Optimizing for metrics in software design may leave important aspects on the table. Instead, designers should focus on evoking specific emotions in users. The feelings that software design should aim to evoke include joy, speed, organization, and focus. While the idea of optimizing for feelings may sound romantic, it is actually a modern approach that challenges the reliance on numbers and graphs. Many successful brands and products, such as Nike, Disney, and Apple, have resonated with customers by prioritizing the emotions they want to evoke. Walt Disney crafted Disneyland with a specific emotional experience in mind, Phil Knight considered emotions when designing the first Nike running shoe, and Steve Jobs envisioned the emotions users would feel with the iPhone and Macintosh. While numbers are important for evaluating success, it is crucial for product creators to prioritize the human experience and consider how they want users to feel during the creation stage.
Brought to you by Writer—Generative AI for the enterprise | Dovetail—Bring your customer into every decision | Linear—The new standard for modern software development
—
Josh Miller is the CEO and co-founder of The Browser Company, where he helped build Arc, my go-to web browser. In today’s episode, we get an inside look at the unique structure and values of The Browser Company and how their company culture has helped them land some of the best talent in tech. Josh shares ways that his company embraces experimentation, including their “optimizing for feelings” approach to building, and explains why extreme transparency is at the forefront of everything they do.