For a while, maybe around 2010, experience was the hottest buzzword in tech. It was used interchangeably with ‘interface’.
I was listening to a man demoing his company’s latest product.
“The dashboard experience has been completely reimagined.”
Bingo!
‘Reimagined’ was also a really hot buzzword back then.
Everything was an experience.
Now everything is a journey, which always comes with a narrative. Until they go out of fashion and new buzzwords come along.
But for the designers it’s still about interfaces. Implemented strategy based on research.
UI design, strategy and research. Nothing else.
I know why I dislike using the word ‘experience’ to describe an interface, product or service so much. And it’s not because it’s vague and imprecise, which is bad enough.
It’s because I see consultants sell the same stuff they’ve been selling for years, repackaged in new, jazzy solutions, complete with new terminology to boot.
Web agencies become experience agencies.
Management consulting become service design and digital transformation.
Graphic designers become UI/UX designers.
And products become experiences.
It’s pretentious. It’s not honest. There’s a hidden agenda.
This we know; the value is not in the sexy keynote presentation full of buzzwords, venn diagrams and trademarked processes. The value is in the delivery. The startup world already know this.
Let’s deliver less glorification and more value.