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Buzzwords Explained: UX and Visual Thinking

In my line of work I am often asked to explain industry-speak and buzz words; to put them into plain English and to illustrate why anyone should even care. User Experience is one topic that sparks a lot of questions and while I think most people innately understand the concept, they struggle with how to put it into words. Especially how you describe a positive user experience and what makes it so?  

 

To me, the simplest explanation of good user experience is anticipating your user’s needs and then ensuring you’ve provided solutions. You see this in everyday life all the time: from the waiter how knows how to precisely time the delivery of your courses to the simple beauty of a website that never leaves you asking, “Now what?”
 
Another hot term in my industry is Visual Thinking. Basically, how can you illustrate an idea with imagery? It’s taking the idea of “a picture is worth a thousand words” quite literally.
 
Here’s an example both good user experience and visual thinking. It’s the restroom door at Portland’s own Liberty Glass. It anticipates a need (how do I know the door is locked) and illustrates the concept by visual means. Simple.
 

Simple, everyday infographic

 

Makes you wonder how they identified this particular need--perhaps by dint of an embarassing operator error? But this simple solution ensures a common question is answered without onerous explanation. Can the same be said of your products and communications materials? Does your website ever leave people scratching their heads? Is your online Help creating more questions than it answers? We should talk.

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Submitted by derek.phillips on Mon, 2009-11-09 11:27
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