Since my background is in programming, and I started my stint in UX by working on the client side, I never really worked closely with a creative director or branding team until I moved to NYC. When I moved to NY I found myself working a great deal within agencies or with people that came from agency backgrounds. The model was set up such that the “creative” (usually visual design) reigned supreme and everything had to be passed through a creative director for approval. Each bit of functionality and development had to reflect the brand correctly. Ok, that made sense, however what threw me off was that the brand and the experience were usually thought of as separate. Also, The Brand came first in the process, and was more important, even if portraying it disrupted the experience.
For instance, I was in a meeting where we were looking at a mobile web application. Because the application would be used on a mobile device, the page weight had to be light for a faster download speed, and contrast had to be taken into account as the user could be using the device inside, outside or anywhere. When I brought up the concerns that I had with a particular design not taking these practices into account, I was told that the look and feel had to be a certain way due to The Brand. I couldn’t help but wonder what people would think of The Brand if they couldn’t use the application (one they would have to pay for). Basically having a bad experience with the application would seem to reflect badly on The Brand itself. Somehow, this connection was not being made on the other end, and this made me feel like I was insane! Was I the only one in the room that saw what would happen if we didn’t update our thinking??
Coincidentally, Joshua Porter recently wrote a great post on the 52 Weeks of UX site that described exactly what I’ve been mulling over. Of course, his description was much more clear and elegant and I encourage you to read through the post: Experience Precedes Branding. The basic premise is that people don’t use products simply because they look good or have a consistent look and feel (although these are important). They use them because they provide a good experience. And the better the experience they provide, the more a user will want to engage with the product. It’s simple really, experience is the brand, brand is the experience. They are tied together into one. In the print days, the user didn’t interact with an ad for a product. They saw a static view that conceptually portrayed the product, what it did, and who it was for. Now that we are in the digital age, the portrayal has become less conceptual and more direct. People are now using our applications, not looking at them to sell the product, they are the product. It’s time for a change in thinking.
I’ll leave you with a question. How do we begin to get our creative counterparts and others, mostly from a print background, to understand this? Is it just a simple case of pushing back, or of getting executive level leadership in place who own the experience? What ideas do you have to help us progress?
My experience has been a mixed bag.
On the one hand, I’m a slave to aesthetics. I love good type, strong grid and lovely graphics. On the other hand, I’m a zombie for usability/functionality.
If I were stranded on an island and could have only one of the two, I’d go for function over form. And I think I’m not the only one.
Case in point: google.
I remember the Web before google. I absolutely abhorred using search engines. I felt taunted by the false promise of actually finding relevant information. Then google shows up. I heard about it. Tried it. Never tried another search engine again. Never.
‘Nother example: Apple.
Apple marries function and form well enough to brand the experience. I’m a fool for the shiny (yet very usable) machines the make. At work, I have an iMac and a Dell PC side-by-side. I use the iMac for as much of my work as possible. At home, I use only Mac machines because I refuse to spend time debugging machine errors instead of getting things done and spending time with my loved ones.
All in all, I find the separation of brand and experience ironic since there’s been quite a bit of talk about “experiencing the brand”. Am I nuts, or is that something you’ve heard about as well?
Maybe the term “brand” is bolted to visual perception while the term “experience” is associated with touch or emotion. Hence the uni-sensory casting of the two. What if UXers (and other industry peeps) started talking more along the lines of mult-sensory branding? That might make room in people’s thinking for experiencing a brand.
Thanks for responding!
I have heard a little talk about experiencing the brand, but I don’t think it’s reached the people that can use it the most yet, or maybe it has and they just don’t find the need to change their mindset. Either way, I love this response! I agree with the idea that if we as UXers start talking more about branding it could start to integrate the two (experience and brand) much more. I’m going to use this plan!
That’s a really interesting issue. Maybe I can give you an insight into how visual designers feel about what you’re saying. I started my career as a graphic design, and then moved on to visual design for the web, and I can tell you the graphic and visual designers, as web users, do visit and use websites because they look good, and not because they offer a good experience. We’re always looking for great looking websites, we enjoy them, we come back to them because of the way they look, and so we usually assume that other people feel that way too. It’s always hard for anyone who’s not a UX designer to realize that the way they feel about websites is not the way everyone, or even their users, feel. And i think the same goes for other web professionals. Web Writers visit websites with good copy, front-end devs like visit websites with beautifully written HTML. Maybe one important role for UX designers is to bring all that into perspective, and help people realize that they are not their users. What do you think?
A great point, and I can totally see where you’re coming from! This has given me a good deal of insight when working with other web professionals. I won’t use a site over again if the experience is crap, but I don’t really care if it is visually appealing. This is really helpful!!
Thanks for responding!
I have heard a little talk about experiencing the brand, but I don't think it's reached the people that can use it the most yet, or maybe it has and they just don't find the need to change their mindset. Either way, I love this response! I agree with the idea that if we as UXers start talking more about branding it could start to integrate the two (experience and brand) much more. I'm going to use this plan!
My experience has been a mixed bag.
On the one hand, I'm a slave to aesthetics. I love good type, strong grid and lovely graphics. On the other hand, I'm a zombie for usability/functionality.
If I were stranded on an island and could have only one of the two, I'd go for function over form. And I think I'm not the only one.
Case in point: google.
I remember the Web before google. I absolutely abhorred using search engines. I felt taunted by the false promise of actually finding relevant information. Then google shows up. I heard about it. Tried it. Never tried another search engine again. Never.
'Nother example: Apple.
Apple marries function and form well enough to brand the experience. I'm a fool for the shiny (yet very usable) machines the make. At work, I have an iMac and a Dell PC side-by-side. I use the iMac for as much of my work as possible. At home, I use only Mac machines because I refuse to spend time debugging machine errors instead of getting things done and spending time with my loved ones.
All in all, I find the separation of brand and experience ironic since there's been quite a bit of talk about “experiencing the brand”. Am I nuts, or is that something you've heard about as well?
Maybe the term “brand” is bolted to visual perception while the term “experience” is associated with touch or emotion. Hence the uni-sensory casting of the two. What if UXers (and other industry peeps) started talking more along the lines of mult-sensory branding? That might make room in people's thinking for experiencing a brand.
A great point, and I can totally see where you're coming from! This has given me a good deal of insight when working with other web professionals. I won't use a site over again if the experience is crap, but I don't really care if it is visually appealing. This is really helpful!!
That's a really interesting issue. Maybe I can give you an insight into how visual designers feel about what you're saying. I started my career as a graphic design, and then moved on to visual design for the web, and I can tell you the graphic and visual designers, as web users, do visit and use websites because they look good, and not because they offer a good experience. We're always looking for great looking websites, we enjoy them, we come back to them because of the way they look, and so we usually assume that other people feel that way too. It's always hard for anyone who's not a UX designer to realize that the way they feel about websites is not the way everyone, or even their users, feel. And i think the same goes for other web professionals. Web Writers visit websites with good copy, front-end devs like visit websites with beautifully written HTML. Maybe one important role for UX designers is to bring all that into perspective, and help people realize that they are not their users. What do you think?