There’s two kinds of friction in any experience — the good kind and the bad kind.

The bad kind is quite obvious and well understood. When interactions are onerous, time-consuming, error-prone, or inconvenient we tend to put them off, avoid them entirely, or find the experience unpleasant, especially if it’s not something we want to do in the first place.

We can improve an experience quite dramatically by stripping this effort out, and it’s quite easy if you have a structured approach. You can re-sequence tasks, eliminate unnecessary steps, apply defaults, use simple clear language, improve the choice architecture, etc. But taken too far we end up with no experience at all, and this is where the good kind of friction comes in.

Interactions that are inefficient, or not strictly speaking necessary add value if they create a positive emotional response, are pleasurable, reassure the customer of safety or quality, or make the experience more enjoyable in some other way. This is the right kind of friction. The time it takes to pour a Guinness, signing with your finger on Square, an extra layer of security when executing a high value banking transaction — examples are legion.

We need a little friction to create memories. Occasional, distinctive flourishes go a long way.

See this post on LinkedIn