Professional factions have made it impossible for the business community to make educated decisions - or even understand what UX is. Content strategists scream “Content is King.” The information architects yell “Structure the kingdom.” The SEO folks say, “There is no data without metadata.” And the business community says, “WTF” To which the advertising agencies say “We can solve your problem. Don’t ask how we do it, but we can. Just throw money in our direction.” Guess who gets the money thrown at them? I’d like to see these professional barriers broken down. We ALL bring something valuable to the table – if we’re ever allowed to sit at that table. And I’d like to share a model for UX that respects our differences, but provides an easy-to-understand framework on which businesses can build their UX strategies.

1. Describing the elephant
Moving beyond professional silos
Eric Reiss
@elreiss
UX Camp Poland
May 17, 2014
Gdánsk, Poland

5. What is “Gdansk”?

25. Putting Gdansk on the map…

32. And historically?

40. So, what IS “Gdansk”?

41. Clients know what they want
But we know what they need

42. Clients know what they want
But we know what they need
This is the fatal disconnect

43. Content management
Knowledge management
Personas
Scenaria
Thesauri
Sensemaking
Accessibility
Storytelling
Usability
Findability
Information architecture
Mental models
Experience design

44. “Creativity varies inversely with
the number of cooks involved
in the broth.”
Bernice Fitz-Gibbon
1967

45. Webmaster Webmaster
Visual designer
Copywriter
Developer
Visual designer
Information architect
Copywriter
Front-end engineer
Full-stack developer
Visual designer
UI designer
Interaction designer
Content strategist
Information architect
Content providers
SEO consultant
Social media guru
Product manager
Project manager
Token baby boomer
1995 1998 2000 2014

47. It’s all Greek to me....

48. Goethe
„Es hört jeder doch nur,
was er versteht.“

49. “He hears only that
which he understands”
Goethe

50. “He hears only that
which he understands”
Goethe
CSS

51. User Experience
IA SD CS IxD GD PM KM DM SEO SM MKT IT

52. What does this mean for us as
UX professionals?
No single person can truly be a
“UX Designer”
No single discipline can truly
take ownership of UX

53. Can we define UX in simple,
understandable terms?
Can we embrace all
these disciplines without
taking ownership?

54. Eric’s 1st Law of UX:
If a solution does not solve your
user’s problems, it will not
solve your company’s either.

55. So, let’s start by looking at a “user”

56. us·er
noun
1: a person who makes use of a thing;
someone who uses or employs something
2: a person who uses something or
someone selfishly or unethically
3: a person who takes drugs

57. When would you use (simultaneously):
� An ergonomic seat designed for one person
� Optical lenses invented by Benjamin Franklin
� Alcoholic mixture invented by Dr. Iain Marshall
� Incandescent device invented by Thomas Edison
� Fabric made on a loom invented by JM Jacquard
� Rouge Royale (marble)
� Baskerville Light (typography)
� Domesticated mammal
(This is often how our clients look at their content)

58. When would you use (in simpler terms):
� Armchair
� Bifocal eyeglasses
� Manhattan Cocktail
� Lightbulb
� Wool pullover
� Tabletop
� Book
� Cat
(This is an easier way to look at content)

60. Eyeglasses
Wool pullover
Lightbulb
Marble tabletop
Armchair
Book
Gus the Cat
Manhattan Cocktail

61. Sensory assistance
Warmth/comfort
Sensory assistance
Convenience/aethetics
Convenience/comfort
Education/information
Companionship
Chemical stimuli

62. The experience of a touchpoint
will always situational

64. The touchpoints are
cumulative

66. What do your users need?
What are the scenarios?
How many touchpoints are touched?

67. Perhaps UX design exists...
...just not UX designers.
How can anyone truly be a “UX Designer”
without controlling all the touchpoints?

68. We need a more useful definition of UX!

69. ex·per·i·ence
noun
1: having been affected by or learned
through observation or participation
2: the length of such participation

70. Eric’s 2nd Law of UX:
User experience is the sum of
a series of interactions between
people, devices, and events.

71. Eric’s 3rd Law of UX:
There are three types of interaction:
active, passive and secondary

72. Eric’s 4th Law of UX:
UX design represents the conscious
act of coordinating interactions,
acknowledging interactions, and
reducing negative interactions.

73. Three types of interaction:
� Active (things we control)
� Passive (things we don’t control)
� Secondary (things that have indirect influence)

74. Active interaction

75. Active interaction

76. Passive interaction (partly)

77. Passive interaction

78. Secondary interaction

79. Secondary interaction

80. UX design combines all three activites
� Coordinating interactions that we can control
� Acknowledging interactions beyond our control
� Reducing negative interactions

81. Coordinating interactions

82. Coordinating interactions

83. Coordinating interactions

84. Reducing negative interactions

85. Reducing negative interactions

86. Reducing negative interactions

87. Reducing negative interactions

88. So, where does that leave us?
Five things to consider if you
want to succeed in UX

89. Don’t speak geek

90. Don’t attack other disciplines

91. Solve problems, don’t create them

92. Think beyond your own self-interest

94. And finally, our new mantra...

95. Think crackers, not crumbs!

96. Dziękuję!

97. Eric Reiss can (usually) be found at:
The FatDUX Group ApS
Strandøre 15
2100 Copenhagen
Denmark
Office: (+45) 39 29 67 77
Mobil: (+45) 20 12 88 44
Twitter: @elreiss
info@fatdux.com
www.fatdux.com