User experience
Encyclopedia
User experience is the way a person feels about using a product
, system
or service. User experience highlights the experiential, affective, meaningful and valuable aspects of human-computer interaction and product ownership, but it also includes a person’s perceptions of the practical aspects such as utility, ease of use and efficiency of the system. User experience is subjective in nature, because it is about an individual’s feelings and thoughts about the system. User experience is dynamic, because it changes over time as the circumstances change.
The additional notes for the ISO definition explain that user experience includes all the users' emotions, beliefs, preferences, perceptions, physical and psychological responses, behaviors and accomplishments that occur before, during and after use. The notes also list the three factors that influence user experience: system, user and the context of use.
Note 3 of the standard hints that usability
addresses aspects of user experience, e.g. "usability criteria can be used to assess aspects of user experience". Unfortunately, the standard does not go further in clarifying the relation between user experience and usability
. Clearly, the two are overlapping concepts, with usability including pragmatic aspects (getting a task done) and user experience focusing on users’ feelings stemming both from pragmatic and hedonic aspects of the system.
In addition to the ISO standard, there exist several other definitions for user experience. Some of them have been studied by Law et al. (2009).
, User Experience Architect, in the mid-1990s. Several developments affected the rise of interest in the user experience:
The field of user experience was established to cover the holistic perspective to how a person feels about using a system. The focus is on pleasure and value rather than on performance. The exact definition, framework, and elements of user experience are still evolving.
Depending on the husband's messages, Lisa's emotions may range from delight to sorrow, from excitement to despair. User experience focuses, however, on Lisa's feelings about using the mobile phone, not those about her husband. Did the system enable her to communicate with the husband in the way she wanted in this context? Did the system delight her by exceeding her expectations or by attracting positive reactions from others?
s during interaction, her feelings about the episode as a whole, or her attitude
towards her phone in general, i.e., her overall user experience. In the above example, focusing on the momentary emotions may not be the best way to understand Lisa's user experience, since her emotions were caused mainly by the content (the messages from Lisa's husband) and not by the examined system (mobile phone). However, in systems where the content has the primary focus, such as in electronic game
s, the flow of emotions may be the best way to evaluate user experience
.
Single experiences influence the overall user experience:: the experience of a key click affects the experience of typing a text message, the experience of typing a message affects the experience of text messaging, and the experience of text messaging affects the overall user experience with the phone. The overall user experience is not simply a sum of smaller interaction experiences, because some experiences are more salient than others. Overall user experience is also influenced by factors outside the actual interaction episode: brand
, pricing, friends' opinions, reports in media, etc.
One branch in user experience research focuses on emotions, that is, momentary experiences during interaction: designing affective interaction and evaluating emotions. Another branch is interested in understanding the long-term relation between user experience and product appreciation. Especially industry sees good overall user experience with a company's products as critical for securing brand loyalty and enhancing the growth of customer base. All temporal levels of user experience (momentary, episodic, and long-term) are important, but the methods to design
and evaluate
these levels can be very different.
Product (business)
In general, the product is defined as a "thing produced by labor or effort" or the "result of an act or a process", and stems from the verb produce, from the Latin prōdūce ' lead or bring forth'. Since 1575, the word "product" has referred to anything produced...
, system
System
System is a set of interacting or interdependent components forming an integrated whole....
or service. User experience highlights the experiential, affective, meaningful and valuable aspects of human-computer interaction and product ownership, but it also includes a person’s perceptions of the practical aspects such as utility, ease of use and efficiency of the system. User experience is subjective in nature, because it is about an individual’s feelings and thoughts about the system. User experience is dynamic, because it changes over time as the circumstances change.
Definitions
ISO 9241-210 defines user experience as "a person's perceptions and responses that result from the use or anticipated use of a product, system or service". So, user experience is subjective and focuses on the use.The additional notes for the ISO definition explain that user experience includes all the users' emotions, beliefs, preferences, perceptions, physical and psychological responses, behaviors and accomplishments that occur before, during and after use. The notes also list the three factors that influence user experience: system, user and the context of use.
