Subject to Change

by KEVIN SILVER :: NOV 13, 2008 :: COMMENTS (0)

In preparation for our upcoming UX Workshop, I have been reading through the latest literature to explore different perspectives and gain new insight. One of the books I recently finished was "Subject to Change" written by the folks at Adaptive Path. More than anything else the book was an affirmation.

The main thrust of the book is that you can not just design products, you need to design experiences. And the best experiences are ones that combine tangible products with services, think iPod. Experience is strategic and is different from Brand, which is more related to top down expounding of a "set of values and qualities" rather than the bottom up engagement of customers. At Clearwired, we have been thinking a lot about the interplay of Brand and Experience. It's hard to discount the role of perception, but at the end of the day it's more about how your customers engage with your products and services, the experience.

Another section of the book that resonates is the authors simple description of design as an activity. According to them the elements of this activity are: empathy, problem solving, ideation and prototyping, and finding alternatives. Even though I think all of the elements are equally important and necessary, the last one is crucial. You need to be able to find alternatives to your design problems and present multiple solutions. In my experience, not only should you be thinking about alternative solutions when you’re ideating, you should also think about them when you are vetting your designs.

There is more UX goodness in the book. The authors have definitely captured the current UX thought. It’ll be on the must read list we will give out during the workshop. Stay tuned for more thoughts as we prepare for the workshop.

tags: USER EXPERIENCE, USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN

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