Onboarding

Your objective should always be to eliminate instructions entirely by making everything self-explanatory, or as close to it as possible. When instructions are absolutely necessary, cut them back to a bare minimum.

The next area where I think games have a lot to teach product designers is in onboarding . Many games follow the path of slowly revealing the complexity of a system over time, giving the player just enough to do that they're engaged but not overwhelmed. Often this is a continual process that happens across the entire span of the game. Multiple... See more

The most challenging products must EXPLAIN how something should be done (think Adobe Photoshop, where users must be find training on YouTube or elsewhere to engage — even initially—with the product). Having to explain your product is the least effective way to engage new users (and explains why products like Photoshop struggle to attract non-Pros).... See more

In order to successfully onboard a horizontal product, we need to increase their skill over time to keep up with their changing goals.

New users do not yet have the vocabulary to understand the appNew users do not yet have the vocabulary to understand the appImagine that you are in a foreign country where you don't speak the language. You're hungry... See more