User Experience

Jesse James Garrett's article "User Experience and Why it Matters" begins with a strikingly accurate anecdote, detailing just about everything minor that can go wrong at the onset of a work day.

Incorrect alarm clock.  Running late.  Seemingly broken coffeemaker.  Car gas light on.  Long line to pay for gas.  You get the picture.

The overarching, umbrella that each of these minor (but when combined, enormous) problems stem from is user experience, according to Garrett.

User experience, huh?

Garrett says in his first chapter:

            “Every one of the previous cases of “bad luck” could have been avoided had someone             made different choices in designing a product of service.  These examples all demonstrate a lack of attention to the user experience: the experience the product creates for the people who use it in the real world.  When a product is being developed, people pay a great deal of attention to what it does.  User experience is the other, often overlooked, side of the equation – how it works – that can often make the difference between a successful product and a failure.”

Let’s break this down, shall we?

In short, according to Garrett, user accessibility, user friendliness and the like, all boil down to user experience . . . how it is for the user to use the technology, the product, etc.  How it works on the outside.

Garrett goes on to describe the various aspects of user experience.  For example, a poorly constructed product would naturally negatively affect user experience.  Likewise, the context of a product also affects its user’s experience – whether or not it is functional.

As Garrett importantly asserts, “The world’s most powerful functionality falters and fails if users can’t figure out how to make it work . . . . simply put, if your users have a bad experience, they won’t come back.”

And, even worse, if consumers have a lousy time with one product, they will often look to another product, likely a competitor’s, instead.

So what can I take from all of this?  I have to say, I absolutely agree with Garrett.  As a consumers and a user, I find myself unbelievably frustrated by products that I don’t consider user friendly.  In fact, I would attribute the wild success of Apple products to the very notion that their products are user friendly – much more so than their competitors!

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What do you think?  Do you agree?  What has your experience as a consumer been?