“Technically, most designers are attempting to design meaning, not experience. The experience of eating a cookie, for instance, can be described in very clear terms. But, capturing the unique meaning which that cookie had for one individual was what made Proust’s madeleine the stuff of great literature. A simple cookie for one person is a trigger for emotion-laden memories for another. But, most often, designers must create experiences for people they don’t know. So, how can designers create opportunities for meaningful experiences for people they don’t know? By paying close attentions to patterns.” (Tom Guarriello – UX Magazine)

“(…) the field of user experience design takes a broad approach to the enhancement of products, combining elements from various fields to create an optimal and well-rounded experience. This wholistic methodology is often more adept at helping to reach a set of goals that encompass passive and active user interactions–goals determined both by users and the business or organization.” (Paradyme) – courtesy of usernomics

“Because evolutionary products are far more common than revolutionary products, UCD techniques have focused more on how to approach projects for which the problem space is fairly well understood – both by UX designers and by users. UCD techniques are best at helping us determine how to solve such problems – which is not to downplay the challenges of those sorts of projects. However, the situation is different for breakthrough products, where potential users often have difficulty imagining a solution to a problem.” (George Olsen – UXmatters)

“The Design and Emotion Society and Chalmers University of Technology invite you to the fifth conference on Design and Emotion, to be held in Gothenburg, Sweden on September 27-29, 2006. Emotions arise towards people, towards places, towards food, and towards things. Emotions influence our well-being as well as our purchase decisions. From a design perspective, we need to know more about how artefacts elicit emotions. We also need to know more about the way we can identify the relevant emotional aspects and how we can evaluate the emotional impact of a particular design. The International Conference on Design and Emotion 2006 is the arena for these topics.” (D&E 2006 – Design & Emotion Society)

“Cooperative selection of success measures early in the project’s definition or discovery phase will align design and evaluation from the start, and both the information architect and web analyst can better prove the value of their services and assure that the project’s focus remains on business and user goals. To provide a useful context for design, Rubinoff’s user experience audit is one of several tools information architects can use to evaluate a website.” (Andrea Wiggins – Boxes and Arrows)

“Strategy06, the second annual IIT (Illinois Institute of Technology) Institute of Design Strategy Conference, took place at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago (MCA), Illinois, on May 17 and 18, 2006. The organizers characterized this conference as ‘an international executive forum addressing how businesses can use design to explore emerging opportunities, solve complex problems, and achieve lasting strategic advantage’.” (Pabini Gabriel-Petit – UXmatters)

“These days, it’s a bit of all three. But it’s also starting to look a lot like a business fad: Declare you’re a design-centric organization and – voila! – you’re the next Apple. We know it isn’t that simple. So here’s our annual roundup of the creative businesspeople dialing in to the power of design. The final cut: the CEO who rescued Puma, the architect who imagined Google ‘s stunning new offices, the graphic artist behind some of America’s best-known brands, and the product designer who predicts our appetites – and satisfies them. You’ll also meet five talents on the fast track to bigger things, hear sage advice on what design can (and can’t) do for your bottom line, and get an eyeful of some amazing examples of the craft. Tool. Obsession. You get the idea.” (Fast Company) – courtesy of puttingpeoplefirst

“Experience design is based on the idea of giving people a role in the design of the products and services that matter to them. Both in the US and in Europe, it is believed that this approach will lead to better products and services and therefore to better economic returns. However, in Europe there is perhaps a more explicit social or ethical drive: by giving people this co-creative role we can establish to a more socially inclusive society. A lot of innovation in Europe comes from public institutions, from the European Commission on down. (…) Design and participatory co-creation for social renewal is a complex challenge, but one that fits very well with the European way of doing things.” (Enric Gili Fort – engageID) – great interview Mark!

“On Saturday the 16th I gave a presentation, ‘Introduction to User Experience Design’ to the Society for Technical Communication at Ktech in Albuquerque.” (Chris Rivard – Clearwired)

A four part series – “Business shares a lot in common with poker. The goal in both is to make as much money as possible—either over the long or short-term—to win. You are competing against other people with similar objectives, with a finite amount of potential returns available. In order to be successful, you must observe and understand people and situations, devise strategies based on those observations, and use skill to successfully execute the strategy and accomplish your objectives. In gambling, it’s called play; in business it’s called design.” (Dirk Knemeyer – Core77)

“The purpose of the Institute would be to give us a place to really get into these issues, other than the workplace, where real sharing across disciplines and approaches could take place on a regular, continuous basis.” (Bob Jakobson – Total Experience) – courtesy of experientia

“Short for ‘Good Experience Live’, Gel is a conference, and community, exploring good experience in all its forms – in business, art, society, technology, and life.” (Good Experience Live Conference)

“The remixability of content and applications, paired with the rapid speed of development, form the foundation of a collaborative architecture that promises to result in richer user experiences. However, a richer user experience isn’t necessarily a usable experience. In order for Web 2.0 to deliver on its promise, it must provide richer, usable experiences.” (TechSmith)

“We can all take a lesson from filmmakers: endings matter. The way we end a conversation, blog post, user experience, presentation, tech support session, chapter, church service, song, whatever… is what they’ll remember most. The end can matter more to users than everything we did before. And the feeling they leave with is the one they might have forever.” (Kathy Sierra – Creating Passionate Users)

“(…) the practice of designing products, processes, services, events, and environments — each of which is a human experience — based on the holistic consideration of an individual’s or group’s needs, desires, beliefs, knowledge, skills, experiences, and perceptions.” (according to Wikipedia)

A course taught at the IIID Summer Academy in Chicago (July 18-19, 2006) “What characterizes Experience Design as a distinct field of professional endeavour is the holistic focus on all of the myriad elements that encompass an experience which disruptively cross traditionally perceived barriers between artifacts and disciplines.” (Dirk Knemeyer)

“Much has been written in the past decade about the importance of usability and the user experience to customers’ perception of an organization’s brand. Jared Spool’s 1996 article ‘Branding and Usability’ correctly identifies the importance of Web site usability to brand experience and provides evidence that a positive user experience has a direct correlation to positive brand perception. More recently, authors such as Dirk Knemeyer have expanded on this theme.” (Steve Baty – UXmatters)

“Never underestimate the power of fun, (…) you can still have ‘fun’ without ‘funny’. It’s about the user’s experience (i.e. cognitive seduction). And even if you aren’t in a position to introduce more fun into your actual product, you can still add it to documentation and support!” (Kathy Sierra – Creating Passionate Users)

“Every field of social science has been integrating culture and meaning into their theories and methods – some more than others – and we as designers should be doing the same. To do that, we need a framework that takes these things into account as well.” (Todd Wilkens – Adaptive Path blog)

“Teams need to avoid the role of evangelist for user centered design.” (Christine Perfetti – UI11: Enriching the Experience)