Everyone Deletes Tom

I’d grown used to my family and friends having no real idea of what I do with my day as a “computer person”, “web geek” or someone who makes websites “n stuff”. Until today’s momentary relapse, that is.

I sent a link out to a few mates for project I’d worked on that went live yesterday. Generous comment came back about the content, which is great (it’s where the focus should be) but the comments were complimenting my work on the content.

So I used the lacking house metaphor which crudely describes user experience as the person who comes up with the blue print, the developers as the builders, designers as the house painters and the content creators as interior designers.

It’s crude because the metaphor pays no attention to the skills or complexity involved in actually laying bricks or creating a positive user experience.

So - What is a user experience architect?

A user experience architect is a professional charged with information and interaction design problems, who focuses on the user’s experience when developing their solutions. And what does all that mean?

Well, an information architect essentially plans how all of the data (text, video, sound, image, animation, etc) is presented in regards to structure. At a page level, information architecture is a lot like layout. On a broader scale IA is also concerned with presenting a logical information structure across a site.

Interaction Design, is the design of the engagement and movement through a process or activity that a user undertakes. It’s the interface between a person and the system.

A user experience architect is engaged in both of these concerns, but from an approach of putting the user at the centre of their designs. That is to say they are the worker bee that represents the consumer in a business meeting. In some ways it is the popular term of the present day, but it emerges from a school of thought.

So an Interaction Designer may plan the functionality of a house’s infrastructure, so that all taps in the house turn clockwise for water and anti-clockwise to stop the water. An information architect creates a master bedroom that can fit a double bed, two side tables and a tall boy. Where as a User Experience architect would imagine the whole sensory experience, the textures, the smells and the intensity of light and write that into the plan. Although, a user experience architect in many cases will not be responsible for creating the lighting in a home or putting out the potpourri, they will play a role in briefing those who are so that a holistic experience is created.

So…. A bad user experience design would be to create a country home with a mirror ball, steal couches and no toilet. Unusable, unfunctional, uncontextual and not a good experience.