I’ve been re-reading Kathy Sierra’s seminal work on designing the user experience. The book is not about users becoming an expert on your product. Why, you ask? Because no one buys a camera to become an expert on all the features of the Canon EOS R5. Instead, they use the product to become an amazing photographer.

A lot of complementary products can go into that superset of “Be an amazing photographer”: speed lights, gels, Adobe Lightroom editing software, high-end photo stock paper. And the more you become an amazing photographer, the more you are able to tell the difference between a high-end camera and a budget camera. And the more you are willing to gravitate towards acquiring the high-end: Chris’s regrets in not buying the iPhone11, with its superior camera, for his once in a lifetime vacation, is a case in point. By contrast, I’m not an audiophile and will happily listen to music on the cheapest headphones: when a musician let me listen to Hamilton on their $400 headphones, I was blown away by the sound quality but I didn’t appreciate it enough to invest in a pair.

Part of improving the user experience is helping the user to become amazing at creating content with your product or service. That’s why I occasionally create FAQs on “how to Cake” and why I did a writing workshop with @JazliAziz to help content creators become amazing.

Further reading

Weekend Workshop: How to get more Responses to your Conversations on CakeWelcome to our weekend workshop, "How to get more Responses to your Conversations on Cake". If you haven't signed up yet, or want more details on the workshop, please go here ...cake.co

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BadassImagine you're in a game with one objective: a bestselling product or service. The rules? No marketing budget, no PR stunts, and it must ...www.goodreads.com

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The latest leaks make it look like iPhone 12 is reverting to old skool stylingSo I passed on the iPhone 11, a decision I cursed when in Morocco and Costa Rica, because its camera is better than the iPhone 10 I own. But then I decided to go with my mistake and wait for the 12. ...cake.co

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I was blown away by the sound quality but I didn’t appreciate it enough to invest in a pair.

Blown away or did not appreciate it enough? Your statement seems discordant to me, unless your "blown away" means "meh, these cans sound a bit better than mine".