I've been binging through the Imagineering Story documentary on Disney+ and am in awe of their design principles. There were a couple of things that stood out to me:
- Each park was setup with a central hub with spokes to the each themed area. That way, visitors were drawn to distinct parts of the park and a flow was created to help direct visitors to keep exploring.
- 4 Levels of design were used for levels of detail to be considered. An example of this would be level 1 being the Magic Kingdom castle (where was it placed? How tall was it?). Level 2 would be the bricks and colors of the castle (dark at the bottom and light at the top made it appear taller than it actually was). Level 3 would be the wooden door next to stained glass windows (extreme detail in the glass portrayed the Disney scenes that were as authentic as possible). And level 4 would be the door handle (was it old metal? chipped? rounded? how did it feel?). Each level had to be considered for everything in the park.
I've begun thinking about app/website design in similar ways. I'm curious, how do you direct visitors to explore different areas of your app? How do you incorporate different levels of design detail?
I've never thought of digital experiences quite the way you're describing it here (relating to disney theme parks). I have had experience trying to get users to explore other functionalities than they're used to. Tool tips and flashing banners are what marketers will tell you to use to direct the eye and truth be told, that works in some instances.
The rule that I like to keep in my head is that people only click on things that they find interesting. That's why targeted ads work so well, they already know you're interested based on your browsing history. What I've found works best is to tease and exciting portion of whatever you're trying to get them to explore. Whether that be in on your homepage, feed or whatever. The analogy I draw from your disney example is seeing the very top of a rollercoaster from a different part of the park. It grabs your interest and makes you want to explore that part.
I could go into more detail on the actual UI of it but I hope that helps!
I appreciate the thoughts! My example is definitely a bit interdisciplinary and maybe a bit abstract. Perhaps it was just Disney and their design principles that inspired me to think a bit outside of the box in regards to website and app design.