From the fertile mind of Steve Tengler, Altia’s Director of User Experience
It is rare to see my buddy at a loss for words or, for that matter, to demonstrate one inch of defeat. But he looked as though he was scrounging. “And so you think you’re Mr. User Experience?”
“I don’t know. You’d have to ask my customers. But I’ll tell you this: if I limit my thinking or my scope to only the user interface, then I’ve assumed I cannot shoot the moon. My product, my customer, and my company would all suffer from my lack of vision. Companies like Disney, Apple, and OnStar – I can almost assure you – set out with the primary goal of creating the optimal user experience.”
He lifted his chin slightly in defiance. “And they dropped a sack of cash to do so! Right? Disney built a whole city, for Pete’s sake. Is that what it comes down to? To have a great user experience, your customers eventually need to pony up a bunch of money?”
I folded my arms and tipped my head slightly. “Perhaps. To truly do it right, maybe you do need to charge a little more. Or maybe the truth is that if you design everything from top-to-bottom to deliver great experiences… you CAN charge a little more.”
Previous posts in this series:
Interfacing about User Experiences, Part Four: “OnStar”
Interfacing about User Experiences, Part Three: “Apple”