Sketching the User Experience

Author: Bill Buxton

In Sketching User Experience, Buxton moves us away from “object-centered to experience-centered” design. His concept of ‘designing for the wild’ requires us to think of technologies as “social entities” which can respond in many different ways, depending on how they are appropriated by people.

Everyone is a designer — Don Norman
Everyone is not a designer — Bill Buxton

According to Buxton, the role of design is to get the right design, which includes generating many ideas, reflecting on all those ideas, and then choosing one that looks promising.

The role of usability engineering is to get the design right, which entails iterating and developing your choices, continually refining until better solutions become apparent, and adding new ideas as they come up.

Sketching is a quintessential activity of design — Bill Buxton
Sketching is not a quintessential activity of design — Hugh Dubberly

Buxton states that sketching is a tool of thought not a crappy drawing. It is an activity that is quick, timely, and disposable. Sketches suggest and explore ideas rather than confirm. They evoke discussion. A sketch is not a prototype.