Design for input with constrained media
Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2025 4:52 am
Principles for digital product design
Social digital products benefit from encouraging contributions and activity from their users. This means that you need to consider three key principles when designing them.
Many product developers are familiar with the 1% rule: typically, only a small percentage of users contribute to the content creation within a platform. However, for social products, having the largest possible percentage of 'contributing' users is strategically vital.
Successful social products therefore use constrained media to increase their conversion. In a nutshell: lower the threshold for users to create content on a platform by creating clear boundaries. Offer users a blank canvas and they algeria mobile phone number list get stuck. Limit them to 140 characters and they go wild.
Besides Twitter, Dribbble is a great example of constrained media. Dribbble is a community of different types of designers (from typographers to illustrators) who share their work with each other using small images ('shots'). Their rule is simple: uploaded images are no larger than 400×300 pixels.
1 Dribbble
Thanks to the advantages of constrained media, such as ease of use and consistent content, the percentage of users who contribute increases and the percentage of lurkers (users who only watch or read) decreases. In short, the 1% rule is broken.
The challenge of constrained media lies in defining the boundaries and rules. To do this, use the following tips during the design process:
• Analyze the wishes and needs of the (potential) user.
• Determine which functionalities are relevant to them.
• Remove all cumbersome elements. Simplicity is key.
• Choose one good (preferably the best) way for users to perform a task. Even if there are multiple effective ways possible.
• Think carefully about the type of content that can be shared.
Social digital products benefit from encouraging contributions and activity from their users. This means that you need to consider three key principles when designing them.
Many product developers are familiar with the 1% rule: typically, only a small percentage of users contribute to the content creation within a platform. However, for social products, having the largest possible percentage of 'contributing' users is strategically vital.
Successful social products therefore use constrained media to increase their conversion. In a nutshell: lower the threshold for users to create content on a platform by creating clear boundaries. Offer users a blank canvas and they algeria mobile phone number list get stuck. Limit them to 140 characters and they go wild.
Besides Twitter, Dribbble is a great example of constrained media. Dribbble is a community of different types of designers (from typographers to illustrators) who share their work with each other using small images ('shots'). Their rule is simple: uploaded images are no larger than 400×300 pixels.
1 Dribbble
Thanks to the advantages of constrained media, such as ease of use and consistent content, the percentage of users who contribute increases and the percentage of lurkers (users who only watch or read) decreases. In short, the 1% rule is broken.
The challenge of constrained media lies in defining the boundaries and rules. To do this, use the following tips during the design process:
• Analyze the wishes and needs of the (potential) user.
• Determine which functionalities are relevant to them.
• Remove all cumbersome elements. Simplicity is key.
• Choose one good (preferably the best) way for users to perform a task. Even if there are multiple effective ways possible.
• Think carefully about the type of content that can be shared.