How often have you battled to get an appointment with the doctor, taken time out of work, only to arrive and then sit in the doctors surgery for 45 minutes because they are running late (which they always are).

A simple text message sent to every patient booked in – say – 1 hour before their appointment – indicating ‘how’ late the surgery is running could not only mean much quieter waiting rooms, but also a much more positive (and less frustrating) experience for the individual, not to mention the millions of pounds which the economy would gain in productivity.

A clear example of where a little experience design could not only benefit the user, but also other users, the service operator and the country as a whole.

User Centred Design and Experience Design are both schools of thought with one clear goal – to make users lives better. People who know me will testify that trying to make users lives better is one of my primary motivations when it comes to approaching web design.

Some usability reasearch appears to ignore the emotional, which I believe is a key part of the overall experience. I think advertisers know this, which is probably why we have so much advertising based on humour. Creating a positive emotional response from somebody is pretty much akin to making a friend. Except its not you making a friend, its your brand. And thats going to be far more long lasting than any tactical great deal or offer (although friends do like favours!)

As such I was thrilled to read the “Experience Design Manifesto” – written by Andrë Braz.

In the manifesto Andre outlines his ideas for what Experience Design should do which includes the following points.

Experiences that foster happiness should have the following qualities:

• Make people feel confident of themselves.
• Make people feel they can do something better. Empowers people to do something in a better way.
• Improve people’s lives helping to solve existing pragmatic problems
• Make people have an enjoyable and fun time during the experience, thus making life worth to be lived.
• Surprises people in a magic way, bringing delight to the eyes and making the mind wonder.
• Create an emotional connection between everyone involved, the experience itself and the one supporting the experience (a brand or a person)
• Make the world a better place to live
• Strenghten relationships between people that live the same experience

Read the “Experience Design Manifesto” – written by Andrë Braz.

         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Experience Design Manifesto