Content: Fast and Slow
Content plays a critical role in guiding the pace of the user’s experience. What we write, the words we choose, and the way we display language in design, are all tools we use to engage users and direct them. Users will often rate experiences that they perceive as slow as frustrating, while they will positively respond to ones in which they perceive to unfold quickly. But should all experiences be fast?
As Margot Bloomstein tells us, when appropriate, users appreciate slow experiences when it is right for the brand, and it allows them to be engaged with the content, discover information, and create memories. Slow content can focus user attention and allow them to deliberate. For example, e-commerce sites that allow users to compare different types of products, pricing, quality, and attributes within comparison charts encourage deliberation. Financial and health information content can also benefit by these slower experiences.