7 steps to achieving flow in UX design

I checked the time about 3 times today. First at 12:31pm to see how long the Monday meeting would last, the second time around 4:43pm (realizing that I normally take my break a lot earlier but I wanted to keep working), and the end of the day at 5:20pm. By then I compiled a bunch of sketches, got valuable feedback, completed both the low and high fidelity design, all of which was ready to be tested.

Ironically, I was told at the end of the day that the task got deprioritized and there it goes again — to the Backlog. I’ve learned early in my career as a User Experience Designer that not all of your designs live on and that’s okay (I have even created a folder for ‘failed’ designs during my first week!). Fail fast, fail early -right?

The process of diving deeper to really understand a user’s pain, thinking of solutions for what would make actions easier for our users and why -was ultimately very rewarding to me. Today, I caught myself in a state of Flow.

Flow Theory

Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi’s concept of Flow in the Learning Theory is described as a “mental state of complete absorption in the current experience.”

Flow occurs when there is a balance between how challenging a task is (Difficulty) and a person’s level of skill at the given task (Player Ability). A task that’s too difficult would lead to heighten anxiety/frustration while a task that’s too easy would lead to boredom.

The Feeling of Flow

1. Complete focus on what you’re working on
2. A sense of ecstasy — an out of the world feeling
3. Inner Clarity — knowing exactly what your goals are and the process to achieve it
4. Having the skills required to successfully complete the task
5. Sense of Serenity — where you don’t feel anxious or worried
6. Timelessness — speaks for itself
7. Deep intrinsic motivation — personally rewarding

7 Steps to Achieving Flow

Example Task: Redesign ‘Page Settings’ modal to make it easier for users to change the page size of their design.

1. Find a Challenge — Let your…