In our newly-made world of always on, real-time services, something interesting has happened: we're increasingly nostalgic for a slower, idealised past of shared personal experiences. Whether it be playing records; a passed-on paperback; Sunday night telly together; or something else entirely, we increasingly find ourselves playing the role of digital sleuths, chasing a half-remembered treasure. As the creators of the next generation of online products, how do we create experiences that are delightfully informed by our past but not weighed down by it? With seven years of experience in online music, and using their latest product This Is My Jam as a case study, Matthew Ogle and Hannah Donovan will demonstrate how to choose the right constraints for your product and build a story that will attract users.

1. The
MALTESE PRODUCT
HANNAH DONOVAN & MATTHEW OGLE, 28 SEPTEMBER 2012

2. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE
We’re living in a realtime world. It’s pretty great.

3. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE
We’re living in a realtime world. It’s pretty great.

4. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE
Increasingly, they don’t fit in with our realtime
world and some, we’re nostalgic for.

5. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE
Have you ever wanted to (or been asked to)
recreate an experience like this online?

6. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE

7. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE

8. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE

9. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE

10. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE
How can you take in new music at this pace?
If you don’t have time to listen to a song right now,
then how do you find it later when you do?
How do you know what the good stuff is?
What about all the extra personal context?

11. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE
A couple of years ago, web browsers advanced to
a point where simultaneous synchronous listening
experiences were finally within reach.

12. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE
A couple of years ago, web browsers advanced to
a point where simultaneous synchronous listening
experiences were finally within reach.

13. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE
A couple of years ago, web browsers advanced to
a point where simultaneous synchronous listening
experiences were finally within reach.

14. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE

15. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE

16. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE

17. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE

18. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE

19. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE

20. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE

21. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE

22. 1. CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE

23. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY
One explanation is these products reproduced the
offline experience too faithfully, and didn’t take
advantage of existing online behaviour.

24. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY
One explanation is these products reproduced the
offline experience too faithfully, and didn’t take
advantage of existing online behaviour.
We need better models for creating online
experiences that evoke the offline ones we miss.

25. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY
In 1930, Dashiell Hammett wrote a novel called:

26. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY
In 1930, Dashiell Hammett wrote a novel called:

27. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY
Shortly after, it was made into a talkie called:

28. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY
Shortly after, it was made into a talkie called:

29. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY
In 1936 it was again adapted for film, titled:

30. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY
In 1936 it was again adapted for film, titled:
(That one didn’t do so well).

31. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY
In 1941 it became a major motion picture called…

32. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY
In 1941 it became a major motion picture called…

33. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY

34. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY

35. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY
Hammett’s was a new type of detective story.

36. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY
“WE HAVE A NAME IN THE STUDIO…WE CALL IT THE ‘M AC GUFFIN’” – ALFRED HITCHCOCK

37. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY
MacGuffin¦mə gʌf n¦(also McGuffin)
noun
An object in a story which serves merely as a
trigger for the plot.
“WE HAVE A NAME IN THE STUDIO…WE CALL IT THE ‘M AC GUFFIN’” – ALFRED HITCHCOCK

38. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY
MacGuffin¦mə gʌf n¦(also McGuffin)
noun
An object in a story which serves merely as a
trigger for the plot.
“WE HAVE A NAME IN THE STUDIO…WE CALL IT THE ‘M AC GUFFIN’” – ALFRED HITCHCOCK

39. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY
MacGuffin¦mə gʌf n¦(also McGuffin)
noun
An object in a story which serves merely as a
trigger for the plot.
“WE HAVE A NAME IN THE STUDIO…WE CALL IT THE ‘M AC GUFFIN’” – ALFRED HITCHCOCK

40. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY
MacGuffins have effects that ought to interest us
as product makers.

41. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY
MacGuffins have effects that ought to interest us
as product makers.
✦ They attract an audience
✦ They trigger action
✦ And everyone has fun along the way

42. 2. HAVING FUN ALONG THE WAY
Product MacGuffin¦ pr dʌkt mə gʌf n¦
noun
A trope in an online product which serves merely
as a trigger for the user experience.
Often evokes a real-world experience we’re
familiar with.

43. 3. THIS IS MY JAM
About a year ago, we started thinking about what
our version of a ‘records & friends’ product would
feel like.

44. 3. THIS IS MY JAM
About a year ago, we started thinking about what
our version of a ‘records & friends’ product would
feel like.

45. 3. THIS IS MY JAM

46. 3. THIS IS MY JAM

47. 3. THIS IS MY JAM

48. 3. THIS IS MY JAM
Constraints:
✦ Happens in the same room
✦ Happens in real-time
✦ You need friends
✦ Works best with 1-10 people
✦ You need a record player
✦ You need records
✦ You need to choose at the pace of a song (3 min)
✦ You have to pick from someone’s collection
✦ You can only share one thing at a time

49. 3. THIS IS MY JAM
Constraints:
✦ Happens in the same room
✦ Happens in real-time
✦ You need friends
✦ Works best with 1-10 people
✦ You need a record player
✦ You need records
✦ You need to choose at the pace of a song (3 min)
✦ You have to pick from someone’s collection
✦ You can only share one thing at a time

50. 3. THIS IS MY JAM
Share one song at a time.
1

51. 3. THIS IS MY JAM
Share one song at a time. 2
1

52. 3. THIS IS MY JAM
The song stays on your profile for up to seven days.

53. 3. THIS IS MY JAM
The outcome is incredibly high quality of music.

54. 3. THIS IS MY JAM
But maybe we should have given it a better name.

55. 3. THIS IS MY JAM
People have fun along the way, and feel like they’re
sharing records with friends.

56. 3. THIS IS MY JAM
People have fun along the way, and feel like they’re
sharing records with friends.
Chris Thorpe @jaggeree 27 Jan 12
@ThisIsMyJam is closest thing I've felt for a while to the John Peel
show I remember from youth. You may not like all but discovery is
key.

57. 4. CONCLUSION
The next time you, or someone you work with,
gets the urge to build something like “That
________ we used to do before the internet”

58. 4. CONCLUSION
Don’t sweat it. Go from “this is the product itself”
to “this is our product’s MacGuffin”

59. 4. CONCLUSION
Don’t sweat it. Go from “this is the product itself”
to “this is our product’s MacGuffin”

60. 4. CONCLUSION
Interrogate the real-life experience. List the
outcomes, behaviours and constraints.

61. 4. CONCLUSION
Pick the smallest number of constraints you
feel are necessary to evoke the experience.

62. 4. CONCLUSION
Pick the smallest number of constraints you
feel are necessary to evoke the experience.

63. 4. CONCLUSION
Experiment! Build a prototype and see if you
chose the right constraints to elicit the behaviours
and outcomes of the real life experience.

64. 4. CONCLUSION
And you might just create an experience that –
like Hammett’s groundbreaking new type of
detective story – might be new.

65. 4. CONCLUSION
A product delightfully informed by the past but
not weighed down by it.

66. 4. CONCLUSION
A product delightfully informed by the past but
not weighed down by it.

67. 4. CONCLUSION
Thanks for listening. Have questions? Get in
touch online: @han & @flaneur
PHOTO CREDITS (IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE)
Postcards – Silvia Sala on Flickr
Watching TV together, c. 1950s – The Telegraph
Students relax with a newspaper and a portable record player, c. 1950s – Vassar College Archives
Young couple listening to music, 1962 – Daily Herald Archive, National Media Museum
Kids listening to records, 1958 – Adventures in Indoor Color Slides (Kodak), via Antiquarian Holographica
Alfred Hitchcock, 1942 – LIFE Magazine, via Retronaut
Students listening to records in their dorm, 1930s – Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan