User experience design

User experience design is a subset of the field of experience design which pertains to the creation of the architecture and interaction models which impact a user's perception of a device or system. The scope of the field is directed at affecting "all aspects of the user’s interaction with the product: how it is perceived, learned, and used." [Donald Norman: Invisible Computer: Why Good Products Can Fail, the Personal Computer Is So Complex and Information Appliances Are the Solution. MIT Press. 1999, ISBN 978-0262640411]

The user experience

User experience design, most often abbreviated UX, but sometimes UE, is a term used to describe the overarching experience a person has as a result of their interactions with a particular product or service, it's delivery, and related artifacts, according to their design. As with its related term, User Interface Design, prefixing “User“ associates it primarily with digital media, especially interactive software. It most commonly refers to the result of a planned integration of software design, business, and psychology concerns. It can apply to the result of any interaction design. Voice User Interface (VUI) systems, for instance, are frequently mentioned as a type of user interface that can lead to a poor user experience.

For a more generalized usage, which can include reference to physical environments, see experience design.

The designers

This field has its roots in human factors and ergonomics, a field that since the late 1940s has been focusing on the interaction between human users, machines and the contextual environments to design systems that address the user's experience. [Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. HFES History.] The term also has a more recent connection to user-centered design principles and also incorporates elements from similar user-centered design fields:

*Human computer interaction
*Information architecture
*Interaction design
*Interface design
*User interface design
*Usability
*Usability engineering
*Visual design

As with the fields mentioned above, user experience design is a highly multi-disciplinary field, incorporating aspects of psychology, anthropology, computer science, graphic design, industrial design and cognitive science. Depending on the purpose of the product, UX may also involve content design disciplines such as communication design, instructional design, or game design. The subject matter of the content may also warrant collaboration with a Subject Matter Expert (SME) on planning the UX from various backgrounds in business, government, or private groups.

The design

User experience design incorporates most or all of the above disciplines to positively impact the overall user experience a person has with a particular interactive system, and it's provider. User experience design most frequently defines a sequence of interactions between a user (individual person) and a system, designed to meet or support user needs and goals, primarily, while also satisfying systems requirements and organizational objectives.

Typical outputs include:
*Flows and Navigation Maps
*User stories or Scenarios
*Persona (Fictitious users to act out the scenarios)
*Wireframes (screen blueprints or storyboards)
*Prototypes (For interactive or in-the-mind simulation)
*Written specifications (describing the behavior or design)
*Graphic mockups (Precise visual of the expected end result)

Benefits

User experience design is integrated into software development and other forms of application development in order to inform feature requirements and interaction plans based upon the user's goals. New introduction of software must keep in mind of the dynamic pace of technology advancement and the need for the change. The benefits associated to integrating these design principles include:

*Reducing excessive features which miss the needs of the user
*Improving the overall usability of the system
*Expediting design and development through detailed and properly conceived guidelines
*Incorporating business and marketing goals while catering to the user

ee also

* Human factors
*Software development process
*User-centered design
*Software engineering
*User expectations
*Customer experience
*User Interface Design

References

Further reading

*Donald Norman: "The Design of Everyday Things", ISBN 978-0-465-06710-7
* [http://www.stc.org/confproceed/2001/PDFs/STC48-000107.PDF User Experience Design for Working Web Sites and Applications Sisler, Paul and Catherine Titta, STC Proceedings, 2001]
* [http://www.montparnas.com/articles/what-is-user-experience-design/ What Is User Experience Design? - Montparnas, LLC]
* [http://www.jjg.net/elements/pdf/elements.pdf Elements of User Experience - Jesse James Garrett] - User experience applied to web sites
* [http://www.semanticstudios.com/publications/semantics/000029.php User Experience Design - Semantic Studios]

External links

* [http://www.ibm.com/design/ Design @ IBM] Outlines IBM's design principles and guidelines, user experience design services, publications, and the ways you can contribute to the design of IBM's offerings.
* [http://www.uxnet.org/ UXnet.org] The User Experience Network, dedicated to exploring opportunities for cooperation and collaboration among UX-related organizations and individuals.
* [http://www.semanticstudios.com/publications/semantics/000029.php User Experience Design] by Peter Morville.
* [http://www.usabilityprofessionals.org/upa_publications/user_experience/index.html User Experience Magazine] a magazine on UX, published by the Usability Professionals' Association
* [http://www.uxmag.com/ UX Magazine] An online publication covering the various aspects of user experience.
* [http://www.uxpassion.com/ UX Passion] Focused on all things user experience, tutorials and Microsoft
* [http://www.jnd.org/dn.pubs.html Don Norman's Essays]
* [http://www.sigchi.org/ ACM SIGCHI] - Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction.