The Maltese Product

In our newly-made world of always on, real-time services, something interesting has happened: we're increasingly nostalgic for a slower, idealised past of shared personal experiences. Whether it be playing records; a passed-on paperback; Sunday night telly together; or something else entirely, we increasingly find ourselves playing the role of digital sleuths, chasing a half-remembered treasure.

As the creators of the next generation of online products, how do we create experiences that are delightfully informed by our past but not weighed down by it? With seven years of experience in online music, and using their latest product This Is My Jam as a case study, Matthew Ogle and Hannah Donovan will demonstrate how to choose the right constraints for your product and build a story that will attract users.

Transcript

1. HANNAH DONOVAN & MATTHEW OGLE, 28 SEPTEMBER 2012 MALTESE PRODUCT The
2. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE We’re living in a realtime world. It’s pretty great.
3. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE We’re living in a realtime world. It’s pretty great.
4. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE Increasingly, they don’t fit in with our realtime world and some, we’re nostalgic for.
5. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE Have you ever wanted to (or been asked to) recreate an experience like this online?
6. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE
7. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE
8. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE
9. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE
10. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE How can you take in new music at this pace? If you don’t have time to listen to a song right now, then how do you find it later when you do? How do you know what the good stuff is? What about all the extra personal context?
11. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE A couple of years ago, web browsers advanced to a point where simultaneous synchronous listening experiences were finally within reach.
12. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE A couple of years ago, web browsers advanced to a point where simultaneous synchronous listening experiences were finally within reach.
13. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE A couple of years ago, web browsers advanced to a point where simultaneous synchronous listening experiences were finally within reach.
14. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE
15. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE
16. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE
17. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE
18. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE
19. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE
20. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE
21. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE
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23. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY One explanation is these products reproduced the offline experience too faithfully, and didn’t take advantage of existing online behaviour.
24. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY One explanation is these products reproduced the offline experience too faithfully, and didn’t take advantage of existing online behaviour. We need better models for creating online experiences that evoke the offline ones we miss.
25. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY In 1930, Dashiell Hammett wrote a novel called:
26. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY In 1930, Dashiell Hammett wrote a novel called:
27. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY Shortly after, it was made into a talkie called:
28. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY Shortly after, it was made into a talkie called:
29. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY In 1936 it was again adapted for film, titled:
30. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY In 1936 it was again adapted for film, titled: (That one didn’t do so well).
31. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY In 1941 it became a major motion picture called…
32. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY In 1941 it became a major motion picture called…
33. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY
34. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY
35. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY Hammett’s was a new type of detective story.
36. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY “WE HAVE A NAME IN THE STUDIO…WE CALL IT THE ‘MACGUFFIN’” – ALFRED HITCHCOCK
37. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY “WE HAVE A NAME IN THE STUDIO…WE CALL IT THE ‘MACGUFFIN’” – ALFRED HITCHCOCK MacGuffincNⓒ㷦HⓞG㸍Oc(also McGuffin) noun An object in a story which serves merely as a trigger for the plot.
38. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY “WE HAVE A NAME IN THE STUDIO…WE CALL IT THE ‘MACGUFFIN’” – ALFRED HITCHCOCK MacGuffincNⓒ㷦HⓞG㸍Oc(also McGuffin) noun An object in a story which serves merely as a trigger for the plot.
39. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY “WE HAVE A NAME IN THE STUDIO…WE CALL IT THE ‘MACGUFFIN’” – ALFRED HITCHCOCK MacGuffincNⓒ㷦HⓞG㸍Oc(also McGuffin) noun An object in a story which serves merely as a trigger for the plot.
40. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY MacGuffins have effects that ought to interest us as product makers.
41. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY MacGuffins have effects that ought to interest us as product makers. ✦ They attract an audience ✦ They trigger action ✦ And everyone has fun along the way
42. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY Product MacGuffinc㷦QS㷜EⓞLU Nⓒ㷦HⓞG㸍Oc noun A trope in an online product which serves merely as a trigger for the user experience. Often evokes a real-world experience we’re familiar with.
43. 3. THIS IS MY JAM About a year ago, we started thinking about what our version of a ‘records & friends’ product would feel like.
44. 3. THIS IS MY JAM About a year ago, we started thinking about what our version of a ‘records & friends’ product would feel like.
45. 3. THIS IS MY JAM
46. 3. THIS IS MY JAM
47. 3. THIS IS MY JAM
48. 3. THIS IS MY JAM ✦ Happens in the same room ✦ Happens in real-time ✦ You need friends ✦ Works best with 1-10 people ✦ You need a record player ✦ You need records ✦ You need to choose at the pace of a song (3 min) ✦ You have to pick from someone’s collection ✦ You can only share one thing at a time Constraints:
49. 3. THIS IS MY JAM ✦ Happens in the same room ✦ Happens in real-time ✦ You need friends ✦ Works best with 1-10 people ✦ You need a record player ✦ You need records ✦ You need to choose at the pace of a song (3 min) ✦ You have to pick from someone’s collection ✦ You can only share one thing at a time Constraints:
50. 1 3. THIS IS MY JAM Share one song at a time.
51. 1 3. THIS IS MY JAM Share one song at a time. 2
52. 3. THIS IS MY JAM The song stays on your profile for up to seven days.
53. 3. THIS IS MY JAM The outcome is incredibly high quality of music.
54. 3. THIS IS MY JAM But maybe we should have given it a better name.
55. 3. THIS IS MY JAM People have fun along the way, and feel like they’re sharing records with friends.
56. 3. THIS IS MY JAM People have fun along the way, and feel like they’re sharing records with friends. Chris Thorpe @jaggeree @ThisIsMyJam is closest thing I've felt for a while to the John Peel show I remember from youth. You may not like all but discovery is key. 27 Jan 12
57. 4. CONCLUSION The next time you, or someone you work with, gets the urge to build something like “That ________ we used to do before the internet”
58. 4. CONCLUSION Don’t sweat it. Go from “this is the product itself” to “this is our product’s MacGuffin”
59. 4. CONCLUSION Don’t sweat it. Go from “this is the product itself” to “this is our product’s MacGuffin”
60. 4. CONCLUSION Interrogate the real-life experience. List the outcomes, behaviours and constraints.
61. 4. CONCLUSION Pick the smallest number of constraints you feel are necessary to evoke the experience.
62. 4. CONCLUSION Pick the smallest number of constraints you feel are necessary to evoke the experience.
63. 4. CONCLUSION Experiment! Build a prototype and see if you chose the right constraints to elicit the behaviours and outcomes of the real life experience.
64. 4. CONCLUSION And you might just create an experience that – like Hammett’s groundbreaking new type of detective story – might be new.
65. 4. CONCLUSION A product delightfully informed by the past but not weighed down by it.
66. 4. CONCLUSION A product delightfully informed by the past but not weighed down by it.
67. 4. CONCLUSION Thanks for listening. Have questions? Get in touch online: @han & @flaneur PHOTO CREDITS (IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE) Postcards – Silvia Sala on Flickr Watching TV together, c. 1950s – The Telegraph Students relax with a newspaper and a portable record player, c. 1950s – Vassar College Archives Young couple listening to music, 1962 – Daily Herald Archive, National Media Museum Kids listening to records, 1958 – Adventures in Indoor Color Slides (Kodak), via Antiquarian Holographica Alfred Hitchcock, 1942 – LIFE Magazine, via Retronaut Students listening to records in their dorm, 1930s – Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan