this...
    

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48. ... or this.
    

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49. Common smartphone brands !
    Mostly Android, mostly cheap hardware.
    — Huawei
    — Lenovo
    — Tecno
    — Motorola
    — LG
    — Samsung (if you're fancy) !
    — Apple (if you're reeeeeally fancy)
    

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50. Device condition
    — scratched up screens
    — cracked screens
    — low resolution screens
    — glare protection films
    — rugged cases
    

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51. Charging !
    Finding a working power source is not always easy –
    sometimes actually very hard. Even if you have
    electricity, power outages are frequent.
    

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52. If a building in a community has electricity...
    

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53. ... its power points will be very popular.
    

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54. Charging can be slow
    — A diesel generator takes
    around two hours to charge a
    smartphone
    — Solar power takes 4-5 hours
    to charge a smartphone
    

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55. Connectivity !
    

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56. Connectivity !
    — remote and rural areas have very little cellular
    coverage
    — even in built-up areas and cities, network coverage is
    often poor
    — broadband internet / wifi very uncommon
    — buying mobile data is still expensive for many people
    

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57. Try to make your product as offline-friendly as possible
    

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58. Latency
    Even when you do have a connection, it can be
    slooooooow.
    

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59. Optimise for responsive UIs
    — Don't tie UI elements to long-running operations such
    as network requests
    — Don’t block navigation
    — Loading indicators (spinners, progress bars) should be
    inline
    

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60. Slimmed-down browsing – Opera Mini is popular
    

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61. Phones are o!en turned off
    To save battery and data, people often turn off their
    phones. This means background processes are tricky.
    You need to be smart about the way you use service
    workers.
    

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62. Touch screens are easier to use than laptops
    

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63. When trialling a project on laptop and tablet devices, we
    found that people found the tablet version easier to use
    because:
    — a lot of people had never used laptops before
    — inputs were separate from the screen, which was
    confusing for someone introduced to interfaces via
    smartphones
    — it was harder to carry around and charge
    

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64. Gesture-based navigation... !
    Gestures like swiping, pull down, pull up are very
    unintuitive to a novice tech user. Buttons are easier to
    understand. People learnt these fairly quickly, once
    introduced to the concept – but it's safer to use
    gestures as shortcuts to actions that are also accessible
    by other means.
    

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65. Where's it at? !
    If elements are offscreen, they're not discoverable.
    Where possible, it can be good to use only the visible
    area of the screen as your canvas, especially if the user
    needs to take action on the screen.
    

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66. Rather than having a long form...
    

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67. Try splitting it over several steps.
    

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68. Avoid concealed elements in general
    A good example here is the select tag. People
    everywhere find those hard to use.
    

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69. Rather than using select tags...
    

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70. Try out other, more visible, options – like radio buttons.
    

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72. Good affordance is vital
    — make the buttons and actions bigger, clickier, more
    obvious
    — clearly label things
    — combine icons with labels
    

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74. What does this do?
    

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75. People often tap on everything, just to see what it does.
    It's usually a good idea to build in confirmation dialogues
    for destructive actions.
    

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76. Animations
    Animations can be very illuminating, or they can confuse
    the hell out of users. Be mindful about where and how
    you use them.
    

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77. Animations in form elements = !
    

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78. Animations to describe a spatial model = !
    

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79. Consistency is key
    A consistent UI helps people learn and memorise, and
    has particular advantages for low-literate or non-literate
    people learning via rote memorisation.
    

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80. Make it fun
    There's no need to be boring. Inserting personality into
    your app makes it fun to use and encouraging to learn.
    Introducing elements of gamification incentivises people
    to return to your app.
    

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81. Gamification gives people clear feedback when they're
    on the right path.
    

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82. Steal!
    

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83. Ok fine. Borrow.
    There are certain apps that almost everyone in Africa
    uses. If in doubt, look at the navigation patterns and UI
    patterns common to those apps and emulate them.
    — Facebook
    — Whatsapp
    — Gmail
    

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85. Test on low-end devices
    

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86. Engage with local tech ecosystems
    

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87. Be curious, have empathy.
    

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88. But do the research.
    

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89. African tech consumers are
    demanding and informed
    

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90. They want clear and reliable
    mobile solutions
    

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91. The same things ma!er
    — Communication
    — Connection
    — Information
    — Opportunity
    

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97. Strip everything back to the
    essentials
    

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98. Know your users
    

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99. Be resourceful
    

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100. “The Next Billion” is the future
     of the internet
     

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101. Thank you
     ! @allyelle
     

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