In UX, we talk a lot about needs.
As we diligently strive to empathize,
we often ask, "What do our users need?"
Today, I'm going to talk about a deeper kind of need.
According to the self-determination theory of motivation,
humans have three fundamental needs:
autonomy, relatedness, and competence.
People are intrinsically motivated
to do whatever they need to
in order to satisfy these three needs.
When they are being met,
people report a greater sense of wellbeing
and higher life satisfaction.
Well, what are these needs?
And how can we cater to them in our designs?
First is autonomy.
Having autonomy means having the freedom to make choices
that align with your priorities and values,
rather than being forced to do things
in ways dictated by others.
This is why, when your job allows you
to have flexible hours,
and work, whenever it's most convenient for you,
you like that.
Building autonomy into UX products
means that we give users options,
regarding how they interact with our interfaces.
And we don't force them to do things
in one predetermined way, if we don't need to.
The concept of giving users control and freedom
has been around for a long time.
In fact, it's one of the 10 usability heuristics.
Next is relatedness.
Feeling related to others,
largely refers to feeling supported by them
and that your personal needs are understood.
This need describes why it is so important
to listen to those around us.
And why when many people are really struggling,
an understanding therapist can be so healing.
In UX design, we can leverage user's need for relatedness
in two ways.
First, we can help them feel that we, the business,
can relate to them through content
that is perceived as genuinely helpful,
and messages that come in moments
when they benefit users most.
This means laying off the email barrages
with ads that users have no interest in.
Irrelevant messaging is an obvious signal to users
that we don't understand their situation,
and we don't seem to care either.
Second, we can facilitate ways
for individuals to relate to each other.
This means taking the focus off of our products
and becoming a vehicle for meaningful communication.
There's a reason that some of our most commonly-used apps
are for messaging, email and social media.
And last is competence.
Being competent means that someone can efficiently succeed
when engaged in a task.
Why is it so effortless to speak our native language,
but so stressful to try and speak a new one?
It takes a long time to become competent,
expressing yourself in a new language.
Helping people become competent users of our products
is the ultimate goal of usability.
Although it can be somewhat helpful
to use simple onboarding, tutorials and overlays,
these strategies should be used with caution,
because many users either skip over them,
or quickly forget their contents.
Users cannot be expected to read instructional manuals
before using your products.
And there is no substitute for good old, plain usability
that doesn't need much of an introduction at all.
Ultimately, the reason why many of our recommendations
are still true after many years,
is that they help designers cater to the three human needs:
autonomy, relatedness, and competence.
Catering to these needs in every design
is how we can really help our users
start to experience deep delight.