Note 3 of the standard hints that usability
Usability
Usability is the ease of use and learnability of a human-made object. The object of use can be a software application, website, book, tool, machine, process, or anything a human interacts with. A usability study may be conducted as a primary job function by a usability analyst or as a secondary job...
addresses aspects of user experience, e.g. "usability criteria can be used to assess aspects of user experience". Unfortunately, the standard does not go further in clarifying the relation between user experience and usability
Usability
Usability is the ease of use and learnability of a human-made object. The object of use can be a software application, website, book, tool, machine, process, or anything a human interacts with. A usability study may be conducted as a primary job function by a usability analyst or as a secondary job...
. Clearly, the two are overlapping concepts, with usability including pragmatic aspects (getting a task done) and user experience focusing on users’ feelings stemming both from pragmatic and hedonic aspects of the system.
In addition to the ISO standard, there exist several other definitions for user experience. Some of them have been studied by Law et al. (2009).
History
The term user experience was brought to wider knowledge by Donald NormanDonald Norman
Donald Arthur Norman is an academic in the field of cognitive science, design and usability engineering and a co-founder and consultant with the Nielsen Norman Group. He is the author of the book The Design of Everyday Things....
, User Experience Architect, in the mid-1990s. Several developments affected the rise of interest in the user experience:
- Recent advances in mobile, ubiquitousUbiquitous computingUbiquitous computing is a post-desktop model of human-computer interaction in which information processing has been thoroughly integrated into everyday objects and activities. In the course of ordinary activities, someone "using" ubiquitous computing engages many computational devices and systems...
, socialSocial network serviceA social networking service is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people, who, for example, share interests and/or activities. A social network service consists of a representation of each user , his/her social...
, and tangibleTangible User InterfaceA tangible user interface is a user interface in which a person interacts with digital information through the physical environment. The initial name was Graspable User Interface, which no longer is used....
computing technologies have moved human-computer interaction into practically all areas of human activity. This has led to a shift away from usability engineeringUsability engineeringUsability engineering is a field that is concerned generally with human-computer interaction and specifically with making human-computer interfaces that have high usability or user friendliness...
to a much richer scope of user experience, where user's feelings, motivations, and values are given as much, if not more, attention than efficiency, effectiveness and basic subjective satisfaction (i.e. the three traditional usability metrics). - In website design, it was important to combine the interests of different stakeholders: marketingMarketingMarketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
, brandingBrandThe American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...
, visual design, and usabilityUsabilityUsability is the ease of use and learnability of a human-made object. The object of use can be a software application, website, book, tool, machine, process, or anything a human interacts with. A usability study may be conducted as a primary job function by a usability analyst or as a secondary job...
. Marketing and branding people needed to enter the interactive world where usability was important. Usability people needed to take marketing, branding, and aesthetic needs into account when designing web-sites. User experience provided a platform to cover the interests of all stakeholders: making web sites easy to use, valuable, and effective for visitors. This is why several early user-experience publications focus on web-site user experience.
The field of user experience was established to cover the holistic perspective to how a person feels about using a system. The focus is on pleasure and value rather than on performance. The exact definition, framework, and elements of user experience are still evolving.
Influences on user experience
Many factors can influence a user's experience with a system. To address the variety, factors influencing user experience have been classified into three main categories: user's state and previous experience, system properties, and the usage context (situation). Studying typical users, contexts and their interaction helps designing the system. The three main user-experience factors are best illustrated by a scenario below.Example
Lisa is on her way home by bus, and wants to know how her husband is doing on a business trip. The bus is crowded and she did not get a seat, but she wants to use the time to contact her husband by phone. What affects her user experience with the mobile phone?- Lisa’s own mental state and characteristics (motivation, expectations, mood, know-how) and current physical resources (only one hand available for the phone)
- The context, i.e. the current situation:
- Physical (moving bus, views passing by, lighting, noise – the environment Lisa feels via her senses);
- Social (fellow travellers, code of conduct, husband's availability - how other people affect user experience);
- Temporal (the duration of the bus trip – time constraints);
- Infrastructural (availability of network, cost of calls and text messages, legal restrictions); and
- Task (sending a text message is part of a bigger "task" of two-way dialogue, other ongoing activities such as monitoring when to step out of the bus, possible interruptions).
- This context motivates Lisa to use text messaging as the means to communicate with her husband. The context also affects the interaction with the mobile phone and thereby the user experience.
- The system needed for text messaging (mobile-phone and text-messaging service in this case): user interfaceUser interfaceThe user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...
and functionality (e.g. text-messaging software and keypad), design and brand, the replies coming from the husband. The primary value comes from the discussion itself, and all other parts of the system should support this purpose.
