Experiential Design – Welcome to the Design Centre

Posted on Friday, July 5th, 2013

The Algonquin College Design Centre is focused on engaging research projects focused on User Experience (UX) design. What is User Experience design? The term “user experience” was coined by Dr. Donald Norman, a cognitive science researcher who was the first to describe the importance of user-centered design – that is, the notion that design decisions should be based on the needs and wants of actual users. At first glance, it seems self-evident that this should be so. Sadly, in practice it is often not the case.

Have you ever had the experience of trying to find a specific room at Algonquin College? The room numbering system does not appear to have any rhyme or reason, resulting in a frustrating and bewildering experience. For the first time student at Algonquin, this could be categorized as a lousy user experience! (Thank god for ‘Room Finder’ – for those of you who haven’t discovered it yet, check out http://lyceum.algonquincollege.com/roomfinder .)

In the bad old days, prior to the introduction of UX design, we used to make user interfaces differently. Typically, we made design decisions based on just two things: what we thought was cool and what made the client happy. The focus was on “look and feel”, with little to no thought of how people using the user interface would feel about their “User Experience”.

To do this, the practice of UX design has evolved so that design decisions are based on how users perceive, interact with and feel about using any particular system using an interface to control an underlying technology, whether it is a desktop computer, a tablet, a smartphone or an interactive TV.

Design Centre projects strive to create user interfaces that are:

  • Simple in concept
  • Conspicuous in value
  • Self-evident in operation

Smart companies recognize that they can gain a significant advantage over their competitors by offering a product that can deliver a superior user experience. Take Apple Inc. for example. Under the leadership of former CEO Steve Jobs, Apple has been highly influential in leveraging User Experience design as a product differentiator. They have introduced breakthrough products with superior user interfaces in personal computers (the Mac), music players (iPods and the iTunes store), smartphones (the iPhone), and tablets (the iPad). Steve Jobs has been quoted as saying “It is a mistake to think that design is just look and feel….Design is how it works.”

The Algonquin College Design Centre is now in its 4th year of a 5 year NSERC grant worth $2.3M. The Design Centre promotes and supports applied research projects focused on UX design. To create a Design Centre applied research project, three essential ingredients are required –an external business client with a clearly defined research objective, a lead professor, and one or more Algonquin College students. If you have an idea for a project focused on UX design, please contact me at omuraj@algonquincollege.com, or 613-727-4723 ext 2996.

Till next month,
John Omura
Design Centre Project Manager

Comments

Comments are closed.