Poster

Getting from Tasks to Experiences: What's Next in Interface Design

Stephen Anderson

If we look to established fields such as product or environmental design, we can draw some interesting parallels to the still maturing field of UI design. An initial focus on function gives way to better performance, usability testing and eventually differentiation on more visceral and reflective attributes. Of course, this latter focus is far less tangible and certainly subjective—it's easier to perform a heuristic evaluation than it is to measure a product's emotional appeal.

As a consultant, I found that Usability, Information Architecture—disciplines that help people accomplish their tasks—were relatively easy to justify. But how do business owners justify desirable experiences, especially where the application is an internal application, a portal for example?

To communicate that this is a critical next step in interface design—and not a luxury to be marginalized—I'm developing two, complementary models: