Anything Could Be Designed!

I believe a fundamental shift has already begun toward understanding who the customer is at a very deep level. Regardless of whether customers are interacting with a company though their Web site, mobile app, store, vending machine, kiosk, or anything else, they are telling us something about themselves. User experience strategy is about listening.

User Experience Strategy becomes an ‘in principle agreement’ on the shape of the project (what), its purpose (why), and provides potential implementation strategies (how). It takes into account all perspectives (e.g business, technical, marketing, brand) but privileges the intended user experience.

This creativity helps us solve problems more easily. Emotions also give us positive experiences, making us happier and giving us better recall. Norman came up with three levels of visual design based on different levels of our cognitive processing: the visceral level (appearance), the behavioral level (usability), and the reflective level (personal satisfaction, self-image and remembrance).

While Airbnb is data driven, they don’t let data push them around. Instead of developing reactively to metrics, the team often starts with a creative hypothesis, implements a change, reviews how it impacts the business and then repeats that process.

Designing a great device is not the same as designing a great user experience. Designing a great user experience is not the same as designing greater engagement. While it’s completely understandable why designers, product managers and marketers might conflate them, reality suggests that a great user experience doesn’t necessarily generate engagement any more than meaningful engagement inherently assures a great user experience.