Hello everyone. We've got another bunch of shiny newbies who have joined us over the last few weeks. I'm sure they're enjoying the spring weather as much as I am.
Our Studio continues to get bigger and better with their latest addition, Cindy Fogarty. She's recently relocated from Sydney where she spent the last four years involved in some really interesting creative projects at The Monkeys as a designer/artworker.
Hello there Debbie Jones! She has become the new friendly face of reception, taking over from our lovely Jody who has transitioned into a studio role. Debbie used to work as a personal shopper at Topshop, where she helped celebrities roam around the store at night and get loads of freebies. I'm sure she's got a fair bit of juicy gossip.
Say a big hello to Sophia Tubby, who joins us today in Broadcast as a Production Assistant. Her background lies not only in Agency (previously at M&C Saatchi) but also in Production Company having worked at Not to Scale and Gorgeous. She's a welcome addition to team TV.
This is the lovely Monika Andexlinger who has joined Creative Services this week as a Project Manger on Arla. Monika has joined us from Mother, where she used to work with our amazing office manager Ronny. Having googled Monika (we don't do that often) we've found out that she previously starred in an ad for a well known high-end department store. Superstar.
Finally, Megan-Rose joins us in finance as an accounts payable assistant. She has recently finished an internship at Sony Pictures Entertainment in Poland. Fun fact; she plays the bass guitar. We're sure the finance team would love a tune or two.
Hey y’all. A lot happened on Day 4 at SXSW. Most excitingly I did a wee next to Tim Berners-Lee. Attended a fantastic talk by Russ Tedrake on the future of robotics. Another by Fred Ehrsam about whether Bitcoin is the future of money.
Today though I’m going to share with you something a little more present and actionable: What we can all learn from the UX of porn.
Morality aside for a moment 25% of web traffic is porn. So it’s a good place to look for best practice. There’s a wide array of content and category types in porn. The porn industry’s also incredibly well-known for effectively embracing new technologies before most other industries.
So late into the afternoon experience designer Stephen Johnson’s observations about the UX of porn were actually really insightful. With lots of useful application for the ways in which we design UX and service layers for the brands we work with.
So what did he talk about?
His overall observation is that the big players in the industry can teach brands a lot about immersion. Creating the perceptual illusion of non-meditation.
He suggests that for immersion to occur three things need to happen:
Richness: A number of senses need to be engaged
Realism: There needs to be a sensory fidelity. Those senses needs to be stimulated realistically
Participation: Users needs to feel like they are influencing a scene or scenario
He then observed how some of the big players in the porn industry are beginning to emrabce new methodologies and techniques to create more immersive states.
First up was Porn Hub. Basically the biggest player in video porn on the internet. Succesful because of the incredible way its streamlined navigation.
It has predictive search. Meaning that for minimal keyboard input the website will still return results. Searching the entire PornHub network based on just one, two or three keystrokes.
To keep users on the platform Stephen then pointed to how brilliantly PornHub serves up playlists of content similar to the video the user is watching within the same window. To make it easier for users to get lost down the content rabbit hole.
Who else does this brilliantly? The Daily Mail and New York Times actually. By surfacing similar stories on the same page as the main story you’ve clicked on you’re 8x likely to stay and read other stories.
So how is your brand tagging and grouping product sets to make it easier for people to discover similar products or services? Staying on your platform 8x longer.
Next Stephen talked about the incredibly popular gay website Dominic Ford. A platform beginning to achieve greater sensorial fidelity due to the way that they’ve embraced 4K Ultra HD content. Compatible for viewing on larger and more immersive 3D TVs.
Dominic Ford has also started to shoot using Google Glass. Creating a situational illusion that you’re actually there. Feeling more involved.
Who else is doing this incredibly well? GoPro of course. With a human-eye view they create a powerful visual realism. You watch their videos and feel like you’re really there.
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So how is your brand capturing more detail? Changing the point of view? How more helpful might your product demos be shot from the perspective of the user?
Lastly Stephen talked about RealTouch. A platform that’s embraced internet connected toys and wearables for men and women. At one end of the screen you basically attach a wearable device to yourself, shake it like a polaroid picture and your lover will experience that replicated movement the other end. Quite profoundly creating a new haptic (touch) based sensation above and beyond any of the other pornographic platforms. A sensory fidelity beyond just sound and vision.
What other brands have recently achieved gigantic acclaim by embracing internet connected objects and touch? Coca-Cola.
So how is your brand giving users the ability to cause change at greater distance? Using touch to reward customers for a desired business outcome?
