I have a feeling that I may begin posting more about offline-experiences as they relate to user-experience-design, accessibility and usability, but I was compelled today to comment on one pleasurable experience in particular… the Dorito.
Being very involved in the usability and architecture of websites, my mind is constantly soaking in ideas that are relevant to my work. Today, as I sat coding a new website for Frederick Meijer Gardens for work, I was crunching away on some tasty Dorito chips, (and thoroughly enjoying myself, I might add) when something ‘clicked’.
As if trying to stop a steaming locomotive, and much to the displeasure of my tastebuds, I put the brakes on my hand-to-mouth action and pondered for a second… my Dorito has rounded corners! I don’t know why I had never noticed it before, but here in my hand was a Dorito that was purposely designed with rounded corners.
It didn’t take long for me to figure it out… milliseconds, in fact… but this chip was designed to enhance my user experience! In times past, I recall shoving chip after chip into my mouth, and then, out of nowhere, comes that fateful sharp-edged-chip poking right through the roof of my mouth and causing an unbearable pain for a few seconds. It was enough to put the chips away and stop eating. After a while, I began to associate Doritos with a pain in my mouth.
I think someone over at Frito lay picked up on this, and made an earth-shattering discovery… “Hey! If we round off the corners of these things, people will stop poking their fool selves in the mouth! Less pokes equals more eating… More eating equals better experience… Better experience equals more sales!” (It doesn’t take long before money enters the equation, does it?)
This is just another great example of the sensibility in designing your product around creating a good experience for the user, whether it’s a website, a woodworking tool, a car instrument panel or… a Dorito.
Thank you, Frito Lay… for the great user experience.