Friday, 2:45pm, Grand Salon A
Fiction writers weave stories around themes. Musicians create thematic concept albums. Even
graphic designers envision around themes. So, why not user experience designers, information
architects and interaction designers?
In fact, it seems strange, given the amount we’ve heard in recent years about the power of
storytelling for communicating ideas and framing designs, that so little has been said about how
the elements of story—in this case, themes—can strengthen solutions to design problems and,
in turn, enrich the user experience of the products we design.
In the context of design, themes can be used as a conceptual framework that will unify the form,
shape and quality of interactions. They expand our approach to user-centered design by
reminding us to step back and consider the aesthetic and semantic experience of a product.
Traditionally, themes are recognized as the subject-matter, topic or idea on which a work of art
or literature is based. In literature, writers weave stories around themes which, in turn, offer
readers an understanding or response to the story that is often much deeper and more
memorable than details of plot. In user experience design, all manner of designers can use
themes to similarly pattern and unify ideas for product solutions. To be more specific:
In the design process, themes can:
- Inspire product concepts and/or metaphors
- Inform choices related to product features
- Lead to product style (i.e., inform choices about colors, content presentation, etc.)
- Unify the overall design
In the experience of the product, the manifestation of theme can:
- Help communicate a product’s intended context and possible use
- Imbue products with social, psychological and cultural value
- Induce a secondary layer of emotional response
- Assist with a users fundamental, cognitive need to find order and coherence in
experience.
Experience themes ultimately help us, as designers, get closer to designing a product that not
only reflects the needs and desires of our uses, but that increases the pleasure and meaning of
that experience.
For the past year, our company has used experience themes to frame and focus our designs.
The style and application of the theme varies from project to project, but for the most part, each
theme reflects what the experience of a product, at its core, is ”all about”. They touch upon both practical (business) and aesthetic (experiential) considerations and at the same time reflect the desires/needs of our users. A truly strong theme will also emphasize the unique value of a
product.
In fact, we have come to view experience themes as the
“outer circle” to our traditional focus on user needs, content and business context.
In practice, experience themes are developed after discovery and strategy, but before the
“how” of our requirements emerges in framework decisions, wireframes and prototypes. Once the
team (and client, in some cases) agrees on a core theme, it is referred to throughout the design
phase of the process. For our team, experience themes have elicited fresh ideas for everything
from the product concept to site structure, page layout, content presentation and the details of
rich interactions. They have also inspired ideas for altogether new activities and features.
In this presentation, we’ll start by taking a look at how other artists, creators and storytellers
have used themes. We’ll talk about experience themes and how they differ from other themes.
Then, we’ll examine three real-life instances, each from a different project, where an idea for a
specific solution evolved in the context of an experience theme.
After that, we’ll take a sample project for which we, as a group, will brainstorm experiencethemes. From this exercise, you will gain an understanding of how themes easily emerge from
your understanding of users, content, business goals and brand.
Finally, we’ll discuss how themes can be used in the design process. To support group
understanding we’ll use the experience theme generated in the presentation to come up with a
solution to a design problem presented by our sample project.
My hope is that you’ll walk away with a fresh appreciation of the experience potential of your
solutions and a new technique for generating and evaluating ideas.
In light of the evolving complexity of information spaces and user interactions we can no longer
afford to confine aesthetic considerations to visual design. Experience themes offer a fresh
approach to this space with the promise of more meaningful interactions.
INSTRUCTOR
Cindy Chastain
Cindy Chastain, user experience designer and screenwriter, has been exploring ways to engage an audience through storytelling, teaching, writing and design for over twelve years. She is currently the Director of User Experience for Interactive Partners, a New York-based agency specializing in entertainment and media websites. Most recently, she has lead projects for clients such as BBC Worldwide, Showtime, Fuse, Madison Square Garden, Coca-Cola and Unilever.
She holds an MFA in screenwriting from Columbia University in New York and earned a BS in Radio, TV, Film from Northwestern University. In addition to moonlighting as a filmmaker and screenwriter, she is in the process of researching a book that explores how storytelling techniques can be used as a framework for design.