MANILA – UX design experts talked about using design elements to improve user experience, both on- and off-line at the “UX Beyond the Screen” conference on April 5.
Speakers Patti Hunt and Kristin Low explained that the development side of any project, digital or offline, incorporates design elements that put the user first.
“Design doesn’t just happen on a poster or a website or in the development process itself; everything is designed,” they told the audience of young programmers and developers.
Hunt and Low explored the two modes of thinking in the design process: the divergent and convergent routes. They explained how the two polar opposites work together towards the development of a product or service, culminating into incorporating both into designing a better experience for the user. “User experience is a matter of life or death. It becomes effective when the user doesn’t even know that the service is imbedded in the design itself. It doesn’t have to be explicit,” they said.
The lecture explored a different approach to design, citing six factors that influence human behavior, namely reciprocity, scarcity, authority, consistency, liking and consensus. Hunt and Low also discussed the integration of all these factors into designing the service to the interface itself.
After the lecture, UXMNL had the participants do a more hands-on activity that immediately applied what they learned from the lecture. The participants were given an hour to design a service for a fictional client, starting from individual ideas that were gradually compiled into one. The workshop had the participants put their best foot forward to collaborate on their projects.
Culminating with cocktails, the event was very well received by the participants in attendance, who were eager to apply their newfound regard for user experience optimization in their respective fields. UXMNL hopes to instill this same kind of fervor not just in the digital field but also in various government services in the Philippines. “UX is not just online,” they echoed. “It applies to both online and offline life, and what we want to do is make using everything in the Philippines a great experience.”
The “UX Beyond the Screen” conference was held by Foolproof Labs’ User Experience (UX) Agency at the Asian Institute of Management Workshop Center in Makati.
