A Change of Profession: From ’70s Rock to User Experience in Silicon Valley

A mere tongue twister for those who love English, if not absolutely a headache to avoid: This is how many companies still regard the new professional role of “user experience designer.” “This is a big mistake,” says Pabini Gabriel-Petit—already a pioneer in interaction design in Silicon Valley 20 years ago (when Donald Norman had not yet coined the term for this discipline) as well as CEO and Principal User Experience Architect of Spirit Softworks, a consulting agency dedicated to UX design (the acronym for user experience). “In a more and more competitive world,” Pabini said emphatically—when in Milan for the Interaction Frontiers 2006 conference—“it is imperative to differentiate your products in the marketplace. And today, sometimes the only way to do that is to improve the quality of users’ experience of digital products, making them more pleasurable to use and intuitable.” In order to do that, the UX designer evaluates all the aspects of the digital product (desirability, usability, usefulness, aesthetics) to which users must relate. “If you’re creating product designs for the Web, other factors like findability, credibility, and accessibility become important,” Pabini explains. “Interaction design, information architecture, and visual interface design are all aspects of user experience design. And, as a UX architect—I call myself a UX architect—on projects, I do all of this.”

A Californian by birth and nature, after following the rock scene in the ’70s as a singer, music critic, and recording engineer, Pabini returned to the Silicon Valley where this new profession was being invented from nothing, but is today one of the most in-demand professions in USA companies. Though here in Italy, things are little different: “Truly, by tradition, Milan is a design center, and the entire Italian culture is permeated with a love for design. When we think of Milan, we think of fashion, furniture design, and cars,” Pabini says. “But we don’t think of Milan as a software development center, nor is there an awareness that Italy could make the leap and become a leader in the development of digital products as well, based on their UX. Nevertheless, opportunities in this field are not lacking, as nearly all products and services now have a digital component to them—from microwaves to heating systems, not to mention all the applications being developed for the Web.”

“From this point of view,” Pabini continues, “India is making great strides toward overcoming the gap with the USA. Plus, some of the largest American consulting agencies in UX design have branch offices there, with 70–80 designers now working for them. Also, China is making an enormous effort to design high-quality digital products that are innovative, instead of limiting itself to copying other products, as it had done previously.” The experts in the field are truly testing the boundaries with Web 2.0, as an increasing number of applications move to the Web, while still providing a highly interactive UX (from avatars that function as our own digital doubles to the evolving forms of virtual environments that let us overcome distance). “Even though I might prefer a different approach,” Pabini continues, “it’s fair to say that, ultimately, every application—every digital product—will be available in the Web browser, without losing any functionality or speed. What I want is complete connectivity—the maximum connectivity possible—regardless of the platform providing the user interface. I do not want to perceive any difference between the data on my computer and that I have archived on the Web. And I should be able to work in an uninterrupted and continuous manner across devices that are really ‘friendly’ and unintrusive. Nothing should detract from the creative flow in which we work: Our attention must remain on the task we want to complete, not on the tool. These are the inherent ethics of user experience. I’ve learned to appreciate and enjoy being in flow. It’s like getting into—or losing—the flow of rock music.”

Acronyms

1. UX—User experience—The design of digital products, based on the ways in which customers or users relate to them.
2. IA—Information architecture—The organization and management of information.
3. IXD—Interaction design—The design of the behavior of products, based on how people use them.