Disney – The Genius Behind UX and 10 Mickey’s Commandments

Disney and UX, are they really related? Well yes, they are very well connected to each other. And you’ll find the genius behind the user experience that Disney provide.

In this post by Redona, you’d find Micky’s 10 commandments. Rules to provide the best experience you can get. So without further ado, let’s have a look at the key to Disney’s outstanding experience.

It’s always been about the Experience

Walt Disney’s key to the Park experience is immersion.

Mickey’s 10 Commandments

1. Know your audience.

Don’t bore people, talk down to them, or lose them by assuming that they know what you know.

Means: Do your research like demographics before designing a new project.

2. Wear your guest’s shoes.

Insist that designers, staff and your board members experience your facility as visitors as often as possible.

Means: Be empathic. Oh, empathy!!! Sound familiar right?

3. Organize the flow of people and ideas.

Use good story telling techniques, tell good stories not lectures, lay out your exhibit with a clear logic.

Means: Wait did he say Storytelling?

4. Create a weenie.

Lead visitors from one area to another by creating visual magnets and giving visitors rewards for making the journey.

Means: Create a Hook. To better understand read this: Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products.

5. Communicate with visual literacy.

Make good use of all the non-verbal ways of communication, color, shape, form, texture.

Means: Study the Gestalt principles.

6. Avoid overload.

Resist the temptation to tell too much, to have too many objects, don’t force people to swallow more than they can digest, try to stimulate and provide guidance to these who wants more.

Means: Be simple.

7. Tell one story at a time.

If you have a lot of information divide it into distinct logical, organized stories, people can absorb and retain information more clearly if the path to the next concept is clear and logical.

Means: Tell one story at a time.

8. Avoid contradiction.

Clear institutional identity helps give you the competitive edge. Public needs to know who you are and what differentiates you from other institutions they may have seen.

Means: Consistency.

9. For every ounce of treatment, provide a ton of fun.

How do you woo people from all other temptations? Give people plenty of opportunities to enjoy themselves by emphasizing ways that let people participate in the experience and by making your environment rich and appealing to all senses.

Means: Create engagement.

10. Keep it up.

Never underestimate the importance of cleanliness and routine maintenance, people expect to get a good show every time, people will comment more on broken and dirty stuff.

Means: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test, Implement, Repeat.

Remember

UX is not websites or apps. But it’s the key of making the user’s experience immersive!

Summary

It’s always been about the “Experience”. And in order to create a great immersion experience, Martin Sklar, Walt Disney Imagineering wrote down these 10 Mickey’s Commandments: