Description:

Is this you?

• Designer looking for ideas for turning up the notch on designs
• Information Architect who thinks that "products" and "solutions" as labels don't capture the conversation you want to have with users
• User Researcher or Usability Specialist who wants to design something more than baseline usable

If you identify with any of these, this session is for you.

Design is about stimulus and response. We make things to elicit reaction. Often, UX is about spurring people to act: search, select, buy. But what if the response the team wanted to create was emotional? What if there was a specific, positive emotion attached to a technology experience? How might that affect engagement?

There's a vast difference between making a design that doesn't suck and creating one that people will love to use. While at one time it was enough to make something that was usable, learnable, or findable, we are pretty good at that now. We call that UCD. Where do we go next? Experience design. Designs could be much more: delightful or gratifying. They could help people find purpose and belonging.

Dana will present a framework and a language for thinking about and talking about taking designs to the next level with examples of how how some designs are building in emotional, linguistic, and psychological cues — and making sweet, fun, engaging, connected experiences.