TEDxSHEFFIELD - CENNYDD BOWLES - What is UX and why should you care?
## Speaker Context
- Role: Speaker is giving a talk/presentation.
- Framing: The speaker begins by stating the web is "underachieving."
## People
- Armen Vit: Graphic designer who posted a blog post titled "landmark websites where aren't they?"
- Jonathan Harris: Person associated with wefeelfine.org.
- Brian Lawson: Architect and psychologist who calls the potential of beauty a "one-way valve to a new way of seeing."
- Marcel Duchamp: Artist associated with the concept of found objects.
- Tracy Emmen: Designer associated with a tent example.
- Damian Hurst: Artist associated with a diamond encrusted skull artifact.
- Don Norman: Cognitive scientist who discussed modes of design.
- Vitili Kar and Alexander Malamid: Artists who surveyed musical preferences.
- The speaker's mother: Teacher who explained the concept of the "golden moment" in education.
## Organizations
- Face Research: Company that created a composite image of average female faces.
## Places
- New York City: Location relevant to the subway map.
- Beijing: Location where the "bird's nest stadium" is located.
## Tools, Tech & Products
- Google: Company mentioned regarding its logo and its general status as a web giant.
- Amazon: Example of a successful web platform.
- eBay: Example of a successful web platform.
- Facebook: Example of a successful web platform.
- Apple: Company known for benefiting from the aesthetic usability effect, specifically with the iMac.
- Mac OS: Operating system brought by Apple, cited for its user experience.
- Face Research: Company that created a composite image of average female faces.
- NextTime: Company that made the "tube clock."
## Concepts & Definitions
- Web underachieving: General state described by the speaker.
- Aesthetic usability effect: The phenomenon where people perform better on beautiful objects, and this is not just thought but actual performance.
- Mimemetic: Art/ideals of beauty that are intended to mimic and replicate nature.
- Theory of forms (Plato's): Theory suggesting an idealized form of everything exists on a heavenly plane that mortals cannot access.
- Found objects: Art concept popularized by Marcel Duchamp, suggesting anything can be artistic.
- Installation art: Art designed for a specific space and specific duration; temporary and potentially interactive.
- Universal beauty: A type of beauty based on globally accepted principles and a timeless quality.
- Social cultural beauty: A type of beauty governed by the norms and standards of a particular time or place.
- Subjective beauty: A wholly personal encapsulation of one's likes and dislikes.
- Visceral design: A design aimed at the gut, felt without mental processing; associated with initial attraction (e.g., 50 milliseconds).
- Behavioral design: Design concerned with use, addressing if the site works and if the system performs tasks appropriately.
- Reflective design: The third and most complex mode of design, looking at meaning and message—design that speaks to us.
- Golden moment: A point where one suddenly discovers something and one's worldview is subtly shifted.
## Numbers & Data
- 1933: Year of Harry Beck's original tube map.
- 1960s: Decade when the demonstration regarding presidential debates between Nixon and Kennedy occurred.
- 50 milliseconds: Approximate time frame for visceral reactions.
- 72%: Percentage of listeners who would be uncontrollably and unavoidably fond of the "most wanted song."
- 25 minutes: Duration of the "most unwanted song."
- 7,000 days: How long the web is stated to be.
## Claims & Theses
- The web is underachieving.
- No site on the web stands as a landmark of design.
- We have become very good at making cool, impressive, and useful sites, but beauty is missing from modern web design.
- Beauty affects us in profound ways by directly creating positive emotions within us.
- Studies show we are kinder to beautiful people, judging their content/message in light of their attractiveness.
- The bias toward attractive individuals is not a learned response but a hardwired reaction seen even in infants.
- Beautiful objects are not just thought to be easier to use; they actually are easier to use (aesthetic usability effect).
- Beauty can genuinely change the way the world thinks (via reflective design).
- The art of the Greek and Roman era was very much an attempt to get close to an ideal (mimetic).
- From the Renaissance onwards, humanity started becoming comfortable with the idea that beauty could be inherent in things that mankind has created.
- Representation and subjective interpretation became critical in appreciating beauty after the Renaissance.
- Contemporary conceptual art prioritizes a beautiful thought over execution.
- Beautiful design is one that appeals at the reflective level.
- Successful behavioral design makes usable and profitable sites, but not beautiful ones.
- A beautiful design is one that appeals at the reflective level.
- The web is only now starting to understand reflective design, moving beyond usability to user experience.
- To create beautiful websites, we need to start thinking at the reflective level.
- We need to understand people, real people, not just their user tasks.
- To create these golden moments, one needs to recognize them for oneself by noticing the world and beauty around us.
- Standing for something is rare in the web community, which is mostly technique-driven.
- With time, we will get to a point where we can solve the underachievement problem.
## Mechanisms & Processes
- Aesthetic usability effect: The brain reacts differently to beautiful objects, leading to more flexible approaches when using them.
- Cognitive processing modes (Don Norman):
- Visceral design: Reacting to shape, color, and form without mental processing, based on immediate gut feeling.
- Behavioral design: Concerned with usability; if the site works and performs tasks appropriately.
- Reflective design: The third mode, building on the first two, which looks at meaning and message, asking questions about values.
- Art history progression: Moving from attempting to mimic nature (mimemetic) -> developing comfort with human creation (Renaissance) -> focusing on representation and subjective interpretation (Romantic era) -> prioritizing thought over execution (Contemporary).
- Modern design failure (Paint by numbers/Design by committee): Occurs when everyone is polled, leading to mediocre, bland results.
- Sustaining appeal: Requires "the odd surprise" or "bringing unexpected joy" into an experience.
