MIT Course - What is Experience Design

Experience DesignMIT IAP Term

Page 1 © 2008 Razorfish. All rights reserved.

January 12-14, 2009

What is Experience Design?


The Definition

Experience design is the practice of designing products, processes, services, events, and environments with a focus placed on the

quality of the user experience and

culturally relevant solutions, with less emphasis placed on increasing and improving functionality of the design.

From Wikipedia:


The Definition

Experience design is the practice of designing something with quality and cultural relevance.

More to the point:


The Definition

To design something that a user perceives to be culturally relevant and of high quality, the end product needs to make their life better –

needs to solve their problems (even ones

they didn’t know they had.)


How do you do that?

The Definition

Experience design is the practice of solving problems.

Ultimately:


How does it work and what will we learn about it in the next few days?


8

There is an Established, Evolving Approach1. Problem Definition 3. Secondary User Research 5. Persona Definition

6. Flows + Storyboards 7. Site + Taxonomy Maps 8. Wireframes + Comps 9. Usage Testing

4. Competitive Research2. Primary User Research

From Designing Products to Solving Problems

Day 1 – The Tools Day 2 – Users’ World Day 3 – What’s Next

Playing games to learn the tools we use to design:- Wireframes- Sitemaps- Engagement Maps- Storyboards- Research

Touring the social world to find context for our designs:- “Social” discussions- Competitive and Audience Research- Hands-on Business Workshop with ByKids.org

Exploring the future to practice designing without a net:- Digital Trends presentations- Solving Your Problems Exercises and Discussion

Course Overview:


Wireframes

Are a visual representation of a web page’s key content elements and how they are displayed to the user. Elements may include navigation, content placement and interface controls. The wireframe is not intended to capture every item on a page or represent the creative design. Rather, it is a skeletal depiction of what the page will ultimately contain and how those pieces will be laid out.


SitemapsSitemaps provide an overview of website content in a manner similar to the table of contents page in a book. Sections and pages are typically listed according to narrative flow, alphabetically or by chronology. The home page appears at the top, with secondary and tertiary-level pages below.


Storyboards

Storyboards are simple, illustrative descriptions of the key interaction points that occur during a specific process or flow and between a user and the product or UI. They provide a quick, sketch-based way to explore what’s important about a product’s design and what elements will enable and create flow within it, without distracting the team with the overwhelming details of individual page design.


Research Methodologies

Any good design process requires research to understand a subject and to test hypothesis about an approach to a subject. It’s important to know and employ a wide range of methods to find the right answers or know where to keep on searching.


Two Sides of the Research Methodology Coin:

Qualitative QuantitativeGood at: • Context, human texture, semantics,

subjectivity• Definitive conclusions, clear

measures, objectivity

Typical set-up: • Often in person, observation and discussion-oriented, even with task completion

• Often remote, test plan structured around clear objective responses without ambiguity (yes/no, multiple choice, success/failure)

Provides: • The why, why not, where not, when not

• The what, how much, when, where

Downfall: • Directionality can be skewed by sample size, personalities

• Can be looking at the wrong measures.

Sample Size • 8-12 provide directionality/patterns • 100+ (technically 30, but numbers normalize better above 100)

Examples • Ethnographic studies• One-on-one interviews• Lab-style usability tests• Focus groups• Card sorting (in person)

• Mouse-and-click-path tracking• Multivariate testing• Self-directed remote usability testing• Analytics + search log tracking• Surveys• Card sorting (remote)


Wrap-Up


Course Greatest Hits

Dig into the tools . . .

Sitemaps, wireframes, engagement maps, storyboards, research

Delve into the context . . .

Social phenomenon in an online context, competitive and audience research, dealing with clients

Explore the big picture . . .

Intelligent data, visualization (tension between complexity and simplification), physical devices, participation, democratization


Typical Experience Design Careers (today)


Established Evolving

For Further Exploration


Razorfish Resources Industry Resources

Razorfish Digital Design Bloghttp://www.digitaldesignblog.com/

Razorfish Going Social Now Bloghttp://www.goingsocialnow.com/

Our Twitters/Profileshttp://twitter.com/marisagallagherhttp://twitter.com/

TED Conference:http://www.ted.com/

Favourite Website Awards:http://www.favouritewebsiteawards.com/

Ad Age Creativity Online:http://creativity-online.com/

Under the Radar Blog:http://www.undertheradarblog.com/

Mashable:http://mashable.com/

TV:http://newteevee.com/

Thank YouNadya Direkova, Senior Information Architect

[email protected]

Marisa Gallagher, Vice President of User Experience

[email protected]
