Brand & UX: Toward a New Interpretation

Brand & UX: Toward a New Interpreta:on or The False Dichotomy Between UX & Brand January 5, 2013 Edited 1.12.13 Mark Badger, User Experience Director Roundarch Isobar Property of Roundarch Isobar. Privileged and conﬁden:al.Saturday, January 12, 2013

Introduc:ons & Background @roundarchisobar @mbadger 2 Property of Roundarch Isobar. Privileged and conﬁden:al.Saturday, January 12, 2013

Agency Overview INTRODUCTIONS & BACKGROUND Who We Are We are a modern agency of 3,000 creatives and creators with digital at its core. Where We Are Located in Boston, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, New York, San Francisco, and 34 countries around the world. What We Do Roundarch Isobar conceives, designs, and builds digital experiences for the world’s largest organizations. We create integrated marketing campaigns, enterprise web applications, and digital products. 3 Property of Roundarch Isobar. Privileged and conﬁden:al.Saturday, January 12, 2013Roundarch Isobar is the North American incarna:on of what is known globally as Isobar.

We work with Global 2000 enBBes and large government organizaBons INTRODUCTIONS & BACKGROUND 4 Property of Roundarch Isobar. Privileged and conﬁden:al.Saturday, January 12, 2013

Mark Badger, UX/CreaBve Director INTRODUCTIONS & BACKGROUND 72-‐81 draw 1982 program 1987 design 1995 web 1997 apps 2001 solo 2004 ia/ux 2011 direct 5 Property of Roundarch Isobar. Privileged and conﬁden:al.Saturday, January 12, 2013My background ma^ers only insofar as you know that—like many UX prac::oners of my genera:on—I did not enter UX via HCI, LibSci, or CogSci. I have a design background (architecture, by educa:on) and evolved from visual designer to web designer and eventually into our so-‐called “user experience” discipline. My interests have always revolved around design, theory, and communica:on...so the intersec:on of brand, UX, and media studies is a good focus for me.

FutureM, 2012 – CreaBng Meaningful Digital Experiences: The SemioBcs of UX INTRODUCTIONS & BACKGROUND Usable Intuitive Meaning Valuable Meaningful Object Symbol Memorable 6 Property of Roundarch Isobar. Privileged and conﬁden:al.Saturday, January 12, 2013A semio:c view of user experience is not new, but it is not ogen discussed. Don Norman popularized the idea with his use of “aﬀordances” in his 1988 book “The Design of Everyday Things” -‐ At the level of tac:cs and implementa:on, the greatest aspira:on for any user experience is usually “value.”For both brands and users/consumers, aspiring to have merely usable experiences is sejng the bar low. Consumers may not ask for meaningful and memorable experiences explicitly, but they do appreciate them. For brands, providing memorable experiences is cri:cal to standing out from the compe::on and for engendering long-‐las:ng rela:onships with their customers.

The Argument: Why it ma^ers 7 Property of Roundarch Isobar. Privileged and conﬁden:al.Saturday, January 12, 2013

Why the relaBonship between UX and Brand maPers THE ARGUMENT Connec&ons between brands and individuals are increasingly mediated, facilitated, and enabled by digital experiences. 8 Property of Roundarch Isobar. Privileged and conﬁden:al.Saturday, January 12, 2013

Why the relaBonship between UX and Brand maPers THE ARGUMENT Technology allows for ever more in&mate connec&ons between brands and individuals and intensiﬁes those rela&onships. 9 Property of Roundarch Isobar. Privileged and conﬁden:al.Saturday, January 12, 2013And by “in:mate” I mean both in terms of proximity and personal.

Why the relaBonship between UX and Brand maPers THE ARGUMENT10 Property of Roundarch Isobar. Privileged and conﬁden:al.Saturday, January 12, 2013Advances in the development of so-‐called natural user interfaces (NUIs) have and will con:nue to accelerate this process.

Why the relaBonship between UX and Brand maPers THE ARGUMENT Copyright © 1977 Columbia Pictures11 Property of Roundarch Isobar. Privileged and conﬁden:al.Saturday, January 12, 2013“This is important...this *means* something.”If “the medium is the message,” shouldn’t we strive to understand what meaning digital experiences convey?

