Pleasure in account creation.

Despite my background as an artist and graphic designer sometimes I forget about the importance of the pleasurable aspects of the user experience. I feel like the biggest hurdle is to make the interaction "suck less" to be easier and more intuitive, providing sign posts and cues. Obviously I know there is more to the experience than just that, there is what if FEELS like to use it. Part of that feeling could be pleasure. Not just seamless, not frustrating, but actually pleasurable.*

But recently I was reminded of the importance of this, while signing up for grooveshark. The sign up processes for a new site or service is something we are faced with everyday. It can be simple, and just work, fading into the background. It can also be annoying, frustrating, or just not as smooth as it should be. But it can also be a joy, a pleasure.

In this case signing up for grooveshark was easy and a pleasant little blip in my day. They nailed making the process smooth, not feel too invasive or too lengthy. To top it off I was amused and pleased by it. I was left feeling respected and like grooveshark was FUN to use, before I even used it for the first time.

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* This is probably because getting past frustrating, difficult can be such a slog. Getting the changes made to make it not harder than it has to be has to be first step for me.... just not the last!