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November 24, 2002
Experience Design
Adam's interview with Nathan Shedroff is an interesting read.
I've always had two problems with this whole "Experience Design" thing. First, Disney theme parks are designed experiences. Vegas casinos are designed experiences. Cities are designed experiences. Websites are not. Sitting in front of a computer is simply not an "experience" of the kind that people like Shedroff talk about.
Second, while I can admit the need for a polarizing figure for ED (Shedroff is nothing if not the Nielsen of his field), where are the 'experiences' he's designed? While I'm certainly interested in his ideas, I can only understand them so much without some actual work that demonstrates them. In fact, thoughout both Adam's and Nathan's statements, there's just one designer's name and work mentioned: Maya Lin's Vietnam Memorial; an example of public-monument IA which we might find inspiring and lovely, but applicible in only limited ways to the design of systems for digital information. And that, face it, is what everyone concerned is actually working on. I would bet actual money that Shedroff has not designed an experience where touch, smell, and taste were part of the solution. Simply "owning up" to the fact that, yes, experiences are designed (as Shedroff asks of us at the end of the interview) is stupidly obvious.
This is a problem I often have: I can't actually point to the work of the designers I most often read. He refers to "sensorial design" as a term they developed at Vivid. You mean that Vivid whose designs or techniques still exist or even inform the community? The Vivid that went bust just like everybody else? Show me the money.
Overall, Shedroff comes across looking bad, frankly. He's working an academic line which spends most of the time defining a space for argument rather than actually addressing specific issues. And he's such a poor debater! When Adam suggests that the addition of three realistic statues of soldiers to the Vietnam Wall space is an example of overdesigning an experience, Shedroff's response is a misdirection: "Just because you don't like the solution of the three soldiers doesn't mean it proves that you can't design an experience."
When pressed, well, it's just his personal opinion, his personal experiences. Most of Shedroff's comments are along these lines: IAs think things begin and end with structured information. They aren't aware of or listening to any other fields. Finally, "If IAs (and others) want to be taken seriously and gain back some of the stature they've lost in the last three years, they should start with turning down the volume on the entitlement and righteous indignation...", which is an attitude that real businesses will not tolerate. My favorite example of righteous indignation in an IA context is in fact Shedroff's own 'Computer Human Values' essay at boxesandarrows.com. Check in particular passages starting with sentences like "Everything is riding on this" and the concluding paragraph that begins: "[this is a crisis] of imagination, understanding and courage."
Posted by Andrew at November 24, 2002 11:47 AM
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Comments
Your comments about 'The Experience' is right on. I have been frustrated lately at the use of the word experience (mostly by the IA and usability communities) to define the sum of all things internal to a site (and that they themselves touch). Take architecture, navigation, visual design, etc. and put them all together and you have the 'experience'.
An experience is something much greater than these parts. An experience is something that engages idividuals on a very personal level.
A Web site is not an experience, but it can be part of the experience.
I have made some comments about this on my own blog recently:
http://superfluousman.ansiblenetwork.com/mt_archives/2002_11.shtml#000084
Posted by: Jonathan Jaynes at November 25, 2002 10:21 PM
also interesting to note is that nathan is working more closely with the brand design arm of the aiga -- and beginning to define a brand experience arm. looks like a way to wrest power away from the terry and clement show in the aiga-ed neighborhood...
Posted by: in san francisco at December 30, 2002 10:34 PM