Sometimes it puzzles us how low the bar is among many software industry professionals. And while the current average quality of software experiences is an improvement over decades past, it seems that the highest aspiration for many software designers and technologists is to make their apps and web experiences… “usable”. Usable means many things including simple, intuitive, forgiving, etc. And these are important things.

To us, aspiring to make your software usable is like aspiring to make the food your restaurant serves not poisonous. Usability for your technology is the absolute baseline. And the fact that it often goes unachieved is great in terms of job security for legions of software professionals. But it’s not great for customers. It’s the bare minimum. Perhaps there should be a software “health” inspector?

The space beyond usability centers around the emotional experience of your software. This feels fuzzy to many people but it’s simple. Beyond usability lies vast opportunity to create an emotional experience with your customers. What will you say? How will you make them feel? Every time your user engages with your software they are reinforcing their feelings about you — the software’s creator. Whether it’s you personally, or your company, your user is forming and hardening an impression of who you are. Your marketing, your name, your logo, your customer service all play a role, but the odds are that the majority of time you spend with your customers is through your technology.

What are we really talking about here? Your brand.

Your brand is not your logo. It’s not your domain name. Or even your user interface. Your brand is the set of values that resonate with you and your customers. To put it even more simply — your brand is comprised of the reasons you come to work every day. It’s the passion and love that you pour into your software creation.

In our food analogy, your food is so much more than not killing you. Frankly, it’s more than it tasting good. The best food is one that sticks with you, in your mind (not your stomach). A meal you remember. A dish that conjurs up positive emotions and memories. That’s the food that you want to eat again and again.

And if you don’t care about your creation with that kind of passion, your customers will know it. It can’t be manufactured. It can’t be faked. It’s who you are.

Usability is the baseline. Your values, aspirations, and dreams are what fills the space above.