Why the relaBonship between UX and Brand maPers THE ARGUMENT h>p://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/paulm/1584418819/12 Property of Roundarch Isobar. Privileged and conﬁden:al.Saturday, January 12, 2013Not only is the digital barrier between brands and people eroding, the age at which individuals begin to interact with brands gets younger and younger.

Evolving Defini:ons (briefly, I promise) • What is a brand? • What is UX?13 Property of Roundarch Isobar. Privileged and confiden:al.Saturday, January 12, 2013

What is a brand? EVOLVING DEFINITIONS Identity Utility Service Experience14 Property of Roundarch Isobar. Privileged and confiden:al.Saturday, January 12, 2013A brand iden:ty is necessary for the focusing the amalgama:on of a brand experience, but it is not sufficient. As long as we think of a brand *only* as its iden:ty – its logo, its brand paleê, its style guide – we miss everything about the brand that defines its rela:onship and meaning to consumers. Over :me, the defini:on of brand has expanded to include the very products and services delivered by a company/organiza:on, leading finally to the idea of a “brand experience.”

What is a brand? EVOLVING DEFINITIONS Identity Utility Service Experience15 Property of Roundarch Isobar. Privileged and conﬁden:al.Saturday, January 12, 2013That said, the brand iden:ty does bear a rela:onship to the experiences engendered by a brand and its products. The brand iden:ty is simply the signal of and the representa:on for the company which provides the hook in the consumers mind from which all interac:ons with that brand hang.

What is UX? EVOLVING DEFINITIONS Website IA UI Design Usability Research16 Property of Roundarch Isobar. Privileged and conﬁden:al.Saturday, January 12, 2013As with the idea of a brand, what we ogen refer to as UX is the result of an evolu:on. And similar to the way our concept of a brand has grown to encompass the consumers’ percep:on of a company and its products and services, the term “user experience” has been expanding well beyond the conﬁnes of any given screen or digital interface.

What is UX? EVOLVING DEFINITIONS h>ps://vimeo.com/296383717 Property of Roundarch Isobar. Privileged and confiden:al.Saturday, January 12, 2013In an conversa:on at adap:ve path’s UX Week 2008, Peter Merholz and Don Norman discuss the defini:on of “user experience” (coined by Norman) and the role of UX prac::oners within the organiza:on. Though almost 5 years old, the video remains relevant today as the defini:on of and methods around UXD con:nue to evolve. You can find the video at h^ps://vimeo.com/2963837

UX vs. Brand18 Property of Roundarch Isobar. Privileged and conﬁden:al.Saturday, January 12, 2013

Can’t we all just get along? UX VS. BRAND BRAND UX Spy vs. Spy, Copyright © Time Warner19 Property of Roundarch Isobar. Privileged and conﬁden:al.Saturday, January 12, 2013I don’t mean to suggest that those charged with overseeing the brand and those responsible for crea:ng “user experiences” can’t, don’t, or have not collaborated. But I think it is fair to say that the rela:onship is ogen...fraught and conten:ous. And yet...strategic thinkers from both camps seem to be zeroing in on the same target.

Brand Strategy UX VS. BRAND “ A brand is a persons gut feeling about a product, service, or organiza&on.” BRAND — Marty Neumeier, The Brand Gap (2003)20 Property of Roundarch Isobar. Privileged and conﬁden:al.Saturday, January 12, 2013

UX Strategy UX VS. BRAND “ User experience arises from the sum total of interac&ons with an organiza&ons products and services.” UX — Peter Merholz, UX Week 201221 Property of Roundarch Isobar. Privileged and conﬁden:al.Saturday, January 12, 2013

ISO DeﬁniBon UX VS. BRAND “ A person’s percep&ons and responses that result from the use or anBcipated use of a product, system or service.” BRAND or UX — ISO 9241-‐210 (2009)22 Property of Roundarch Isobar. Privileged and conﬁden:al.Saturday, January 12, 2013But who is delivering these products, systems, and services? Companies, organiza:ons, and governments. To the degree that we focus on companies, this means brands. It is easy to imagine that an individual’s “an:cipated use” of a product or service may equate to their feelings about the brand. From what other basis would this an:cipa:on arise?

Big QuesBon UX VS. BRAND Maybe... BRAND = UX?23 Property of Roundarch Isobar. Privileged and conﬁden:al.Saturday, January 12, 2013As long as brand = corporate iden:ty and UX = UI, then maybe not. If so, though...what does that mean for our role in organiza:ons (and in culture)?

