User Experience : The science of the art

The definition of User Experience has always remained blurry. In Wikipedia terms, it is the way how humans feel after having an interaction with a system. The problem with this statement is that it treats a human and a system as two different rigid entities. The idea that is always remained pertinent is customization. A system can never be designed to fulfill the experience of every human being, but does it have flexibility to create this experience?

So what is the science behind this art of getting the User to re-enter the system. Now there have been numerous studies on User Experience where they are trying to blend Information Architecture to Graphic design. Then there are behavioral studies such as Hassenzahl’s study that tend to judge the human behavior and attitude towards a product representation.

But these studies are still studying the surface and not hitting the core. One man who hit the core was Steve Jobs with products like Mac, iPads and iPhones. And how did he pull it off? Was it the exclusive studies and research on the creation of the User Experience? No, it was a simple arts class that he took, accidently, during his college days and was mesmerized with the way the content can be represented. He used the concept in Macintosh, which got copied into Windows and is used by most.

The Mobile Universe has captured the imagination of today’s users. Their User Experience can be described as fast, eye catching and configurable. The mobile UX is fascinating because user is emotionally attached to the device due to personalization; the data in the apps are concise and new plus the platform based devices have the capability to change the graphic designs every now and then. Mobile UX can conveniently be the yardstick for most of the web based applications for design.

User Experience is not about bombarding data to the end user or presenting flashy css (stylesheets). It has always been about meaningful representation of content. Symmetry and intent should be the driving points for any product’s UX.