Originally published on May 28, 2015 in medium.com
Updated for context of time
3 min read
Who Controls User Experience?
When someone has a question regarding the user, they had all look to me for a concise reply and more often than not they do not like my answer. Why? Because “it depends” is not a definitive single direction leading to a simple solution of which they can act and produce. Is there really only one way to do something? Beyond that a person should only fold toilet paper and not crumple it for efficient use and disposal, if there is only one successful path to the end, let me know— I would have wanted it. My job would have be easy. When I am asked a question, all I have to do is hand them a post-it with the answer. That would be nice, wouldn’t it?
But it is not that simple. I believe that some, if not all, forget that the experience is not wholly depended on single person’s decision. Again, User Experience is not determined by a single person or even a single team of people of a specialized skill set. A user experience individual or team can provide insight and other processes towards an end goal such as a positive accomplishment or a conversion. We can be the go-to for ideas for solving a business solution or patterns that we observed from other experiences; but in the end, user experience is determined by everyone who works for or within the brand or company and the user themselves.
In a generalization, it is:
1 — The mission statement (and a company should have one, it is the foundation of all decisions and motivations) determined by committee and/or CEO.
2 — With the brand-message-and-aesthetic-owners creative team inspiring the emotion to sell the service/product. Most often this same group designs the actual packaging that presents and protects the product during delivery as well as the receipts that clearly state the transaction.
3 — With the programmer developing the functions and logic applied to the process of delivering the digital presentation and data as well as recording any user-submitted content.
4 — And the developer translating static user interfaces into a dynamic skin for the interactive tool.
5 — With the internal technical team managing the hardware that delivers this content or service.
6 — On the transmission of this whole experience which is beyond the control of this brand and usually in the hands of the signal carriers and the devices receiving this signal as well as the server and network vendors your brand subscribes to for service.
and
7 — Don’t forget the raw materials collected and converted into the produced resources of the whole product.
8 — Plus, the actual whole product produced by a hired (if not brand-owned) mill domestic but most likely foreign (now this is a large variable with its own process and infrastructure that can easily tilt the experience to a negative with the hopes that there is some quality check before moving on).
9a — Along with the shipping company moving the product from the mill to the warehouse and distribution center which coordinates the orders for delivery by yet another shipping vendor to the customers door;
9b — or if this is a service, the personnel assigned to execute the messaged promise where this person better be polished and trained as well as a people-person with the wit to respond precisely brand conscientious.
10 — plus the front lines a.k.a. the customer service team responding to the calls and managing all of the individual expectations based on their response to the product or service.
This is just a broad statement overview of one kind of organization model and only considers the producer/merchant side. What about the essence that is known as the brand perception? Translated and shared by both current and potential audience members based on their cognitive load, their interpretations, their impressions, their mental model the customer or user will also determine the experience.
Essentially the user experience of your brand/product/service is a single composition of many moments that hopefully communicate and work together. Any one wrong or sloppy moment will definitely — like a light coffee stain on the breast pocket of a white shirt— will be noticed and make a negative emotional response. When each and everyone works together with the same goal and effort, it could result in a happy tone.
Thank you, fold, and wipe.