Matt Webb
The Experience Stack
2007
About this talk
Here are two ways of looking at a television: a TV is a display surface in my home which can show video which is broadcast or kept on storage media. And then: television is a friend who starts conversations between me and other people.
Products aren't only their aesthetic form and feature lists in catalogues. We live alongside them, and they open us to experiences. We first spy them across a crowded shop floor (then take them home and unwrap them); we get to know them, are frustrated by them, are pleased by them; we socialise with them and our other friends.
The experience of a product is what we feel and what guides us through our lives together. Every time we cross paths, there’s a hook for experience. The sequence of these communicates the brand, and can be variously playful, engaging, educational or however we choose to colour it.
Being aware of how this happens helps us design that experience. Through his favourite on-screen apps and physical, plastic gadgets, Matt looks at the whole experience stack – from the moment-by-moment feedback in user interface to large, complex ideas in critical design – and discusses how we can apply these ideas to our own projects.
About Matt Webb
Matt Webb is a principal of the creative design consultancy Schulze & Webb where his work has included material prototypes for Nokia, web strategy for the BBC, and exploration into the future uses of RFID. S&W works in near-term product R&D and, as embodied in the USB puppet Availabot, it has a special focus on the social life of stuff. Matt speaks on interaction design and technology, is co-author of Mind Hacks, cognitive psychology for a general audience, and builds polite social software and Web toys. He can be found at Interconnected and in London.
