SIGIA-L Mail Archives: SIGIA-L: coming to terms with terms in g
SIGIA-L: coming to terms with terms in general
From: Terry Swack (terry_at_terryswack.com)
Date: Tue Feb 26 2002 - 14:03:55 EST
hi all.
based on the threads these past few weeks i feel the need to chime in again
and reiterate some important points about the experience design community
as there continues to be some misinterpretation of the term.
- AIGA Experience Design uses the term 'experience design' to describe an
interdisciplinary community of interest--NOT a single discipline.
- You can have your own viewpoint about whether an experience can be
designed, or whether you're designing the opportunity for experience--it's
semantics. What's important is that *every* individual participating in a
project (no matter their discipline) contributes to the design of
experience.
- Last summer's summit focused on the roles people in the community play on
projects-- specifically what we do and what we need to know to do it.
(http://experience.aiga.org) ***It doesn't matter what you call
yourself***, as long as you can convey what you know to other people. Call
yourself whatever works. Information architect, structural designer,
conceptual designer, big IA, little IA, product manager, customer
experience designer, wonder girl-- any of these terms work if you can
demonstrate you have the knowledge and skills to play that role(s) and the
value you bring. Using a single term to describe oneself can possibly back
you into a corner and keep you from playing other roles of which you might
be capable.
* Use as many words or terms as you need. While that's not always
practical, there have been some elegant examples given here on the list
about offering a simple title and then more info if there's interest.
*...And when folks challenge people on this list to figure out what 'we'
call ourselves, it presumes a certain homogeneity when it's been made (more
than crystal) clear that's just not the case.
- AIGA ED doesn't advocate that people call themselves an 'experience
designer' as it's not a single discipline. However, if you choose to use
the term, it suggests you have expertise in more than one role, and have
the ability to integrate a broad range of knowledge with other members of a
team. In this use, an experience designer is an integrator of disciplines
and knowledge, and in fact, is similar to the apparent meaning of 'big IA'.
Watch for the new AIGA ED new web site coming in the next month or so. It
will have pretty extensive explanation of all this as well as some good
resources.
thanks, Terry
Terry Swack
experience design strategist
* experience auditing
* brand experience/product strategy
* organizational planning for digital service delivery
office: 617.731.1492
mobile: 617.877.5416
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