the user experience
i am now the happy owner of an iphone (which i adore and have named cleo, after cleopatra) so i've been thinking a lot about usability.
a year or two after i started working, i read a book called the inmates are running the asylum. the author explained that high-tech products are driving us crazy because they are designed by engineers who design products for users who are just like them; they don't realize how hard the products are to use for the average user. the book was fascinating. the behaviors familiar. and in it, i found my passion.
that passion drove me for many years. my eventual goal was to get into a group that focused on the user, even though i didn't have one of the typical degrees. i read and learned about usability and user-centered design. i learned how to run usability tests. i worked even longer hours so i could volunteer to do fun side projects related to usability for the products i worked on. i conducted informational interviews with people who had related jobs so i could learn what else to learn. i even wrote an essay – purely for fun – about how i had found the perfect thing for me and how it connected all my interests and how lucky i felt to have found my passion so early.
and then that passion faded. right about the time i discovered reiki.
when i quit my job to be a reiki person, a part of me was so very confused (as, no doubt, were many people i worked with). how could i work so hard for so long for something that i thought was my dream only to abandon it for something else. something that, truth be told, didn't seem to have the same level of passion behind it. (well, this may or may not be true. i think passion has many forms.) what if that really was my dream and now i was even further away from it.
after months of angst and confusion, i found my way to the truth.
the reason i care so much about how things work is because our experience with devices or applications or web pages is often full of frustration, pain, hopelessness, powerlessness. we feel like we must not be smart enough. we feel like we can't be trusted to make the right decisions. i've been there. we've all been there. i wanted to help make those experiences better.
the essence of user-centered design and usability is the interaction – the relationship – between the user and the thing they're using, whether it's a device or an application or a web page. when that relationship works, it is full of qualities like trust and sovereignty and permission and ease and safety and support and beauty and hope.
i still care about all of that. only in learning to listen to myself, i realized how very much i care about the interactions – the relationship – we have with our own self, our own body, our own life.
it turns out that i didn't lose my passion. it was there all along, waiting for me to realize it. oh, i suppose it's possible that someday i might decide that i want to help make applications that work. for now, i find it comforting to know that the thing i cared so much about is still the thing i care so much about. it just changed form a little.
As always, beautifully put with great insight, Elizabeth! I think passion can take many different forms. And our passion can evolve, but some things never “die,” we just come more full circle and deeper into the heart of the passion. If that makes any sense… LOL! I was just listening to a podcast, the theme being how the glitter of our gadgets blinds us to our inner truths and numbing expanding consciousness…heavy stuff, but interesting thoughts! Happy Day ((HUGS))
yesterday i was trying to take a photo of Mark’s client with her iphone. first i made the camera go away, then i took video, and finally, i got the picture.
i like these pics and of course, your connections and observations about your career, and the direction you have taken…lovely.
oh how I have missed you!
Hi – I am catching up on blog reading (and commenting, I hope!)
As I was reading I saw the difference between long lasting heat of a smoldering fire vs the sudden roaring blaze of startup and small kindling flares. Trite, maybe but it’s what I saw 😉
Elizabeth, this was so interesting to me because I have struggled with some of the same issues. I gave up a career that I loved parts of and not the other parts and in looking back I still wonder about the parts that I loved and if those feelings are being re-directed or are dormant or ?? I think just by reflecting on all of this and asking the questions, you (and hopefully me too!) are on the right path!
I am still not on the iphone bandwagon. It is just a matter of time and I’m thinking of writing a blog post about why I’m resisting it.
Love reading your thoughts!!
Love the pictures! (And observations, as always.)
oh I can’t wait to see what all the fun that comes out of your iphone. I resisted one for so long because I didn’t want to fall into that category of “marketing victim”…you know what I mean? But I am loving it. And I do find it pretty intuitive. Do you find it “usable?” I loved your story…
@kate: i do. very much so. i think apple is really good at usability + beauty, which is why i am a fan.
@julie: hey, there! <3
@patty: i hope so! if you have further thoughts about the pieces that you loved in yours, i'd love to hear about it.
@bullwinkle: that does makes sense. thanks for the image! i am also thinking that a lot of the effort behind my passion was driven less by the passion and more by slightly less healthy things (like trying to make up for not being enough by doing more than enough).
@jen: hee. i know that. i was trying to turn off my ear piece the other day and i managed to call my sister. except i couldn't decide for a while if she was calling me or i was calling her. there was much giggling. (she didn't answer so i figured it out.)
@tracy: that makes sense! i'll have to think about the gadget glitter thing - interesting and worth some thought. xoxo