The Experience Design Strategy Blog is about creating great products, services and experiences. Topics include XD, UX, CX and design thinking. We’ll also cover user experience research, digital marketing, digital strategy and social media listening.
Conferences are a great way to learn about a field, gain insights, and network with fellow professionals. I highly recommend attending 1-2 conferences per year. Here are a few you may want to consider attending in 2019. UXPA UXPA (User … Read More
Watch this space. The Experience Design Strategy podcast is in development and will be launching soon. This podcast will cover topics relevant to designing great products and experiences including UX research and design, service design, customer experience, product management, and … Read More
I mentioned in my post on the Customer Experience Cloud that it provided a good foundation for delivering experiences. To deliver compelling experiences, it needs to be combined with other Experience Design tools and techniques and paired with an approach that enables … Read More
Have you ever had a disjointed experience dealing with a company? Imagine that you are stuck in the airport. You were on the last flight of the day headed for home. And, they cancel it. There is usually a series … Read More
I recently read Chief Customer Officer 2.0: How to Build Your Customer-Driven Growth Engine by Jeanne Bliss. Here is a brief review. This is the second edition of the Chief Customer Officer book. The first edition was published in 2006. I … Read More
I passed the test to become a Certified Customer Experience Professional, a CCXP. This is a certification offered by the Customer Experience Professionals Association. I have been doing experience design and related work for many years. When I read, it … Read More
Social Media Insights can be a great way to understand and engage with your users and customers. Before you can start gathering insights, you need to have a listening strategy in place. Once you have that, you can move on … Read More
To be effective at social media listening, you need to develop a clear strategy. I am happy to report that I have discovered the secret formula for social insights success. It is: SI = 5W * (C+D)+V+A. OK so there … Read More
In conversations recently, people have been asking me what is social listening. So, I thought I would share a brief definition. Social listening, or social media listening, is finding the public conversations that are being shared in social media so … Read More
I believe one of the main points of Experience Design is to meaningfully engage with real people so that we can make the products & services they use, and their experiences, better. I love this quote from Brains on Fire. … Read More
When I started learning experience design, the emphasis on ensuring people could complete their tasks easily. We used phrases like ‘ease of use’. One of the influential books was Don Norman’s Design of Everyday Things which identified all of the … Read More
Experience Design (XD) is a unique and comprehensive multidisciplinary approach to designing and delivering an engaging, cohesive, end to end experience to people. In some cases, an experience can last just a few moments where in other cases, these phases … Read More
I just finished reading What Customers Want by Anthony Ulwick, 2005. It is an interesting read. But, it provides an incomplete picture of business strategy. In a way, that is what makes it worth reviewing. I will cover the key ideas of … Read More
You want to make your products better, easier to user. The best way to do that is to watch people using them, getting feedback about what problems exist, and then fixing those problems. “Watching real users gives them that eureka … Read More
I recently attended the first CXPA Conference. It was a great event attended by some of the leaders in delivering great experiences. One side benefit of attending was that they gave away a number of Customer Experience books. I had the … Read More
If you are involved in creating experiences for your users and customers, The Experience Economy by Joseph Pine and James Gilmore is a must read. The book outlines a business strategy where memorable experiences are created; creating a situation that … Read More
Building a great experience starts with identifying the people you want to serve and a story they want to participate in. Then, you have to communicate that story in way that others can understand and want to help build – … Read More
After doing experience design for many years, I believe that the combination of design thinking and business acumen combine to create the potential for creating great experiences. Experience professionals need to be proficient designers. Design is a skill that is … Read More
It is important when working on creating or improving an experience that everyone working on the project has a shared understanding of the person who will have that experience; the customer, user, guest, patient or adventurer. Working directly with people … Read More
I recently met Robbin Phillips and received a copy of her book Brains on Fire at the CXPA conference. After meeting her and hearing her speak on one of the panels, I knew there was an interesting story to be told and I moved … Read More
I recently traveled to Las Vegas for work. Love it or hate it, Las Vegas is an interesting place that generates many stories. The stories I found this time were related to providing great customer service. One night, I had … Read More
I recently wrote about designing an experience being like ‘The Whole Show’ for a theater production. All of the elements must come together for someone to have the experience you are creating. I have been thinking about how you measure … Read More
In an earlier post, I talked about the difference between user interface standards, patterns, and guidelines. Since then, I have been thinking about what makes a good set of patterns or guidelines. Is there an approach that works best? Are there … Read More
What makes a customer loyal to a business? Does a loyalty program help ensure loyal customers? I have been thinking about loyalty lately. One goal of many organizations is to create a loyal following among its customers. There are many … Read More
Delivering great experiences is kind of like performing a great play. You have actors, sets, and a plot. Traci Lepore did a great job comparing Design and Theater and I recommend you take a look. However, most comparisons of experience design and … Read More