## Timeline & Events
- 1933: Harry Beck's original tube map.
- 1839: Date of the Turner painting discussed.
- Early days of the web: Characterized by focus on visceral design.
- Last few years: Focus has shifted somewhat toward more behavioral design.
## Examples & Cases
- New York City subway map: Cited as an example of a landmark design (and compared favorably to the Tube map).
- Film *7*: Cited as an example of a landmark design.
- Paul Rand IBM logo: Cited as an example of a landmark design.
- New York City subway map (Harry Beck's 1933 tube map): Cited for beautifully clarifying complexity through the metaphor of wiring; noted as becoming part of the collective consciousness.
- Bird's nest stadium: Cited in Beijing as an example of architectural beauty speaking volumes about a nation's attitude.
- Presidential debates between Nixon and Kennedy: Example demonstrating bias toward attractiveness when watching TV versus radio.
- Color iMac: Cited as an example bringing beauty to commercial hardware for the first time.
- Reuben's Venus: Cited as an example of classical art reflecting its era and the artist's subjective preference.
- Modern runway model vs. Reuben's Venus: Used to illustrate changing socio-cultural attitudes to beauty and body type.
- The "most wanted song": A soft rock R&B song designed to be liked by 72% of listeners, cited as an example of usability/pleasing everyone.
- The "most unwanted song": Features the banjo, accordion, tuba, and a rapping operatic soprano; cited as an example of the opposite extreme.
- Tube clock (by NextTime): Cited as a personal example where beauty lies in the concept, appealing to the owner's values, despite lower usability/elegance compared to analog clocks.
- Google logos: Mentioned as an example of a minor "fuss" that helps sustain initial appeal.
## Trade-offs & Alternatives
- Web functionality vs. Beauty: The trade-off between making sites merely functional/useful versus making them beautiful.
- Usability vs. Beauty: Visceral design rewards instant attraction over usability.
- Bland Safety vs. Beauty: Usability/Behavioral design can lead to "dreaded design by committee" (example: "most wanted song"), which is usable but not beautiful.
- Mimetic art vs. Representational art: Trade-off from early art aiming for perfect replicas versus later art embracing subjective interpretation.
- Linear vs. Multi-layered design: The trade-off between functional necessity (usability) and deeper meaning (reflectiveness).
## Counterarguments & Caveats
- The speaker acknowledges that the argument for beauty is not always simple.
- Caveat regarding the web: The web is impermanent, abstract, and functional, unlike physical artifacts.
- Criticism of usability movement: Usability processes applied poorly can create "horribly mediocre products" or "design by committee."
- Personal constraint: The speaker works for a real business with real clients and real constraints, suggesting progress may be slower than hoped.
## Methodology
- Analysis of art history: Tracing the shift in understanding beauty from mimicry toward subjective interpretation and conceptualism.
- Cognitive science model application: Using Don Norman's three modes (visceral, behavioral, reflective) to categorize design analysis.
- Surveying music taste: Used by Vitili Kar and Alexander Malamid to demonstrate the pitfalls of pleasing everyone.
- Self-reflection/Conceptualization: The speaker uses personal examples (tube clock) to illustrate subjective value.
## References Cited
- Armen Vit's blog post "landmark websites where aren't they?".
- Jonathan Harris of wefeelfine.org.
- Harry Beck's original 1933 tube map.
- Plato's theory of forms.
- Turner painting from 1839.
- Marcel Duchamp's concept of found objects.
- The "altur theory" (in film, where the director is in charge of the creative vision).
- Don Norman: Cognitive scientist.
## Conclusions & Recommendations
- The speaker should advocate for the web to adopt design that is beautiful (appealing at the reflective level).
- To create successful, beautiful websites, one must start by thinking at the reflective level.
- First, understand the power of emotion and appeal to it.
- Next, understand people, real people, rather than just their user tasks.
- Determine how to improve people's lives beyond just the single visit.
- Recognize that experience goes beyond mere usability.
- Design efforts need to be led by a single person with strong vision (like the director in film) because strong leadership is necessary for beautiful design.
- Consider long-term seduction to maintain interest after initial interest wears off by bringing unexpected joy.
- Broaden horizons by noticing the world and beauty in broader design fields.
- Be brave: Make statements and stand for ideals within the work.
- The generation is capable of solving the web's underachievement by focusing on reflective design.
## Implications & Consequences
- If beauty is achieved via reflective design, the web could genuinely change the way the world thinks.
- Failure to focus on reflective design means the web risks remaining functionally proficient but aesthetically shallow or derivative.
- If the web continues to be primarily technique-driven, it will neglect the more important philosophical approach that drives impactful work.
- If the current trend continues, the web will struggle to create truly beautiful design landmarks.
## Open Questions
- How exactly can we make the web beautiful?
- What is beauty anyway?
## Verbatim Moments
- "The sum is truly greater than its parts."
- "I think beauty is something that's missing from modern web design."
- "We see the wonderful bird's nest stadium in Beijing, which spoke volumes about a nation's attitude."
- "It's not that we think they're easier to use. They actually are easier to use."
- "Apple know the benefit of the aesthetic usability effect better than pretty much anyone."
- "Brian Lawson calls this a one-way valve to a new way of seeing."
- "The art of that era was very much an attempt to get close to that ideal."
- "Contemporary conceptual art really prioritizes a beautiful thought over execution."
- "This is a conversation starter."
- "I would actually contend that this is the same way that we react to a beautiful object."
- "It's not a marketing plus. It should be a given by now."
- "The old cliche of when did you see a statue of a committee."
- "The odd surprise is rewarding."
- "I guarantee we can create our own beautiful design landmarks."