Contrary to the common portrayal of designers, experience designers do more than make things pretty.
In fact, some of us aren’t even able to do that. Some experience designers just have a brain that lends itself to thinking of ways to make life better for everyone, but they need others to help bring their ideas to life.
If we had more experience designers in the world, life would be better for everyone. Here’s why:
1. Experience designers understand the path of least resistance
The path of least resistance is the easiest way to get anything done.
Ever meet someone that you and everyone else considered to be a slacker? Yet every time something was due they’d have it done and, more often than not, done better than most? If they’re not already, this person is probably meant to be an experience designer.
“The core of experience design is putting the human first.”
Image from Inside Design: Trunk Club.
As experience designers, we create experiences that are incredibly easy to use because our lives are based around making things easy for ourselves. The best experience designers are typically those slacker kids you grew up with who figured out life’s algorithm at an early age.
2. Experience designers see the big picture
When it comes to just about anything in life, it’s important to have the big picture in mind—but it’s easy to get lost in the details. Experience designers aim to understand opportunity costs, and because of this we’re perpetually running cost/benefit analyses.
This analytical understanding of life leads to better budgeting of our time, better prioritizing of tasks, and generally better life experiences. In a world of instant gratification, it’s great to be surrounded by people who make decisions after thinking them through.
3. Experience designers put people first
The best experience designers have a strong grasp of human behavior. But they also know that they’re not always right. And when a good designer gets stumped, they ask questions.
Instead of assuming they know the answer, a great experience designer will ask people what they think of the idea and what could make it better.
“Experience designers understand the path of least resistance.”
Image from Inside Design: Prezi.
The core of experience design is putting the human first. If everyone in the world did that, we’d live in a communities based on empathy instead of power. We’d work together to bring impactful ideas to life instead of keeping them to ourselves for the sake of success. And we’d understand that the whole is greater than the sum of any individual parts.
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Global experience, party of 6 billion
Whether it be through making some new technology to save the planet or just making someone’s day, the mindset required to be an experience designer is something that would extend value to the world.
As you go about your day, try your hardest to think about others and make the world simpler. If you don’t know what someone is thinking or how they’re feeling, ask them—don’t assume. If someone is doing something that could be simplified to make their life easier, educate them how—don’t stand by and watch. And if you have something you want to do because you think it’ll make the world a better place but can’t do it alone, reach out for help.
Putting experience design into every interaction, digital or not, will only make our world a better place.
This was originally published on Medium.
by Joe Toscano
Former Experience Design consultant for R/GA at Google, Joe now runs a 501(c)(3) non-profit called Design Good that is working to make the Internet safe and re-establish trust in consumers. If you want to keep up with what he's doing outside of InVision, email him at joe@designgood.tech or follow him on Twitter or Medium!