Ad What I le unsaid during the discussion d ed UX VS. BRAND24 Property of Roundarch Isobar. Privileged and conﬁden:al.Saturday, January 12, 2013

A Brand by Any Other Name... UX VS. BRAND Brand Experience Customer Experience Service Design User Experience25 Property of Roundarch Isobar. Privileged and conﬁden:al.Saturday, January 12, 2013When you consider all the phrases used by various folks responsible for a brand’s rela:onship to its consumers, you no:ce that they all seem to mean the same thing, regardless of whether they originate with marke:ng, strategy, or design.

Ad The Brand Experience Gap d ed UX VS. BRAND h>p://youtu.be/fidw92oahdY26 Property of Roundarch Isobar. Privileged and confiden:al.Saturday, January 12, 2013UK experience strategy group Foolproof have a terrific video that explores the idea of the gap between the brand promise and the consumers’ experience of that brand. Tim Loo, Strategy Director, discusses how UX methods can help bridge that gap. Check out the webinar video at h^p://youtu.be/fidw92oahdY

Interpre:ng Experiences27 Property of Roundarch Isobar. Privileged and conﬁden:al.Saturday, January 12, 2013

Another perspecBve on UX as a discipline INTERPRETING EXPERIENCES UX as interpreting.28 Property of Roundarch Isobar. Privileged and conﬁden:al.Saturday, January 12, 2013The “users” for whom you are designing experiences include the stakeholders of the business and the brand. Your job is not to be an advocate for the user or a paladin, your job is to facilitate the rela:onship between the brand and the customer. That’s easy to say, of course. As UX prac::oners, we should not stereotype our business stakeholders as somehow having interests antagonis:c to their customers, though, in some cases, we may s:ll have to act as nego:ators as well as interpreters.

Another perspecBve on UX as a discipline INTERPRETING EXPERIENCES UX as translation.29 Property of Roundarch Isobar. Privileged and confiden:al.Saturday, January 12, 2013To suggest that we prac:ce a form of transla:on implies that we have fluency and expert knowledge of one or more languages. What are they? With interac:on design, there needs to be a corresponding fluency and understanding of the vocabulary, grammar, and syntax used by both the brand and the consumer.

ConversaBonal fluency is necessary, but not sufficient. INTERPRETING EXPERIENCES h>p://www.flickr.com/photos/paul_appleyard/4398179440/30 Property of Roundarch Isobar. Privileged and confiden:al.Saturday, January 12, 2013This sign is a great example of how basic competency in two languages is not sufficient. Even if the translator had a deep enough vocabulary to properly translate “agricoles,” they s:ll would have missed a cri:cal piece of informa:on. What *is* the weight limit over which farm equipment may not cross?

Come together...right now, over me. INTERPRETING EXPERIENCES Person Brand User31 Property of Roundarch Isobar. Privileged and conﬁden:al.Saturday, January 12, 2013As “UX” prac::oners, we create the playorms and environments by means of which these interac:ons occur. We facilitate the conversa:on, but more accurately...we act as translators or interpreters. Our goal is to interpret and then represent the inten:ons of both par:es without loss or distor:on of meaning. We are intensely interested in being disinterested par:es to this dialogue.

Further Research32 Property of Roundarch Isobar. Privileged and conﬁden:al.Saturday, January 12, 2013

At the top of the ever-‐growing pile... FURTHER RESEARCH Nearly ﬁnished. At the beginning. Purchased. Wishlisted.33 Property of Roundarch Isobar. Privileged and conﬁden:al.Saturday, January 12, 2013

Ad ...which already includes. d ed FURTHER RESEARCH Read. Again. In progress. Near top of pile. Won at #UXDC!34 Property of Roundarch Isobar. Privileged and conﬁden:al.Saturday, January 12, 2013

Q&A35 Let’s talk. –> #UX & #Brand Mark Badger, User Experience Director Roundarch Isobar mbadger@roundarchisobar.com @roundarchisobar | @mbadger Property of Roundarch Isobar. Privileged and conﬁden:al.Saturday, January 12, 2013

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Brand & UX: Toward a New Interpretation

by Mark Badger on Jan 12, 2013

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