User experience is not obviously around us, yet it’s around us.
It’s something we barely think about when we wake up since great user experience is seamless to the human you.
To give you an example of a story, every day when my body wakes up, I do a silent meditation, laying facing up with my eyes closed.
When my body is “awake” enough, I get up and make a b-line to my blinds, grabbing the swivel, turning it right, and let the whole outside world and light sink through my eyes, my body, and down into my feet and ground. Just pure witnessing and observing.
“Whoa—”, I hear my brain exclaim.
So, what is the user experience?
Sinking in User Experience through one simple action.
Have you guessed this user experience yet?
Was it the end?
Was it making it to the b-line?
Or perhaps me waking up?
To dissect this experience, let me highlight the problem for you.
Problem: It’s too dark in the room. I need light.
There were two possibilities: 1) Turn on my lights 2) or go to my blinds.
It’s a personal preference at this point, so I chose to go to my blinds, and I make a b-line to my blinds, grabbing the swivel.
Boom! That’s your user experience there. I want you to understand that this is what it’s like to go from Point A to Point B. This is a singular experience.
It asks you: What will happen next in this experience?
Okay, next I (have to) turn the swivel (right).
It does!
Do you see where I’m coming from with this? Notice that I intuitively know how to turn. The experience doesn’t allow me to question the process. It just IS, like magic unfolding in front of you!
User Experience is magic happening in front of you.
And to take the magic of user experience further, after turning the swivel right, I let the whole outside world and light sink into my eyes through my body and down into my feet.
My reaction? “Whoa!” Fin. The end of that experience.
The experience encompasses a flawless experience from Point A to Point B. Each step had its own experience with emotions ([[Understanding Emotions in Web Design]] )and behaviors included.
Did I achieve my experience? Yes.
Was this experience flawless? Quite flawless indeed.
Was I happier in this experience? You bet!
In the experience and story, noticed I didn’t think. I intuitively knew this wasn’t going to break—phew no bottlenecks in the experience.
But what happens when this experience was not what I’d expected—what if the swivel was not working? If you chose lights, what if the light switch was faulty and it left you guessing whether you were going to have light during the evening?
“I just want my god damn room to be lighter!”
I hold my head in frustration, leaving my constricted throat to make the world know my swivel didn’t work.
Focus on the Most Valuable Player (MVP) in user experience.
As you may have noticed the swivel is the MVP of my story. This simple object created delight in my day!
Now going back to my frustration—what happens when this swivel does not work the way it is intended.
How does that leave me feeling during that moment or even perhaps into my entire day?
How does this make the people around me feel when I’m feeling shitty?
Understanding each behavior and interaction from point A to B brings us insight on how to design the overall experience for someone. It’s why its important to not skip steps from point A to point Z, especially when you haven’t done extensive research on the person using a product.
Breaking down user experience at a granular level helps you gain more insight.