1. Experience Defined
What is the field of experience design?
Part of the series on the field of Experience Design
Defining Experience
Experiences are generated everyday through films, relationships, technology and the environment. In the context of the digital world, experiences are the interaction between human and computer. This interaction does not have to be based solely through screens.
Experiences can emulate excitement, delight, empathy or mystery if the product or service is seamless. Technology is iterating the definition of an experience as designers and engineers disrupt our current way of working and interacting with computers and each other.
The transition from film photography to digital photography altered previous experiences as well as created new ones. The experience of physically taking film to be developed, the wait and then the magic or despair, opening the envelope to discover if everything is focused. This feeling is nonexistent today.
The emergence of digital photography has transitioned the experience of personal photography from documenting memories to a form of communication (Van House, 2011)
Creating the science of the artificial
In the present and future, technology is constantly dictating our perception of experience. T. Winograd (1996, p. xix) Human life is becoming entwined with computers and these interactions are engineering our experiences (McCarthy and Wright, 2004). Designing the interaction between human and computer is the underlying concept of digital experience design.
Design described by Herbert A Simon (1981) as “creating the science of the artificial” and experience as presented by Hassenzahl (2010) as “an emergent story, packaged, labeled, and integrated into our general knowledge of the world.
The purpose of these interactions is to involve us emotionally, intellectually, and sensually while the role of the designer is to understand and analyze the engagement. (McCarthy and Wright, 2004)
Purpose of an Experience
Experience design (XD) can convey purpose in varying forms depending on use and context.
They all share one underlying component; humans. No matter the context and purpose, Hassenzahl (2010) explains designing an experience (and according products) “requires a detailed understanding of the people and the content it is designed for.”
The ability to understand and develop empathy for humans is at the heart of experience designers but as Stickdorn and Schneider, (2012) argue “is it actually possible to design an experience”?
Experience Designers
“At the heart of the problem is the reality that building great experiences is everyone’s responsibility and nobody’s job.”(Farnham and Newbery, 2013)
The design of an experience is a multi disciplined process that cannot be designed by an individual. Although the term “experience designer” has been advertised in the industry, it requires the collaboration of various disciplines. Including service designer, strategist, product designer, interface designer, interaction designer, information architect, organisational designer and many more. The task and role of creating an experience should involve all stakeholders of the design or marketing team.
Below is a list of designers on an product team and their roles based on interviews with industry.
Service Design: Overseeing the overall service touchpoint
Strategy: The intersection of product and business viability
Interaction: The connection with user and computer
Interface: Designing surface level feedback from the computer
Software Engineer: Designing the technical capabilities
Organisational Designer: Design to improve organisational systems
Next: 2. Experience Design