Content strategy seems to be one of the big trends in experience design. And for good reason. No matter how well a web page is laid out or how interesting an iPhone app is, the words and pictures will make … Read More
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Arthur C. Clark Working in technology, we often work to create a kind of magic. Instant global communication, navigation, shopping and entertainment all in the palm of your hand. The product today … Read More
I recently attended the Interaction 11 Conference organized by the IxDA. This is a great event. Over 600 people came together to share their insights and knowledge about how to design better experiences for people. There are some great reviews of the … Read More
Attractive things work better. That is what Don Norman says in his book Emotional Design. This is an idea that I believe and try to incorporate into my work. In school, I was mostly taught to focus on improving efficiency. … Read More
This is part two in a series on learning how to become an experience designer. In part one, I noted that a great designer blends both design and business skills. I provided a list of key business topics and recommended some … Read More
This is part one in a series on learning how to become an experience designer. In this part, I will cover the essential business skills needed for a great experience designer. In part two, I cover the essential design skills needed … Read More
One of the things I love about doing experience design is that you have the opportunity to learn from other fields. One area I have learned from is Architecture. There is a rich history of creating places that enable people … Read More
In a field like Experience Design, there are some basic concepts that don’t change. However, there are many things that change very quickly. Fortunately, there are some fantastic people who write and share their insights. I learn something new every … Read More
I have been thinking a lot about content strategy lately. It probably started when I began to notice different approaches that made it hard to coordinate the text that goes into an end-to-end experience. And hard to coordinate the brand, … Read More
A key step in creating any new product or experience is clearly articulating what it will be. All too often, designers receive a list of competitive features based on a existing product or a request to make something just like … Read More
If you are interested in getting involved in Experience Design, one of the best ways is to attend a few conferences. In addition to the regular sessions, the tutorials available are fantastic resources. Through my career, I have been to … Read More
I often ask people the question ‘Who delivers great experiences?’. Many people respond with large companies; often companies that are on the lists of the 100 most valuable brands or the 100 most social brands. For example, someone might say … Read More
I have heard and seen the question in many places and asked in many ways – can a person’s experiences really be designed? It is a great question. My thought is that we can design places, products, and interaction scripts … Read More
The Grand Tetons have seven distinct peaks. They are a rugged, beautiful place. But getting from peak to peak isn’t easy. In a way, you could describe most companies that way – a great place, perhaps, but organized into distinct … Read More
I love my guitar. It feels good, is well balanced, and it sounds great. I happen to have a cedar top Ovation Balladeer. To anyone who knows guitars, it is instantly recognizable as an Ovation. This is interesting, because you … Read More
I think you will agree, as a customer one of the phrases I least like to hear is “There is nothing I can do”. Imagine you are purchasing an expensive product and you need to have it delivered within a … Read More
I have been working to improve my photography. While a camera takes great pictures on automatic, this year I would like to be able to take pictures beyond the basics. As I have been learning, I have been observing connections … Read More
I used to coordinate a training program in User Centered Design. We would bring in expert trainers on a range of topics such as Jarod Spool on prototyping, Kate Gomoll on field studies. The first course in the series was on improv by Bob Orvis from … Read More
Recently, several children were within one foot of being run over by a car while they tried to walk to school. There is a crosswalk painted in the street and there are flashing lights marking it. Yet, most drivers ignore … Read More
Part of creating a great experience is anticipating the things people want and need to do. People feel good when things just seem to fall in place. So, why do so many companies not seem to understand it? I got … Read More
Many of us design software products or websites. Sometimes, though, it can be useful to learn from experiences beyond the computer box. A recent trip got me thinking about the ending part of the experience. I have been lucky enough … Read More
David Sward provided a good description of the major facets of user experience http://ux-design.ning.com/profiles/blogs/what-do-we-mean-by-user (note: this external link is no longer functional). The user experience includes Marketing & Awareness, Acquire & Install, Products or Services Use, Product Support, and Removal or … Read More
In an earlier post, I mentioned that Experience Design is about ensuring that all the touch points related to an event are designed to provide an appropriate and consistent experience for people. Just about every article or book on the … Read More
In my first post, I talked about a travel experience and about ensuring all parts of a person’s experience work together to create a high quality experience. Most articles on experience use examples that make it seem like only expensive … Read More
I recently had the opportunity to take a one day trip for business. I flew to Baltimore and back. I guess you could call that an experience. Well, a trip is really a collection of individual events, experiences, that make … Read More
Welcome to the Experience Design Blog. In this place, I plan to write about what is experience, how can designers and others create great experiences, and why that is relevant to the world of business. I know many of you … Read More
