Beautiful light reflections shimmering on the glassy surface of a sleek device. Surprising animation that glides onto the screen as you scroll. These are the shiny things.

They can be very powerful. Very seductive. And very dangerous.

There is an urge to jump to the shiny things. To start executing before we truly have nailed down the story. The trouble is that the shiny things can be so seductive that we talk ourselves into believing that it's enough.

Users may be wowed upon first look. But experience shows that it never sustains. Conversions fail to materialize. Return visits dwindle. Sales never quite come to fruition.

This is the danger of shiny things.

If we focus just on the shiny things, we won't be giving our prospects the compelling story that leads to purchase consideration. In other words, we give them only eye candy.

Don't get me wrong. I like shiny things. But what I really love is developing shiny things that are so integral to the brand story that you can't imagine the two being separate.

The challenge is to have the discipline to do the hard work. To really define the brand and the story. These are the things that give depth and meaning to the experiences we create. Without them, we are merely decorating the screen.

In the second part of this series, I'll introduce a method for drilling down through a discovery to ensure that you're delivering an experience that tells a compelling story. And allows your shiny things to be relevant as well as awesome.