Media: Good Experience on Integrated Experience Design

Mark Hurst on Good Experience talks about "The overdetermined experience" to some effect. Concerned that he is in territory that's 'a bit "deep" for this column', he explains simply what it is about experiences that makes them hard to describe and a bit about what it is that makes a successful one.

'The Gates, Christo and Jeanne-Claude's artwork in New York's Central Park this past February, was a good experience because of the color of the fabric *and* the framing of the surrounding natural beauty *and* the participation of the community *and* the samples from the Gates workers *and*...'

In other words, they are 'overdetermined by several factors: artistic, functional, humanistic, community-oriented, and perhaps, in some cases, even spiritual.'

'Whether you're in business, education, philanthropy, art, design, or any other area, this is a rich challenge for you: how do you create a good experience in what you do? What are the multiple factors that will overdetermine that experience? How do you integrate that experience within your larger context (customer needs, business goals, the environment, society at large)?'

Associated Link: Good Experience: The overdetermined experience

All change at the top for System Concepts
Source: System Concepts Ltd, 3 July 2009
 
Leslie Fountain has been promoted to joint Managing Director of leading usability consultancy System Concepts.

Life in UCD immortalised in fiction: you couldn't make it up
Source: UN, 2 July 2009
 
Sarah Herman's fictitious book on life in a user-centred design company has hit the shelves and The Guardian's book pages...

Interfaces Magazine - Issue 79: The Education Issue
Source: Interaction Group, 1 July 2009
 
The latest issue of Interfaces is now available as a free download from the Interaction Website.

Two new Behavioural research Tools from Noldus
Source: UN, 30 June 2009
 
Tool updates make on-site behavioural data collection easier.

Cell Phones that Listen and Learn
Source: MIT Technology Review, 29 June 2009
 
New software tracks a user's behavior by monitoring everyday sounds.

Top Six Don’ts for Usability Testing
Source: FutureNow Inc., 27 June 2009
 
Six tips for creating quality usability tests to ensure useful feedback from testers.

Usability: ‘Lovely software. But I can’t work it’
Source: FT.com, 26 June 2009
 
In a recent survey by Global Graphics, 77 per cent of office workers estimate they lose up to one hour a week because business software is difficult to use.

And what do you do?
Source: Dexo Design, 25 June 2009
 
How do you describe your job role? Here are the results of a recent 'Preferred UX/UI Title' Poll.

Most Doctors cite Usability as critical to Electronic Health Record Adoption
Source: TMCNet, 24 June 2009
 
It's all about 'meaningful use'.

Glossy monitors look good but can hurt
Source: QUT, 23 June 2009
 
A new advisory cites research which suggests high gloss monitors make users sit awkwardly.