Digital Experience Design
+ The Digital Agency
Where it’s been.
Where it’s going.
By David Armano
http://darmano.typepad.com

According to WIKI…
“As products become more complicated, often due to technology, designers are
facing new challenges in gaining strong user acceptance.
The number of people using and developing products powered by some sort of
technology continues to grow; these new systems are more functional and robust
than ever, providing more features, functionality, and capabilities.”

According to WIKI…
However, with the added complexity, the new generation of products is
becoming more difficult to understand and use. As a result, users become
more frustrated, unhappy and less productive. Large
portions of functionality in the complicated software products and consumer
electronics go unused, and products often fail in the consumer world due to
their unnecessarily complicated user interfaces.”

Digital Experience Design Made Simple
human. technical. aesthetic.
Digital Experience Design exists as the design of behavior, bounded by three
core interests: Human, Technical and Aesthetic.

Gurus Past: Specialists In Defined Fields
Tacticians
Usability Experts
Creative Geniuses
Web Consultants

Gurus Present: Blurring The Lines
Alex Bogusky // CP+B
Robert Greenberg // R/GA
Tim Brown // IDEO
Momentum Creators
Consumer Engagements
User-Centered Design & Innovation

Websites: The Way It Was
Usability-Driven Creative-Driven Tech-Driven

People-Driven Brand Experiences: The Way It Needs To Be
People-Driven

Point In Case
Website (1999)
Digital Brand Experience (2005)

The E-word
“Companies
stage an
experience when
they engage
customers in a
memorable way”

Memorable Experiences Create “Brand Junkies”
“whenever I want, to plug in a peripheral it recognizes it right away
I don’t have to sweat, and pray for a small miracle its just great for me
I’m as happy as can be and I have better productivity…”
-Daphne Kalfon “Brand Junkie (AKA, Citizen Marketers)”

Experience Design, Products and Experience
Source: Kevin Mullet—The Essence of Effective Rich Internet Applications (2003)

Useful, Valuable…Emotional?
Source: Peter Morville— Ambient Findability
When done effectively, Interaction Design leads to perceived value and positive
emotions/feelings informally known as “the warm and fuzzies”

Examples // Shopping // Shop Composition

Examples // Gaming // XBOX 360 Interface

Examples // House Hunting // Housingmaps

Examples // Product Customization // Nike ID

Examples // Insurance Quote // Allstate Innovations

Digital Experience Design
Get out of the agency
…and into the real world

Experience Design + Everyday Experiences

Digital Experience Design
What does a team look like?

T-shaped thinking
“People who are so inquisitive about the
world that they're willing to try to do
what you do. We call them \"T-shaped
people.\" They have a principal skill that
describes the vertical leg of the T—they're
mechanical engineers or industrial
designers.
But they are so empathetic that they can branch out into
other skills, such as anthropology, and do them as well. They
are able to explore insights from many different
perspectives and recognize patterns of behavior that point to
a universal human need”.~Tim Brown, IDEO

Taking T-Shaped Further—T-Shaped Creativity

A T-Shaped Mind

T-Shaped Teams

What’s Next?
“I’ve been amazed at how often those outside the
discipline of design assume that what designers
do is decoration. Good design is problem solving.”
—Jeffery Veen, (2000)
Digital Experience Design will always be about solving problems at the core. The
more complex the problem, the more simple the solution needs to be. That’s where
creativity comes in—Designers in this space will become creative problem solvers
critical in helping brands connect with their customers & communities.