User experience design

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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 digital 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.” ^[1]

Contents 1 The User Experience 2 The Designers 3 The Design 4 The Benefits 5 See also 6 References 7 Further reading 8 External links

[edit] The User Experience

User experience, often abbreviated UX, is a term used to describe the overall experience and satisfaction a user has when using a product or system. It most commonly refers to a combination of software and business topics, such as selling over the web, but it applies to any result of interaction design. Interactive voice response systems, for instance, are a frequently mentioned design that can lead to a poor user experience.

[edit] The Designers

This field has its roots in user-centered design principles, and also incorporates elements from similar user-centered design fields:

• Human Computer Interaction
• Human factors
• 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 facets of psychology, anthropology, computer science, graphic design and industrial design. 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.

[edit] The Design

At its core user experience design incorporates most or all of the above disciplines to positively impact the overall user experience with a particular system or device. User experience design defines a sequence of screen presentations, user interactions, and system responses that meet user goals and tasks while satisfying business and functional requirements.

Typical outputs include:

• Wireframes (screen blueprints or storyboards)
• Prototypes
• Written specifications that describe the design

[edit] The 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. 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

[edit] See also

• Software development process
• Software engineering
• User expectations
• Customer experience

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Donald Norman: The Design of Everyday Things, ISBN 978-0-465-06710-7
• User Experience Design for Working Web Sites and Applications Sisler, Paul and Catherine Titta, STC Proceedings, 2001
• What Is User Experience Design? - IBM Ease of Use
• What Is User Experience Design? - Paradyme, LLC
• Elements of User Experience - Jesse James Garrett
• User Experience Design - Semantic Studios

[edit] External links

• Interaction-Design.org entry about UX Another encyclopedia entry for User Experience
• UXnet.org The User Experience Network, dedicated to exploring opportunities for cooperation and collaboration among UX-related organizations and individuals.
• User Experience Design by Peter Morville.
• User Experience Magazine a magazine on UX, published by the Usability Professionals' Association
• EServer TC Library: User Experience A rated, reviewed annotated bibliography of works about user experience design.
• UX Magazine An online publication covering the various aspects of user experience.
• Don Norman's Essays
• UX Matters :: Insights and inspirations for the user experience community
• ACM SIGCHI