By Tim Velzy- Team Bayshore Solutions

We can have a great Web design, great development and drive traffic to a Website but when a user experience has an emotional response to your Website they are going to be coming back and spending more time there. Experience design does that.

In the Web world the line between designer and developer has become increasingly grey lately.  Traditionally design would come up with the look and feel of a Website, while development would make everything work together.  In today’s Web world experience design has blended these two roles.  The developer is not only thinking about how to build the Website but also the experience of the person using the Website. 

What is experience design?  According to the Wikipedia definition: Experience design is the practice of designing products, processes, services, events, and environments with a focus placed on the quality of the user experience and culturally relevant solutions, with less emphasis placed on increasing and improving functionality of the design.

Experience design is also a bit of a misnomer as you can’t design an experience.  What you can do is help to mold an experience out of the site hopefully invoking an emotional response that will help them to remember and recall the experience of using your Website.

Here is a picture of a snowboard.  This picture accurately depicts what a snowboard is.  There are some bindings, and the actual board.  What the image does not show is the experience of snowboarding.  There is no emotional connection between the snowboard and the experience of snowboarding. 

This next image shows the experience of the snowboard in a much different way.  You get the feeling of what it might be like to ride on the snowboard carving turns on your way down the mountain.

We can have a great Web design, great development and Internet marketing that does help to drive traffic to a Website but when that user has an emotional response to your Website they are going to be coming back and spend more time on your Website.  If they don’t remember the snowboard itself, they will remember the feeling of carving turns on the mountain.