AIGA Lunch & Learn – Focus Empathy with Abe Crystal

Recently a couple of the Burning Oak Studios team got to attend a local AIGA Raleigh event with a presentation from Abe Crystal of More Better Labs. The presentation was titled “Focus & Empathy.”



Abe started the lecture off by talking about the user experience, which is what determines if an experience, whether it be with a product, event, presentation, etc., is successful or not. In turn explaining that good design = a clear and understandable message and great user experience. Abe then proceeded to show examples of good and bad user experiences by juxtaposing certain websites. The bad ones showed cluttered messes of information that were hard to navigate through, and the good ones showcased slick designs with easy navigation that communicated everything they needed to.

Another interesting thing Abe brought up were the statistics for companies with similar products & services. When he showed us the good vs. bad user experiences, he would also include financial information about the company, and the companies that had the clear & understandable “good” user experiences always seemed to be more successful financially.

FOCUSAbe went on to discuss FOCUS in relation to strategy and defining the mantra & key experience principles of an organization. Showing examples of companies with a variety of missions within their mission statement, when instead, things could be simplified into a “mantra,” or small phrase that encompasses things in an easy to understand way.

EMPATHYThe next topic was relating EMPATHY to research. Some companies forget the user when products or services seem to be doing well. A mediocre product or service could be selling just fine, but a great one that the users fully enjoy will perform much better. A very important point was brought up here. You need to be able to define your user group(s), and also be able to know how to communicate with them effectively. Reach out to your users/consumers/customers, find out what works and what doesn’t. This way you will know what can make your products/services better and everyone will be happier.

We found this to be a helpful and informative lecture and want to thank Abe Crystal of More Better Labs, as well as AIGA Raleigh for making it happen.