The Elements of User Experience - Jesse James Garrett

1 The Elements of user ExperienceA basic duality: The Web was originally conceived as a hypertextual information space;but the development of increasingly sophisticated front- and back-end technologies hasfostered its use as a remote software interface. This dual nature has led to much confusion,as user Experience practitioners have attempted to adapt their terminology to cases beyondthe scope of its original application. The goal of this document is to define some of theseterms within their appropriate contexts, and to clarify the underlying relationships amongthese various James Design: graphic treatment of interfaceelements (the "look" in "look-and-feel")Information Architecture: structural designof the information space to facilitateintuitive access to contentInteraction Design: development ofapplication flows to facilitate user tasks,defining how the user interacts withsite functionalityNavigation Design: design of interfaceelements to facilitate the user 's movementthrough the information architectureInformation Design: in the Tuftean sense:designing the presentation of informationto facilitate understandingFunctional Specifications: "feature set".

2 Detailed descriptions of functionality the sitemust include in order to meet user needsUser Needs: externally derived goalsfor the site; identified through user research,ethno/techno/psychographics, Objectives: business, creative, or otherinternally derived goals for the siteContent Requirements: definition ofcontent Elements required in the sitein order to meet user needsInterface Design: as in traditional HCI:design of interface Elements to facilitateuser interaction with functionalityInformation Design: in the Tuftean sense:designing the presentation of informationto facilitate understandingWeb as software interfaceWeb as hypertext systemVisual Design: visual treatment of text,graphic page Elements and navigationalcomponentsConcreteAbstractti meConceptionCompletionFunctionalSpecific ationsContentRequirementsInteractionDesi gnInformationArchitectureVisual DesignInformation DesignInterface DesignNavigation DesignSite ObjectivesUser NeedsUser Needs: externally derived goalsfor the site; identified through user research,ethno/techno/psychographics, Objectives: business, creative, or otherinternally derived goals for the siteThis picture is incomplete: The model outlined here does not account for secondary considerations (such as those arising during technical or content development)that may influence decisions during user Experience development.

3 Also, this model does not describe a development process, nor does it define roles within auser Experience development team. Rather, it seeks to define the key considerations that go into the development of user Experience on the Web March 2000 2000 Jesse James