What is (and isn't) User Experience Design?
User Experience Design is basically about making sure people can accomplish goals and feel good about it.
UXD often pertains to technology-mediated activity, such as using a website or software application, but it doesn't have to.
When done right, it yields a response the opposite of wanting to throw a product out the window (See also: the Office Space printer, Clippy).
Too vague? There is debate on whether to spend time defining the...thing (DTDT). In any case, although it means different things to different people, there are common threads...
A UXD process typically includes the following:
UXD often starts with researching and analyzing...
- actual needs of relevant groups (e.g., customers)
- how these people currently get things done
- how a target audience interacts with aspects of the world outside of your control or reach
- how competition supports similar or related goals
A short list of things UXD is not
- It's NOT asking people in a focus group what they want out of a [whatever].
- It's NOT a subset of graphic design (however, the reverse is true; graphic design does have a role in UXD).
- It's NOT just doing usability testing (although usually a part of UXD, testing is far from a panacea, iterative or not).
Why UXD is necessary
Singular creative vision is no match for false assumptions, poor planning, human variation, unknown requirements, established alternatives, or change.
UXD is about giving up the comfort of willful ignorance in order to avoid waste and loss and failure. It is designing things without the rose-colored glasses on (and, usually, the mirror covered).