What product designers and lawyers can learn from Super Mario
Imagine picking up Super Mario for the first time. You have no idea how to move, how to jump, what power-ups are, warp zones, etc. If you were then expected to beat the final boss Bowser in one go, you’d probably get frustrated and not pick the game up again.
So Super Mario shows you how to do these things step by step. You first learn to move, then to jump and stomp enemies. Only then does it show you Power-Ups and so on. In game design this is called the principle of ‘progressive disclosure’.
We made a mistake in our product LexPlay by ignoring this. LexPlay is a contract playbook tool that enables users to build a contract playbook in a Microsoft Word add-in.
It’s quite powerful, in that it enables users to map out preferred positions and fallbacks for multiple scenarios, single click insertable clause templates as well as pre-drafted “Word comment bubbles” to explain a position to a counterparty.
So far so good.
But on first use, it felt… kinda complicated? As a first time-user you were confronted with a multitude of boxes. You need to figure out what each of them does in order to create your first entry. A bit like facing Bowser in level 1.
We’ve now dramatically simplified it, so a user gets to try each feature in isolation, when they’re ready. Instead of 9 boxes, it’s 1 single notepad. A bit like Word, Google Docs or Notion: they’re all pretty simple to use and get value from even if you don’t make use of all the features. But the features are there for those who need them.
We’re beta testing it now, and initial feedback shows this was the right call. It was so tempting though to show all features in one go. We’re so proud of them! But no user these days will tolerate having to read a manual (except my dad, he for some reason loves doing that with his morning coffee 🤣). So features must feel intuitive and they should show up incrementally.
Lawyers can learn from this approach too. Especially when giving advice to non-lawyers. Don’t just dump concepts like indemnities, liability caps and indirect damages on your client or stakeholder in one go. Do it step by step. Start with the bigger principle first, then build on that by adding more and more ‘features’ to your advice.
A bit like showing how to hit ‘jump’ first, before introducing the fireball.
I’d love your thoughts on this, have you encountered any examples of where ‘progressively disclosing’ advice or features made life much easier?
Thanks for being here,
Daniel
P.S. If you need help with any of these things, we’d love to help out :-)
Commercial contract review: fixed fees + fast turnarounds. Work done by our in-house lawyers.
Contract playbook tool: create detailed contract playbooks in LexPlay (a smart Microsoft Word add-in - try it for free!):
Train up new and junior lawyers to a high and consistent standard
Empower sales team to negotiate their own contracts
Multi-country and repapering projects: such as localising T&Cs, employment contracts, answering regulatory questionnaires as well as Data Protection remediation (SCCs etc).