Mint Digital

Part 1. About Flow

The theory of Flow was proposed by Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi. He argues that Flow is a state of mind where you feel immersed, engaged and in complete control of your actions.

Csíkszentmihályi outlines 9 factors that accompany Flow:

1. Clear goals
2. Direct & immediate feedback
3. Personal control
4. Balance ability & challenge
5. Concentration & focus
6. Loss of the feeling of self
7. Distorted sense of time
8. Intrinsic rewards
9. Action awareness merges

Part 2. Flow as a framework for design

How can we use the 9 factors as a framework for designing a two-screen experience? The image above shows the factors split into two categories. Environment and Human.

The environment is something we affect. Messaging, user interface and interactions are part of the environment that we, as designers, define. My hunch is that if we get the environment right, the human factors will take care of themselves.

Here's a closer look at the environmental factors and how they apply to some two-screen projects.

1. Clear goals: Backchannel
Backchannel is a social game that lets viewers chat while watching episodes of The Hills. The aim is to enter witty comments to gain popularity from other users. The site makes it clear what is expected of a user and the interface encourages commenting and clicking. This is a great example of how clear goals can help focus the user on the task.

2. Direct & immediate feedback: Football3s
Football3s is an in-game fantasy football experience, developed here at Mint. People play while watching a live match on TV. Each person enters a room, picks 3 players from the match and scores points every time their player does something in the game. The interface is snappy, showing players score points as they do things on the pitch. This immediate feedback is crucial. It rewards the user instantaneously.

3. Personal control: Question Time on Twitter
Matt Wardman calculated that about 3000 tweets containing #bbcqt were posted on 14 May during Question Time on BBC1. That's about 50 tweets per minute. The experience was energizing and frustrating at the same time. Some insightful tweets flashed by. But mostly there was noise. The user has very little control over the information they see. This example demonstrates the frustration that results when a user doesn't have control.

4. Balance ability & challenge: Betfair
Betfair is an online betting company. Punters bet in-game, often while watching a football match or race unfold on TV. The structure of betting supports multiple levels of abilities. Betfair offers simple bets and complex bets. You are competing against other people, with the odds changing, forcing the punter to choose carefully when to bet. One of the great things about Betfair is the interface. It elegantly supports a range of abilities and eases the punter into a new challenge.

I find it interesting that Backchannel and Football3s were designed for two-screen consumption. Watching TV while Tweeting (#bbcqt or #derrenbrown) or placing bets on Betfair is an emergent two-screen behaviour. I'm sure we can learn from both sets of examples.

However you view it, it is very exciting. New oportunities are presenting themselves. I'm positive that two-screen consumption will become mainstream over the next few years. It'll probably be a bumpy ride.

And as with all new areas of interaction, there are big questions to answer: How do we motivate people to take part? What is the business model? And how do we create an engaging experience?

A greater appreciation of Flow will help answer that last question.