Viscoso: the digital experience that sticks

I was at Henry Marie Coandă back in 1910, he was ready to test his new invention, an airship powered by a “thermoreactor”, when he started it up and the machine shot off and instantly found itself flying. Surprised by such power, good old Coandă lost control and crashed, flying away.

Luckily he was only bruised a little and stood watching as his invention was consumed by flames, but these flames did not have the typical bonfire appearance, Coandă noticed that the fire surrounded the sides of the plane, following the flow of hot gases from the engine, and then deduced that this seemed to have been the cause of the fire and the crash.

He had discovered the Coandă Effect: a physical phenomenon produced in fluid mechanics, according to which a fluid tends to follow the contour of the surface on which it impinges, if the curvature of the surface, or the angle of incidence of the fluid with the surface, is not too accentuated. This adherence to the surface will depend on the viscosity of the fluid, a property which only manifests itself in liquids in motion.

Viscosity, the ability of a fluid to stick, is not just an attribute of physics. Transposed to the digital world, it is the property that defines whether an experience “sticks” to the user or slips away without a trace.

In UX, every interaction, every micro-flow, every design detail can be a viscosity factor:

• A clear and progressive onboarding flow engages the user from the first click.
• A well thought-out micro-interaction reinforces the feeling of control and satisfaction.
• A confusing or frustrating content causes slippage, neglect and disinterest.
• Even the tone of communication or the intuitive navigation contribute to the experience sticking, like fire to the contours of the plane.

We could call it chemistry of interaction, angle of incidence of care, or simply digital flow mechanics. Either way, the principle is the same: a product that understands its context, that respects the natural flow of the user, and that “follows” without friction, is more likely to remain in people's memory and digital lives.

Today, in a world saturated with devices, apps and digital experiences, the real virtue of a good product is not just in its screen resolution or information density. It is in its ability to adhere to the user, to generate that instant where the digital becomes visceral and necessary, where the experience sticks like fire to the outline of an aeroplane.

The question every designer should ask is a simple one: does my product stick or slip?

 

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