Feels and Needs

Website analysis is complicated.

It is difficult to explain exactly what you are thinking, and how that translates to a better or worse user experience. That is where feels and needs statements come in.

This is an easy way to break down your feelings about certain aspects of a site into simple-to-understand statements. They usually come in the form of my _____ makes me FEEL ______ because my NEED for _______ was OR was not being met.

Using these statements, it makes it easy to break down how different aspects affect you.

With this in mind, I conducted a project evaluating iRobot’s vs. Shark's website, and looking into how various elements work and look.

The Project

I first started with iRobot.

As the main player in the robot vacuum market, I knew that there are going to be some clear differences in presentation compared to Shark, namely, presentation.

I found right away how different these sites look and their importance on branding. iRobot clearly takes these things more seriously, having very defined brand guides and creating a fairly consistent message and design throughout their site.

I describe this within one of my first feel-need statements, saying “iRobot’s hero banner makes me feel CALM and CONFIDENT because my need for TRUST, CLARITY, and UNDERSTANDING was met. “

Shark on the other hand had less focus in this area. I found that there are some aspects that they excel in very well, such as in their video and moving content, and also their layout.

Though there were quite a few aspects that I didn’t like very much

One of those was the navigation, where I said “Shark’s navigation menu makes me feel CONFUSED, DISCOURAGED, and FRUSTRATED because my need for EASE, UNDERSTANDING, and CLARITY were not met.”

I find this navigation to be an absolute mess, having a single section on the left that, for me, is completely unreadable, with other sections that feel bare in comparison.

For me, this feels like it comes primarily from a lack of creative direction, which is supported by my other main gripe, the mismatched colors.

I say how “Shark’s use of multiple shades of the same color makes me feel HOSTILE, BITTER, and IRRITATED because my need for CREATIVITY, COLLABORATION, and FLOW wasn’t met.”

This is immediately apparent when you look at the insane amount of different shade on just the homepage.

I absolutely have no idea how something like this could happen without a single question coming up.

Either way, these feel-need statements are great ways to better understand websites, and put your ideas down in a simple and easy way.

It is through processes like these that websites are able to improve and better appeal to what users want.

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