Think in user journeys

You're tasked to design a hotel room.
You start with a bare room, and you have to turn it into a fully functioning hotel room.

What do you do?

From memory, you know what hotel rooms have: a bed, a toilet, a cupboard, a shower. All the bare minimal functional things. You remember you like the bathmat at a hotel you stayed at a year ago. 

You put it all together and you get a hotel room.
It works, but it's really just the basics. 
It solves the the obvious problems, but it misses the actual experience.

When thinking from memory, or without structure, you miss out on small details that make the experience go from being the bare minimum to very pleasant. 

Specifically:

• A guest opens the door - what is the first thing they do?
• They probably look for the light switch - can they find it without thinking?
• They dig in their luggage to find a change of clothes - where do they place their baggage?
• What is their shower at this hotel like? 
• They need a place to keep their toiletry pouch somewhere - where?
• If there are two guests, how do they know whose towel is whose?
• ...and hundreds more.

This way of thinking adds a lot of delight. You go from having a room to having a great experience.

A bathroom shelf is a thing.
Thinking of where it should be because the guest needs a place to keep their toiletry pouch while they brush improves the experience so much.

And so, a room may have everything you need. And yet, it may be poorly designed.

Good design brings delight in every day experiences - color coded hooks in bathrooms for your towels, a table for your suitcase, a charging port next to your bed and so much more.

I strive to bring this kind of thinking in everything I do.