User experience (UX) should be approached as a science in measuring human behaviour, Indian design expert Srini Srinivasan said at an educational session in Cape Town, South Africa.
Srinivasan, president and chief executive officer at innovative design company Lumium, spoke as a guest speaker on UX tips and tricks in the Bandwidth Barn in Woodstock, Cape Town on Tuesday, April 16.
“You need to be a scientist, some kind of futurist, otherwise you are not going to come up with a cracking of the solution,” Srinivasan said.
Despite this vibrant market space of UX, which is buzzing with competition, he explained the basics of UX are “not really rocket science”.
Emphasising the importance of usability and user experience, he feels one should pay attention to but not be intimidated by the terms.
“It’s all simple, lifetime, day to day experiences that we are all experiencing on a daily basis,” he explained.
Srinivasan said he is not on a mission “to preach user experience as a new science or art gift or art to humankind,” since data measurement has been around for a while.
However, in a changing society where social media plays a key role in communication and social network sharing is pushed towards monetisation, UX designers have to explore the ways in which it can bring value to its customer base by measuring human behaviour.
“The only thing is the ability to measure and the way we measure it to create successful products as changing with the environment around us in the way we communicate. That’s what we are talking about from a design point of view.”
He sees the market trend as following in the footsteps of a futuristic film perspective, “trying to almost force you into the future of things as they see it”.
“And a lot of us just follow it like sheep because it’s very nice, very cosy, we love it. Everyone follows that because it makes us feel like we are part of the ecosystem, you know,” he commented on its success in society.
He continued: “You are being influenced by these technologies around you. It is not just about taking money, it’s also getting a mindset. You know, this is what these kinds of experiences do to you.”
Using the Wright Brothers’ passion to find a solution to flying as an example, he motivated the audience to make it a question of life and death in the pursuit on distinguishing themselves from the rest in filling a market gap.
