describing the elephant. - moving beyond professional silos when defining ux

Describing the elephantMoving beyond professional silos

Eric Reiss@elreiss

UX Camp PolandMay 17, 2014

Gdánsk, Poland

What is “Gdansk”?

Putting Gdansk on the map…

And historically?

So, what IS “Gdansk”?

Clients know what they want

But we know what they need

Clients know what they want

But we know what they need

This is the fatal disconnect

Content management

Knowledge management Personas

Scenaria

Thesauri

Sensemaking

Accessibility

Storytelling

Usability

Findability

Information architecture

Mental models

Experience design

“Creativity varies inversely withthe number of cooks involved

in the broth.”

Bernice Fitz-Gibbon1967

Webmaster WebmasterVisual designerCopywriter

DeveloperVisual designerInformation architectCopywriter

Front-end engineerFull-stack developerVisual designerUI designerInteraction designerContent strategistInformation architectContent providersSEO consultantSocial media guruProduct managerProject managerToken baby boomer

1995 1998 2000 2014

It’s all Greek to me....

Goethe

„Es hört jeder doch nur,was er versteht.“

“He hears only thatwhich he understands”

Goethe

“He hears only thatwhich he understands”

Goethe

CSS

User Experience

IA SD CS IxD GD PM KM DM SEO SM MKT IT

What does this mean for us asUX professionals?

No single person can truly be a“UX Designer”

No single discipline can trulytake ownership of UX

Can we define UX in simple,understandable terms?

Can we embrace allthese disciplines without

taking ownership?

Eric’s 1st Law of UX:

If a solution does not solve youruser’s problems, it will notsolve your company’s either.

So, let’s start by looking at a “user”

us·ernoun

1: a person who makes use of a thing;someone who uses or employs something

2: a person who uses something or someone selfishly or unethically

3: a person who takes drugs

When would you use (simultaneously):� An ergonomic seat designed for one person

� Optical lenses invented by Benjamin Franklin

� Alcoholic mixture invented by Dr. Iain Marshall

� Incandescent device invented by Thomas Edison

� Fabric made on a loom invented by JM Jacquard

� Rouge Royale (marble)

� Baskerville Light (typography)

� Domesticated mammal

(This is often how our clients look at their content)

When would you use (in simpler terms):� Armchair

� Bifocal eyeglasses

� Manhattan Cocktail

� Lightbulb

� Wool pullover

� Tabletop

� Book

� Cat

(This is an easier way to look at content)

Eyeglasses

Wool pullover

Lightbulb

Marble tabletop

Armchair

Book

Gus the Cat

Manhattan Cocktail

Sensory assistance

Warmth/comfort

Sensory assistance

Convenience/aethetics

Convenience/comfort

Education/information

Companionship

Chemical stimuli

The experience of a touchpointwill always situational

The touchpoints arecumulative

What do your users need?

What are the scenarios?

How many touchpoints are touched?

Perhaps UX design exists...

...just not UX designers.

How can anyone truly be a “UX Designer”without controlling all the touchpoints?

We need a more useful definition of UX!

ex·per·i·ence noun

1: having been affected by or learnedthrough observation or participation

2: the length of such participation

Eric’s 2nd Law of UX:

User experience is the sum ofa series of interactions betweenpeople, devices, and events.

Eric’s 3rd Law of UX:

There are three types of interaction:active, passive and secondary

Eric’s 4th Law of UX:

UX design represents the consciousact of coordinating interactions,acknowledging interactions, andreducing negative interactions.

Three types of interaction:� Active (things we control)

� Passive (things we don’t control)

� Secondary (things that have indirect influence)

Active interaction

Active interaction

Passive interaction (partly)

Passive interaction

Secondary interaction

Secondary interaction

UX design combines all three activites

� Coordinating interactions that we can control

� Acknowledging interactions beyond our control

� Reducing negative interactions

Coordinating interactions

Coordinating interactions

Coordinating interactions

Reducing negative interactions

Reducing negative interactions

Reducing negative interactions

Reducing negative interactions

So, where does that leave us?

Five things to consider if youwant to succeed in UX

Don’t speak geek

Don’t attack other disciplines

Solve problems, don’t create them

Think beyond your own self-interest

And finally, our new mantra...

Think crackers, not crumbs!

Dziękuję!

Eric Reiss can (usually) be found at:

The FatDUX Group ApSStrandøre 152100 CopenhagenDenmark

Office: (+45) 39 29 67 77Mobil: (+45) 20 12 88 44Twitter: @elreissinfo@fatdux.comwww.fatdux.com