So, I went to Florida.
Having kids, I spent most of my time at that greatest of tourist traps, Disney World. For those of you who haven’t been (or haven’t been in a while), Disney has implemented an interesting little device that not only replaces your physical tickets, but also your hotel room key. It’s a rubber watchband that fits around your wrist and is delivered to you at least a month before your stay called a MagicBand. And it’s ingenious.
Not only does the band eliminate the need to carry room keys or tickets, it also allows you to sync up a credit card for purchases and acts as your Fast Pass for rides and the way park photographers can electronically transfer photos they take for you to an app account from which you can buy said photos. One size fits all—one stop shopping. I’m not going to get into the implications of what it means from a revenue perspective, but want to stay focused on design for a moment.
We got our bands a month before we left, and each was inscribed with the name of the person who would be using it and featured a pair of mouse ears on the wrist center. Other than that intimate little novelty, I didn’t give much thought to the band other than “cool.” At breakfast on Friday, however, my wife looked around the resort dining hall and realized that our band looked slightly different than everyone else’s.
Here are the two types of bands — our version is on the left, everyone else’s is the one on the right:
After a bit of investigating, I learned ours was the MagicBand 2 — something they rolled out recently—and everyone else had the original band. I asked why they’d made the switch, and amid the variety of answers I got, I discerned the following:
- The wider, convex shaped band expresses user comfort and familiarity (feels more like a watch, something you would constantly check and remember)
- The mouse ears on the original band didn’t feel like a defined button or target, and when people made contact to their room lock or swiped at a Fast Pass station, there was a vague sense of where the ears should make contact with the lock or pass plate
- Finally, when connecting the new band (with the ears inside a rounded, button shape) with a room key, ticket turnstile or Fast Pass plate, it allows for a better “contact flourish” which creates a circle of light that interacts and expresses success via an animated green light
So, here we have not only a band that offers an amazing, forward thinking user experience (no need for keys or tickets; purchasing, Fast Pass and Photo Pass all in one handy device) but also evolves it’s “interface” to enhance that experience (suggestion of comfort, more targeted sensor design, success flourish) and make it more intimate and satisfying for the user.
Look, Disney as we know is HUGE on a satisfied customer experience — everyone is happy, everything they do or offer is tailored for YOUR experience (honeymoon or birthday buttons, or as my kids found out, “first time at Disney" buttons). And they’re quick to ensure that all aspects of their parks—from the rides to your ticket to your dining experience—ensure that the customer has an experience they’ll never forget and want to experience again. And in addition, they do their best to ensure that even something as entering a park or checking in at a ride offers a satisfying moment, an added value that can’t always be measured by anything other than a user wanting to experience it again.
...they do their best to ensure that even something as entering a park or checking in at a ride offers a satisfying moment,
So what can we learn from this as designers?
There are key takeaways — especially as relates to in-app experiences, and even content offerings. Obviously the important of customer service is the largest, but I would suggest designers learn from this even for content we offer and strategies we use along the way. Users want a satisfying experience—ideally one that feels personal and intimate. They want to connect with the content that they’re purchasing or collecting, with IP and related subjects/characters.
At Topps, we discussed specific design tenets to keep in mind when developing Product and that really strikes home when it comes to this—celebrating the content, connecting emotionally, integrating progression and reflection. And while those tenets have been discussed primarily for product and features, designers need to keep them in mind when crafting UX/UI, content and content strategies going forward. In our case, how was a specific release or UI change celebrating Topps' rich Star Wars content, or the galaxy of characters its fans have come to know and love? What emotional connection is a design or pack making, or even a flourish, for a baseball fan interested in wallowing in Topps nostalgia? What is the progression or cadence of a set release, and when a fan progresses through that release is he/she reflecting on their experience in a satisfying, fulfilled manner? Was it an intimate, comfortable experience that will bring them back for more? Did every progression point —discovering the set, opening the pack, chasing the cards, receiving an award — allow for a contact point with our app that gave the user an interaction which resulted in continued engagement by the fan and return for another satisfying experience?
Look; the Topps apps and Disney’s MagicBands are two very different products. But in some aspect, at their heart, both should offer the same thing: satisfying, intimate experiences with specific, well-loved IP and content via mobile technology that result in return engagement and successful customer experiences.
I encourage and challenge all designers —whether crafting user experiences or building content or working on eCommerce or what have you— to apply the same thinking to the way we design the products and art we build and connect with our customers.
Also, if you haven’t tried it, the Disney Dole Whip frozen pineapple soft serve is delicious.