Is it “Usability” or “User Experience”?
By Donovan Panone on Wednesday, September 26th, 2007As more and more companies adopt a user-focused approach, those who are new to the field often interchange terms that sound alike, but are really different. One might argue that it’s just a matter of semantics, but when talking with a user-experience professional, semantics can mean a great deal.
Here’s a quick guide to make sure you are using the right terminology:
Usability
Often times people will say we are working on a “usability project”. This could mean a wide variety of things. Is it a usability test? Is it a website re-design focusing on improved usability? Is it a review of an existing site to identify usability issues? “Usability” has become a catch-all phrase, but it simply refers to how “usable” a function, feature, or entire website is.
User Experience
Now the user “experience” of a website or product is a much more holistic view of things. It’s much more than how easy something is to operate. When you “experience” something you are taking in multiple stimuli, all of which impact the initial and final impression of a user.
This honeycomb diagram probably explains it best. Originally developed by Peter Morville of Semantic Studios, it provides an overview of the different facets of a user-experience.
Useful - Ensuring the solutions and features help users achieve their objectives.
Usable - How intuitive the interaction is based on proven theories and design principles (and validated through testing).
Desirable - The website’s balance between efficiency and aesthetics - how well the site utilizes the power of perception, image, identity, branding, and other elements.
Findable - Designing navigation, content, and page layouts so users can easily find what they need and be confident that they’re on the right path.
Accessible - Ensuring that everyone (including those with disabilities) can access the features without problems.
Credible - Designing elements that will influence whether users trust and believe what the site tells them.
Valuable - Ensuring that what we are creating delivers value to the user.
When you examine the many facets involved in creating a good user-experience, you can easily see that it’s not just about usability. So, if you decide to launch into a re-design because you are trying to fix “usability problems”, take a step back for a holistic view of things. There may be other areas that, if you focus on them, can result in not just improved usability, but a dramatically better user-experience.
Another thing also not often taken into consideration in ‘User Experience’ is the off-line tie-ins to the website. If you’re in-store experience is awful or your customer service experience is lousy, customers may not visit your site either. They may expect the same level of attention (or lack thereof) that they received in the ‘real world’
I think that honeycomb diagram is missing one very critical component - engagement. Or “engageable” or something to that effect. It’s certainly an overused term these days but I think its something that has to be part of the user experience. Would love your thoughts on that.
I think the reason people are confused about user experience is that there isn’t a good definition out there. Spunlogic should come up with one.
The facets help, but these are very focused on the web and information (when the user’s main task is finding information). That’s understandable given Morville’s background in library science and information architecture. Most other definitions I’ve seen are the other extreme, focused on products or applications.
To Jeff’s point about engagement, a related element that’s missing is persuasion or influence…it’s more than being credible.
Good points. I think that “desirable” starts to cover the aspect of trying to engage someone in deeper levels of interaction, but you are right…it’s more than just desire.
And to Colleen’s point, I absolutely agree. It’s no longer just about “the website”. It’s about a holistic approach using multiple touch points that makes up an “experience”.
Some interaction designers actually think that user experience and usability are in conflict: http://www.guuui.com/posting.php?id=1797