Chronically Designed
The Importance of Experience Design explained through Chronic Pain
Prior to UX STRAT, my MassArt graduate Design Innovation peers and I were at our annual design bootcamp. Part of the task? Define some key hot terms being tossed around in the world of design today including two major players: customer experience (CX) and user experience (UX).
Sounds simple enough, right? That’s what we thought too.
Countless hours of research revealed how very wrong we were. Every article had a different definition, and every interviewee we spoke to had a different insight. Was user experience directly linked to technological applications? Did customer experience only relate to in-store experiences? What if someone is purchasing something online? Are they a customer or user? Where was the line between between UX and CX?
Overwhelmed with answers, we took a step back. Our research boiled down to a single question: what’s the difference between a user and a customer?
Ultimately, we realized there isn’t a difference, but rather, a binding similarity.
Both are humans.
It made sense. The term “human-centered design” is the core of our program after all. Listening to numerous talks about customer and employee experience while volunteering at UX STRAT and chatting Zach Hyman and Megan Welker from Continuum enforced our conclusion even more:
“We design for humans, real humans. And there are many different job titles to design for humans.”
Throughout the semester, we continued learn about design through courses in design innovation, experience design, storytelling, and accounting. We learned about creating for different types of humans, and a question began to linger in the back of my mind:
What does it mean when so many humans are in constant pain?
According to a 2016 study done by the CDC, approximately 20.4% of adults in the United States had chronic pain. That’s about 50 million humans.
50 millions users.
50 million customers.
50 million people who have an added curveball to the way they experience world.
That’s kind of astonishing, right? Even after developing chronic pain myself and connecting with other pain patients, I am still mind blown by how large that chronic pain warrior population is. Let’s not forget that 8% of those cases are high impact cases. That’s about 19.6 million people constantly dealing with debilitating pain.
So what exactly is chronic pain?
The National Center for Biotechnology Information defines it as pain lasts longer that a normal healing time, typically past of recurring between 3 to 6 months (Treede et al.). It often hinders the ability to do everyday tasks with ease. For some, standing in lines at the grocery store can be excruciating. For others, a 20 minute train ride is a nightmare.
Let’s add in the factor that chronic pain is invisible. It’s impossible to describe the experience the pain. The body forgets temporary, acute pain, but chronic pain never lets you forget it’s there. It affects your mental health too, constantly reminding you of what you just cannot do anymore.
At this point, you may be wondering what this has to do with experience design. Why am I telling you this?
I find myself recieving a lot of “what’s that?” or “you’re studying what? why?” when I explain my program to non-designers. Design itself is already complex concept. Experience design (including customer and user experience) is a relatively new field of study, but it’s an important one.
I believe that the chronic pain experience is a prime indicator of just how impactful and necessary good experience design is.
From my own experience and hearing that of others, I’ve discovered that chronic pain often comes with a superpower: the power of mindfulness. When even the simple tasks like shopping for groceries or sitting through a movie became difficult for me, I found it not just helpful, but vital for my well-being to become more observant and appreciate the seemingly mundane: the amazing background music in a store, the efficiency of new app features, a pleasant Lyft ride conversation, or a friendly waiter grinning as they take my order.
In the same way, a seemingly small experiences can negatively affect a day. Life itself is a challenge when you’re not in a constant battle with your body; hobbling down to the bus stop after waking up in severe pain just to be met with a rude driver telling you to hurry up, for example, can an immensely discouraging way to start the day.
The bottom line? Thoughtful experience design, no matter how small, leaves a lasting impact. It can make or break someone’s day.
Curious to see if other chronic pain warriors have had similar experiences, I created a post on the “Chronic Pain” and “Too Young for this Mess” subreddits asking for insights. Below are some of the incredible responses I received (with the request of anonymity):
1. “Sometimes I cannot actually use the computer if there isn’t a dark option or at least white-on-black text mode available, whether through the specific company or other software I’ve installed.”
“ Product wise, I really appreciate anything more ergonomic and adjustable, both physically as in things like chair height or angle can make a huge difference, but also software wise. I have chronic migraines; I’m am never without one, so my aura and light sensitivity are constant and make using screens difficult. I now use a blue light filter on everything, and also really appreciate if app/ websites has the option for a ‘dark mode’! Sometimes I cannot actually use the computer if there isn’t a dark option or at least white on black text mode available, whether through the specific company or other software I’ve installed.”
2. “I REALLY appreciate stores opening another line, doing check out from a mobile device, self scan areas etc.”
“I have orthostatic intolerance and don’t use mobility aids, so if there’s a line, I can’t stand in it, period. I either have to leave or sit down in line and that pretty much always gets me weird comments and looks, and is much more stressful than longer lines are for most people. So I REALLY appreciate stores opening another line, doing check out from a mobile device, self scan areas etc.
3. “I’ve found myself giving up on some apps and websites since they just aren’t worth the energy.”
“I also get lots of brain fog which makes crappy interfaces even more annoying and I’ve found myself giving up on some apps and websites since they just aren’t worth the energy. So when something is very usable or will remember my password for me it’s definitely a moment of delight.
The other day I NEEDED to get something from the hardware store but I was totally crashed and in no shape to walk around the giant store. So I downloaded their app, laid on one of their outdoor couch furniture displays, and did a buy online pick up in store and then I just waited ten minutes or so and someone had my stuff at the counter close to the door. It was amazing and such a lifesaver.”
4. “When a nice clerk goes out of their way to make me go before the line or brings me a chair to wait for my turn, it makes my day better.”
“I usually walk with a cane and I have a priority card, but I hate asking people to let me go before them in a store. So when a nice clerk goes out of their way to make me go before the line or brings me a chair to wait for my turn, it makes my day better.”
5. “I tend to only use apps that allow me to change the background color to black/dark.”
“I have chronic migraines — I tend to only use apps that allow me to change the background color to black/dark, as apps that run with white backgrounds are still too bright even when my brightness is turned as far down as it’ll go. I also appreciate when people step around the side of a building or further in a parking lot to smoke, rather than hang near an entrance or on a path where I’d have to walk through it. Just a little bit of consideration for others goes a long way!”
Pictured above is the future of design. We graduate students of MassArt’s Design Innovation program are constantly exploring the power of human-centric design and are given amazing opportunities to attend conferences like UX STRAT and to learn from the industry leaders. While we structure our design work around specific audiences, humanity is ultimately the driving force of industry.
Chronic pain and illness may be invisible and target a multitude of different people, but the experience of it demonstrates how even the smallest design details — dark modes on apps, self scanners, kind customer service — are extremely important, and how things like glitchy UI can deter a user away from a product or service.
We design for humans, and it is my hope that we design not just to make a profits, but to efficiently improve the human experience of life.
Resources
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4450869/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Tooyoungforthismess/
