Humans are know to have overall opinions about the products they are using on an everyday basis. We choose to return to specific websites over others because of the accessibility and design of the product but that does not mean there aren’t things we want to change. Explaining those opinions in feel/need statements can help a company or business improve their user Interface (UI) for an overall better User Experience (UX).
Lets start with some terminology:
User Interface (UI) is the appearance of an app or website. This includes the colors, visuals, animations, and more.
User Experience (UX) is the practicality and functionality of a website or app. This include the ease of use, accessibility tools, readability and more.
Feel and Need
Emotions drive our everyday decisions but without understanding where these emotions stem from can lead to invaluable changes. Scott Magids, Alan Zorfas, and Daniel Leemon explain the effectiveness of brands analyzing the emotional motivators can have a long lasting impact on customers. Emotionally analyzing themselves causes customers to be more honest, “Fully connected customers are 52% more valuable, on average, than those who are just highly satisfied. In fact, their relative value is striking across a variety of metrics, such as purchases and frequency of use”(Magids et al. 2015).
I for one am a very detail oriented person and like order within the applications I am using. I enjoy when the User interface includes buttons to similar products rather than a combined view of all products. If I were this relay this information to a brand I would follow the Feel/Need technique:
_________ makes me FEEL ______ because of my NEED for _______ was OR was not being met.
Reading makes me feel happy because my need for companionship and rest are being met.
I would love to be reading all the time. I think thats why I’m excited to have a 9 to 5 job. I can work all day and relax the rest of the night without worrying about a homework assignment that could be getting done instead.
As much as I love reading not many of my peers read and I have a hard time remembering what I’ve consumed. To fill both of those voids I’ve been utilizing Goodreads and Fable, both are apps that help users find, track, and discuss books that they have read. I’ve been a Goodreads user since December 2022 after consistently reading for the prior two months. I have only recently discovered Fable with the help of Youtuber Sara Carrolli.
Using both apps for a minimum of two months I have learned which apps I like overall. My biggest issue with Goodreads is the UX design of the landing page because there is no order or flow to the recommendations and updates about friends reviews. I enjoy the UI of the Fable app but the the UX Design for reviewing books makes it difficult for me to fully commit to one app over another.
After writing 10 feeling and needs for each of the book tracking apps, I can conclude that I enjoy Goodreads book tracking design more effective for my organizing needs but Fable gives me a sense of community that I am looking for.
I encourage each and every one of you to analyze your own feeling and needs for a website or app you frequently use. Experience is the key to success!
Read my full app analysis below:
Sources:
Magids, S., Zorfas, A. and Leemon, D. (2015) The New Science of Customer Emotions, Harvard Business Review. Available at: https://hbr.org/2015/11/the-new-science-of-customer-emotions.
Maeve Catherine 
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