What is Flow? And Why is this important to understand.

What do you mean by FLOW?

Let’s take a look at the definition by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi (Pyschologist, 1975)

The mental state in which a person performing some activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity.

Now lets simplify this.

Flow is a state where a person feels the difficulty of the task is a good match to their skill.

When there is good flow, the person feels,

1. Productive

2. in Control

3. Accomplishment

   
   

A bit of introspection here, how many times have you left doing something because its too boring and how many times have you left working on a task because of frustration.

We often gets bored doing something that’s too simple for our intellect. Similarly we get frustrated when the task is too complicated. When there is balance, a beautiful feature is created there - Engagement!

I will tell you an example from my profession as a mentor. If I make things really simple and teach it to my class, they will start questioning the point of my existence. It will create a feeling that this is something that they can do without guidance (which might not be true). On the other hand, if I teach a design concept in its original philosophical complexity, students might feel this is too hard for them to pursue. A mentor wins when you balance complexity and simplicity with the right amount of engagement that will match the student skill set.

Flow is a concept that is applied frequently in User Experience Design. For instance, products that offer a bit of customisation creates better flow. To understand this easier, lets take the example of Apple vs Android Phones(well, the older variants of it).

Apple offered very little customisation to it’s phone. The first ever iphone didnt even have the option to change your wallpaper. The goal was to keep the interface as simple and functional as possible for every user. Wherein, Android gave them options to change the wallpaper, themes, icons and even the OS Shells. Users felt more in control - which created more engagement with the device which contributed to the massive sales of android phones over iPhones. Now the scenario is changed. iOS18 offers customisation options that makes us feel productive, in control and accomplished.

To know more about FLOW, do watch this video - where i am explaining this in action on a UXD context.