Monday August 21, 2006

Is user experience....

Front-loaded or Bass-ackwards?

User experience design is a misunderstood discipline sometimes. Of course, most folks don't really know what the heck UE is. The definition I like the best is:

"...[the] field concerned with improving the design of anything people experience: a web site, a toy, or a museum. UX is inherently interdisciplinary, synthesizing methods, techniques, and wisdom from many fields, ranging from brand design to ethnography to library science to architecture and more." -UXnet.org

So what does that definition really tell you? The job is not just about icons, themes, or how a list component gets converted into something usable on a handset. Oh I do work on those things but they are not the heart of what user experience design on a handset is all about.

Ever thought about how security on a handset is implemented? About how figuring out policies for how certain applications do or do not get access to certain sets of APIs impact the experience the consumer has when they try to run that application? Solving those kinds of problems are the heart of user experience design.

And thats why that definition appears to scare the snort out of most engineering managers. They start by not understanding what UE is all about. Then they move into freaking out because they start to understand.

If a product really is to be designed with the consumer in mind from day 0, then a UE designer needs to be there too - BEFORE the architecture is drawn on the whiteboard. BEFORE the set of features are written down. Otherwise, you waste a very large amount of time and money creating something that has a much larger chance of failing.

So which works best? Front-loaded or Bass-ackwards? You decide.

[evil laugh]

( Aug 21 2006, 03:05:16 PM PDT ) Permalink