Reflections: Farting in the mirror

The term 'user experience' comes tagged with a multitude of definitions, all of which cannot fully explain the term but all are correct nonetheless, because experience can refer to functionality, or aesthetics, or perceived pleassure or any combination or all of them. This shows how varied experience can be for every individual. It is important to understand the needs of each individual user, yet it is impossible to design for only one person. We have to design products for the mass market, yet to design for everyone is to design for no one. Such is the contradiction that exists within the discipline of UX that forces us to keep an open mind over strategies to employ.

Current market practises are increasingly geared towards the individual consumer because that is the vital point of differentiation for their product. Increasingly, marketing strategies are placing more importance on branding and user experience creation than on the product itself. An example would be the Ipod. Functionality-wise, it is no match for the Creative Zen, but Ipod sales far exceed that of Zen's because of the marketing strategies that it took: heavy advertising and creation of perceived user pleasures. Even though functionality accounts for part of the overall experience, Ipod's focus on visual qualities proved to be successful. Looking at Apple's success it is not difficult to understand why user experience is gaining popularity as an academic discipline.

The greatest gain from this course is the identification of human behaviours and traits of emotions. For example the 4-pleasures framework could accurately describe most circumstances that people would feel pleasure in. Pleasures of need and appreciation are also personally valued, as is discovering the 3 attributes of emotions. Understanding human needs and psychology was something that would benefit me for the rest of my life.

Because of my background from the school of computing, i realised that creating functionalities alone does not really count towards creating an 'experience'. In my course of study i've come across various chances to develop small scale softwares loaded with functionalities implemented to the best of my knowledge. These softwares that i've created, though functional, does little to create unique experiences for users; they work, but you won't feel a rush of pleasure using them. They are just like any other similar utility software you might find anywhere, and there's no differentiation. That's why in my final project my team mates and i decided to try and create an experience that truly evokes emotions (all 3 attributes of it hopefully) and appeals not only to our visual faculties, but also to our cognitive faculties. Truth to be told, we had several projects already done and, in fact, we could have handed those up if we had chosen to go for functionalities. But this is not a CS course, and functionalities are not the biggest concern here.

Then again, UX is also about creating functional products (not just websites, but the priciples are the same) that makes an impact. Its no mean feat man. The LG Prada is a functions-loaded phone, but it is really more than just that, combining technology with aesthetics. Shit, it looks cool. Looks better than me. Its cool to use. Hell its cool to own it. The overall quality of experience interacting with this product, be it aesthetics or functions, is undeniably good. But which phone today isn't a pleasure to toy with? The age of user-centred strategies is upon us. Gone are the days when everyone owned the same damn pager (even then they made an effort to make the damn pager look trendy, who could forget the gold chains hanging about?). Catch on the wave or be washed away forever.

It is my opinion that this module has helped me realise the subtleties of designing for users. Consumers are not forced to buy products anymore. Their choice is their power. If we want to chase their skirts we have to let them feel the difference. Exactly how that can be done is rocket science. But, well, what i've learnt here is a first step.