Depending on the husband's messages, Lisa's emotions may range from delight to sorrow, from excitement to despair. User experience focuses, however, on Lisa's feelings about using the mobile phone, not those about her husband. Did the system enable her to communicate with the husband in the way she wanted in this context? Did the system delight her by exceeding her expectations or by attracting positive reactions from others?
Momentary emotion or overall user experience
The scenario above describes user experience of communicating with a relative via text messaging with a mobile phone. We can investigate user experience on many temporal levels, however. In the scenario above, we could study Lisa's changing emotionEmotion
Emotion is a complex psychophysiological experience of an individual's state of mind as interacting with biochemical and environmental influences. In humans, emotion fundamentally involves "physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience." Emotion is associated with mood,...
s during interaction, her feelings about the episode as a whole, or her attitude
Attitude
-Science and engineering:* Attitude as orientation of a geometric figure, such as a line, plane or rigid body* Attitude as strike or dip of a layer of rock in geology* Attitude of a wing or aircraft relative to airflow...
towards her phone in general, i.e., her overall user experience. In the above example, focusing on the momentary emotions may not be the best way to understand Lisa's user experience, since her emotions were caused mainly by the content (the messages from Lisa's husband) and not by the examined system (mobile phone). However, in systems where the content has the primary focus, such as in electronic game
Electronic game
An electronic game is a game that employs electronics to create an interactive system with which a player can play. The most common form of electronic game today is the video game, and for this reason the terms are often mistakenly used synonymously. Other common forms of electronic game include...
s, the flow of emotions may be the best way to evaluate user experience
User experience evaluation
User experience evaluation means investigating how a person feels about using a system . It is non-trivial to evaluate user experience and come up with solid results, since user experience is subjective, context-dependent and dynamic over time...
.
Single experiences influence the overall user experience:: the experience of a key click affects the experience of typing a text message, the experience of typing a message affects the experience of text messaging, and the experience of text messaging affects the overall user experience with the phone. The overall user experience is not simply a sum of smaller interaction experiences, because some experiences are more salient than others. Overall user experience is also influenced by factors outside the actual interaction episode: brand
Brand
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...
, pricing, friends' opinions, reports in media, etc.
One branch in user experience research focuses on emotions, that is, momentary experiences during interaction: designing affective interaction and evaluating emotions. Another branch is interested in understanding the long-term relation between user experience and product appreciation. Especially industry sees good overall user experience with a company's products as critical for securing brand loyalty and enhancing the growth of customer base. All temporal levels of user experience (momentary, episodic, and long-term) are important, but the methods to design
User experience design
User experience design is a subset of the field of experience design that pertains to the creation of the architecture and interaction models that affect user experience of a device or system...
and evaluate
User experience evaluation
User experience evaluation means investigating how a person feels about using a system . It is non-trivial to evaluate user experience and come up with solid results, since user experience is subjective, context-dependent and dynamic over time...
these levels can be very different.
See also
- User-centered designUser-centered designIn broad terms, user-centered design or pervasive usability is a design philosophy and a process in which the needs, wants, and limitations of end users of a product are given extensive attention at each stage of the design process...
- User experience designUser experience designUser experience design is a subset of the field of experience design that pertains to the creation of the architecture and interaction models that affect user experience of a device or system...
- User experience evaluationUser experience evaluationUser experience evaluation means investigating how a person feels about using a system . It is non-trivial to evaluate user experience and come up with solid results, since user experience is subjective, context-dependent and dynamic over time...
- Human factorsHuman factorsHuman factors science or human factors technologies is a multidisciplinary field incorporating contributions from psychology, engineering, industrial design, statistics, operations research and anthropometry...
- ExperienceExperienceExperience as a general concept comprises knowledge of or skill in or observation of some thing or some event gained through involvement in or exposure to that thing or event....
- UsabilityUsabilityUsability is the ease of use and learnability of a human-made object. The object of use can be a software application, website, book, tool, machine, process, or anything a human interacts with. A usability study may be conducted as a primary job function by a usability analyst or as a secondary job...
- User interfaceUser interfaceThe user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...
- Expectation
- Customer experienceCustomer experienceCustomer experience is the sum of all experiences a customer has with a supplier of goods or services, over the duration of their relationship with that supplier. From awareness, discovery, attraction, interaction, purchase, use, cultivation and advocacy...
- BrandBrandThe American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...