The Value of Experience-Centred Design

Contemporary Design Culture: Week 3

This week’s workshop started out a little differently than previous weeks, we were introduced to an alternative perspective on the design process from another lecturer. A new outlook on the topic of design can be extremely beneficial, as design is subjective and as a designer it is important to keep in mind the many unique viewpoints on design. No one will have the exact same perspective as you, no one can visualise what it is like to be you, which coincidentally is what the class lesson focused on.

Experience centred design involves placing yourself in the shoes of the user as best you can. You never know exactly what a user experiences on a day to day basis so you have to conduct enough research in order to successfully represent the user’s needs throughout your design process. Empathetic research is fundamental in this line of work, don’t design what you think you know about someone, design what they need and what will actually aid them in their everyday life.

Going into the class we were tasked with a reading assignment on experience centred design. One of the examples that interested me most was a device that displayed world news as well as statements sent in my world users. While reading it, I found myself wondering what is the point of such a device? But upon finishing the piece I realised that it didn’t matter what I thought, it was the collaboration between the designers and the users that mattered. The users didn’t want something that would become a distraction like the designer’s first concept idea, instead through discussion and compromise a device was crafted that served the users desired function. It is experience centred design such as this that makes the difference between a device that may look nice but never be used and a device that is 100% functional to the individual user.

The highpoint of the workshop, for me, was when we had to group together and create a presentation on a topic that we had experienced at some point, in a creative way. This involved breaking the topic, of “waking up after a night out and going on social media,” into the individual Threads of Experience. Personally I found it very enjoyable applying my own experiences into the group presentation, this was up until someone suggested adding personal photo evidence, that enjoyment was suddenly clouded by embarrassment but nevertheless we got our point across. I imagine the process was somewhat different for some group members who hadn’t experienced this topic before. In retrospect this assignment enforced the lesson of experience centred design as they couldn’t experience what we had previously experienced, they had to talk to us and gather as much information as possible in order to begin to imagine what we felt.

Getting the opportunity to hear from someone with a psychological outlook on design was greatly appreciated. For me, individual opinions and takes on design further my understanding of what design means. Without individuality, design doesn’t have value.