Notes from 52nd International STC Conference
Seattle, Washington, May 8-12, 2005

Closing Address: "User Experience Design: Gutenberg to the Boardroom"

William Gribbons

Bentley College associate professor William Gribbons's research interests include human factors, localization, and visualization, with a goal of building an applied theoretical model for information design. As president of W.M. Gribbons Consulting, he has helped Fortune 500 clients improve the usability of their products.

Session Description: In this presentation, a prominent information designer discussed monitoring the job market for skills that are in demand today and those that are likely to be in demand in the future as the trends toward user-centric design and globalization continue to evolve.

• As director of graduate programs in information design at Bentley, Gribbons is evaluated annually based on the average starting salary of the approximately 30 graduates of the masters program in information design. This is also one of the standards for placing the college in national rankings. He must average in the 75K range, with no placement lower than 55K. Goal is to work toward 90K-110K.
• Times are changing. The next 25 years will bring more radical change than the last 25.
• Understanding and moving with the change are key to preparation for careers and success in careers, and technical communication is right in the middle of this process.
• Bentley is primarily a business school and, as such, must be keyed in to the latest marketing trends and business paradigms.
• Opportunities will be growing for technical communicators and information designers.
• A chronology from Gutenberg forward: graphic design and professional writing to technical communication to information design to usability to user experience design.
• Improvements in product development, iterative prototyping, etc., (reference keynote address) will probably lessen the need for traditional usability engineering over the years ahead ... the usability playing field is going to level out as products become increasingly more competitive in that area, meaning the discipline will probably gradually evolve into something else.
• What happens after usability? User experience design.
• Bringing technical communication skills into the early phases of product development will increase the communicator's business value and influence on the organization.
• The greatest challenge faced by many companies is product differentiation in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
• The user experience model stands as the greatest opportunity for differentiation.
• UX reflects the pinnacle of user-centered design and is a logical extension of what many in the field of technical communication have been doing for years.
• The UX designer seeks to make the user’s experience as good as possible, which has potential to influence both the product and the success of the business.
• The competition will still begin with focused functionality (optimized usability) but will increasingly move into the arena of user experience.
• As new releases come out with new features and increased functionality, that tends to overwhelm users, who already may have far more functionalities than they use in the previous release. What, then, becomes the incentive to buy the latest release? Improved user experience in the functions they use most.
• Trend is moving away from external support into imbedded support (online Help, wizards, web-based documentation, etc.)
• Users are moving increasingly to learning by experience (e.g., the gaming industry depends upon intuitive products that users can leap right in to and play ... and this will be a major market of the future as the X-box kids enter the adult marketplace). Thus, usability will be an assumed inherent product characteristic, not something you have to get through a user manual or even online Help.
• The use of personas in usability (see Whitney Quesenbery paper) is an example of moving into the UX arena.
• Population demographics – the graying "baby boomers" – will make accessibility of information products an integral part of UX design in the decades ahead.
• An understanding of fundamental human behavior (cognitive, emotional, social) crosses technology and product trends and serves you well throughout your career.
• Example: the health care profession suffers from engrained mistrust from poor communication practices over an extended period of time. Skilled communicators have the potential to significantly improve this situation, using UX design for communications between physicians, hospitals, laboratories, etc., and patients (whether it be diagnoses, regimens of medication, or claims adjustment and invoicing). HMOs are a perfect example of a major opportunity for UX design – most people hate their HMOs. They have one of the poorest images in the entire business world. The ability to change that through more user-centered business practices and more effective communication could provide a huge market advantage for the first HMO to understand and implement such an approach.
• Technical communication and information design graduates of Bentley have been placed more often in health care and financial services than any other professions.
• Staples has flourished in its market niche with its "that was easy" branding ... which, in essence, is UX design. And the status of the information designers in the company has increased along with the success of the new business model.
• Defining your culture. The movement is from business/technical applications to e-commerce and the consumer.
• In the corporate culture, UX will be in the center, surrounded by development, management, business processes, marketing, and sales. It will cross and integrate the "silos" in the traditional organization of a business enterprise.
• Usability and Six Sigma are compatible. Business execs are more likely to understand and value Six Sigma, so that is a good way to emphasize the business importance of usability (as well as UX design).
• Google, E-Bay, Yahoo, etc., are already using the new UX model.
• Case studies: Staples, health care, financial services, telecommunications, EMC and Sun.
• Telecommunication devices will become a major market niche for the aging population, a veritable lifeline that allows continued independent living as faculties decline.
• At the opposite end of the spectrum, the young population has an entirely different user experience with telecommunication devices ... opening up opportunities for better tailoring these products to user niches.
• Elements of the user experience
   
• Define the most appropriate experience(s)
• Drive development through market segmentation
• Determine all "touch points" with the client
   
• System, product, and service design
• Marketing/brand
• Revenue model
• Invoicing
• Packaging and shipping
• Language
• Engineer common experience across all areas
• Build management structure
• Communicate mission from key management
• Measure and communicate results
• Align with other functional business units
• Usability and Six Sigma
• Partnerships and conflict: To succeed in a UX-driven marketplace, engineering, marketing, and business analysis types are going to have to co-exist (as in concurrent engineering and integrated product teams).
• Who will control the UX?
   
• Usability
• HCI
• Marketing
• Technical communication
• Business analysis
• Closing: implication for jobs
   
• Determine the appropriateness of this strategy for your company
• Measure your professional fit with the user experience skill set
• Determine whether STC will be a player in this space
• Prepare to compete for control of this valuable movement.