In technology and design, teams will often talk about “delight” features. These are typically defined as parts of a product experience that go beyond basic functionality and provide “something extra” to make your customers return time and again.
An sharp colleague reminded me today of why the above is wrong. We shouldn’t seek to build specific moments or features of delight, but rather the “delight is the emergence of excellence from the base product experience”.
When the core experience works without fail, is immensely easy to use, and provides the customer with unmatched value. That’s delight.