Post Digital User Experience
I’ve been getting this odd feeling recently. The feeling of being a bit penned in by purely digital design. The feeling that I could be doing more.
I’ve also become frustrated by the general lack of emotion in user experience design as touted by the UX community. Something I’ve been talking about at length with anyone that will listen (thanks Oli).
You can make a website that tests well but that doesn’t mean people will truly engage with it on an emotional level.
This is my way of getting some of that jumbled thinking out. It’s not perfectly formed yet, but I’m hoping that writing it down, sharing it and talking about it might help me consolidate some of my thinking.
I’ve developed a massive interest in Service Design, which is neatly summed up as “the design of multi-touchpoint experiences that happen over time and involve the participation of user and provider”. Touchpoints can be digital like web and mobile but the best bit is is that they don’t have to be. Touchpoints can be people, physical spaces, architecture or engineering. It’s so exciting. It’s more real. It’s more human. I’ve been describing it to people as like a digital user experience designer’s out of body experience where they see the complete eco system of how their work can fit into the bigger picture.
It’s nothing new though. Just a change in the way people approach these things by putting the user or citizen first when making decisions that could affect them and using design methods like prototyping to evaluate and iterate. It’s called design thinking. If you ask me, common sense.
If you want a great example of the sort of service design I’m excited about you should check out Streetcar which I think was designed by Live|Work. The printed material makes it seem fantastic but it’s a shame the website lets it down. The fact that the website is so pony has a real impact on the experience of using Streetcar. If it was as slick as the printed material it would be amazing. Perfect.
If you need another (pre digital) example of service design look at how Kodak revolutionised photography with the Brownie. Up until that point photography had been incredibly complicated and almost impossible for the novice. George Eastman designed a cartridge loading system that anyone could use and a service that allowed you to send off your exposed film and receive your developed photos in the post.
“You push the button, we do the rest”
Kodak went on to be one of the biggest companies in the world.
Physical Computing
I recently read an article by Russel Davies called Meet the New Schtick which starts off talking about how unimpressed people are with digital solutions these days because they’re never going to be as good as the ones they see in adverts or films. He then goes on to talk about the real pioneering work is in making things. Real things. Smart things. Connected things.
Craft
(Image from the awesome “I made you a beard”)
Craft has become incredibly popular over the last few years as we all know. It’s an actual movement. Sites like Craft, Make and Instructables are wicked and services like like Etsy and Lulu are fantastic at allowing the people that make stuff to sell their work and help support their craft habit.
Craft feels nice. It feels like things are made with passion and love. There’s something about craft that involves you in the process and in return you’re much more willing to forgive it if there’s something not quite right. Pure digital is expected to be perfect. Pure digital is always going to be cold and alien. I think Uncanny Valley might have something to do with it. The better we get at designing artificial interaction the more unreal it’s going to become until we get it absolutely perfect.
Nerds are doing some amazing things with paper.
Nerds have always been into hacking things, building things, taking things apart. Magazines like Make and events like Dorkbot are great examples of what’s going on.
Lots of this activity is centered around a cheap bit of programmable circuit board called Arduino. It’s brought the hardcore geek community together with the art and design communities and I’m really interested in getting to grips with it, and experimenting with RFID tags and a reader like the Mir:ror.
At Interesting I learned about TweenBots - human dependant robots that navigate the city with the help of people they encounter. I can’t think of a better example of emotional attachment to the artificial. It’s because it’s imperfect, helpless, fragile.
Human?
Which leads me on to the Japanese aesthetic concept called Wabi Sabi. It embraces the fragility, imperfection and impermanence of nature. I really think there’s a lot to be learned here.
Maybe elegant imperfection is the key to emotional connections.
Folk + Future
I am in love with a fashion brand called Visvim. Hiroki Nakamura takes traditional artisan methods and materials and mixes them with the ultra modern to create a brand that is both futuristic and historic at the same time. He makes products that improve with use. Something that’s rare in this age.
Super Normal
I recently read the Super Normal Philosphy. I’ve always been a believer in form follows function and I’ve been into designers like Dieter Rams for a long time. I’ve always found simple, but beautiful type and graphic design (mostly Swiss) to be the best but The concept of design being so beautifully invisible that it replaces and improves the existing normal has really struck a chord and got me excited. The world is so full of noise and it’s partly down to the ego of designers that want to be noticed for their work. Supernormal feels very zen and I like that. If things worked perfectly but didn’t attract attention to themselves what a peaceful world we’d live in. Designers just have to come to terms with the fact that the best work they do will be the work that is noticed the least. I like that too.
