Walt Disney - UX Pioneer ?

1. Know your audience –

Don’t bore people, talk down to them or lose them by assuming that they know what you know.

Identify the prime audience BEFORE you begin design for.

Of course, your audience will have different needs, constraints and motivation for each one of those services. So, for each channel, each touchpoint, each physical presence, you will have to know who your users are.

2. Wear your guest’s shoes –

Insist that designers, staff and your board members experience your facility as visitors as often as possible.

This is crucial to develop empathy.

If your system don’t allow you to test directly every stage, every process, you can’t experience your users’ journey. On digital system, impersonating your persona is a must have! Leave the real user-impersonation to support people unless you are Facebook  .

3. Organize the flow of people and ideas –

Use good storytelling techniques, tell good stories not lectures, lay out your exhibit with a clear logic. Make sure there is logic and sequence in your stories and the way visitors experience them.

4. Create a “weenie” –

Lead visitors from one area to another by creating visual magnets and giving visitors rewards for making the journey.

A “weenie” is large enough to be seen from a distance and interesting enough to make you want to take a closer look.

This term “Weenie” is from Walter Elias Disney and come from his dog’s habit.

Read this authentic story on themouselets.


Walt pictured here with his dog, Lady, who was known for her love of “weenies” and later inspired the movie Lady and the Tramp.

5. Communicate with visual literacy –

Make good use of all the non-verbal ways of communication – color, shape, form, texture. 

Just by this little sentence you understand why I call him a pioneer 😉

6. Avoid overload –

Resist the temptation to tell too much, to have too many objects, don’t force people to swallow more than they can digest, try to stimulate and provide guidance to those who want more.

This one I should print it A2 Format and offer it to each client. It is still the most difficult task for me today when I am advocating for less and the business want always more.

7. Tell one story at a time –

If you have a lot of information divide it into distinct, logical, organized stories, people can absorb and retain information more clearly if the path to the next concept is clear and logical.

It is the same idea when you write, when you do interior design, when you paint, etc…

8. Avoid contradiction –

Clear institutional identity helps give you the competitive edge. Public needs to know who you are and what differentiates you from other institutions they may have seen.

Maintain this identity. Every inch of details that contradict one another confuse en audienceabout your story or the time period it takes place in.

☞  Discover how do I deal with visual identity

9. For every ounce of treatment, provide a ton of fun –

How do you keep away people from all other temptations? Give people plenty of opportunity to enjoy themselves by emphasizing ways that let people participate in the experience and by making your environment rich and appealing to all senses.

10. Keep it up! (maintain it) –

Never underestimate the importance of cleanliness and routine maintenance, people expect to get a good show every time, people will comment more on broken and dirty stuff. Poor maintenance is poor show.

This little article made you hungry for more?

Then you would be happy to read that masterpiece directly from its autor: Martin Sklar, Walt Disney Imagineering, Education vs. Entertainment: Competing for audiences, AAM Annual meeting, 1987