I recently posted a response to a Forrester Research Community discussion topic on the difference between “Brand Experience” vs. “Customer Experience” which I thought I’d share here:
One way to distinguish between the two is to consider the orientations:
Firm
Firms engage in efforts that result in experiences. Whether or not the efforts are thought through or haphazard, the experiences are nevertheless delivered to customers.
Firms have a great deal of control in shaping the experiences they expose their customers to — whether or not they choose to (or have the capability to effectively) exercise that control.
Firms leave an impression on those who come in contact with their efforts — the more contact over time, the deeper (and quite possibly the more meaningful) those impressions.
Customer
Customers (who may also be ‘users’) can experience a wide variety of scenarios when coming into contact with firms (from searching for a firm based on a pressing need to being cold-called by a representative to unboxing a product for the very first time & many more). Each instance of contact can be (and frankly should be) considered an experience.
Collectively, customer experiences shape a customer’s perception with regard to a firm, in turn defining the brand and its characteristics in their mind’s eye (when juxtaposed/weighted against the firm’s brand positioning).
Summary
Firms can try to influence each of the experiences their customers might be exposed to throughout their interactions with them. If the firm’s ‘sense of brand self’ is strong, it can attempt to shape each and every potential Customer Experience (touch point/pain point/joy point) with its brand personality such that the firm provides customers with Brand Experiences that are unique to the brand. As such a Brand Experience is a collection of orchestrated (and/or scripted) customer interaction scenarios that are delivered to customers by firms.
Customers have customer experiences. Collectively, those experiences define brands.
Brand Experience is orchestrated by firms (firm down) This impacts customers
Customer Experience is performed by customers (customer up) This impacts firms
In the Industrial Age, knowledge was power.
In the Information [Overload] Age, attention is power.
Last year I shared a paper I had originally published in 2002 attempting to define design in response to the discipline’s increasing popularity as a cultural as well as commercial force. It was clear to me in 2002 that design would eventually evolve beyond a discipline and be recognized as the fundamental means by which human intention is brought to reality, serving as the driver of innovation.
Since then, a number of books have been published on the thinking behind design without actually defining the thinking or the act of design in a coherent manner.
To date, no clear definition of design exists beyond the textbook definition posed by Merriam-Webster, and don’t even get me started on Design Thinking. This lack of clarity is understandable given that for the past century design has been the domain of creatives who by their very nature despise linguistic clarity when they can just as easily show us what design is without having to tell us. This, I understand, having graduated from design school without ever being provided with a coherent definition of design. Unfortunately, not all design efforts manifest visually if you consider the design of a health care policy, for instance.
Realizing that the notion of design would ultimately go mainstream, in 2002 (six years after graduating from design school) I set it upon myself to become a student of design for the sake of explaining the process behind it to those outside of the discipline who [like it or not, know it or not] design daily without any formal training — or worse yet, are charged with managing designers or design teams without any knowledge or appreciation of design.
I last defined design as a creative problem solving process. Since then, I have continued to think on the matter. I return to my original definition confident that it was a good start of an unfinished sentence. Today I complete that sentence, offering my definition of design as follows:
Design is a creative problem solving process that brings attention, care and sophistication to the realization of ideas.
Below is an explanation of the nine key words in the above definition:
I will continue to monitor my craft and — who knows — I might revisit this definition in another decade. Such is the iterative nature of design and I am its humble servant.
Further Reading:
Redefining Design.
From occupation to driver of innovation.
Sometimes simplicity and utility are diametrically opposed. The pursuit of aesthetics above all can lead to oversimplification through the sacrifice of utility in favor of simplistic purity. While the results may be celebrated by aesthetically minded critics, they do not represent the highest potential of design.
The challenge in producing good design is in discovering the harmonious balance between utility, simplicity, usability and beauty. Too much of one thing can sacrifice the other, ultimately sending the wrong message about what design is, what good design is and why its purpose is far more than decorative.
via gracemcdunnough:
Better User Experience With Storytelling In this article we’ll explore how user experience professionals and designers are using storytelling to create compelling experiences that build human connections.
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Good design results from a sensitive attention to — and expression of — subtleties.
One can not begin to understand the role of Design Management — or its purpose — until one begins to understand the difference between the mundane and an experience.
If you are trying to achieve the mundane (starting at broken and going all the way up to undesirable and even forgettable), you do not need design, nor do you need Design Management.
The moment you decide that you want to go beyond the mundane, you must see beyond the singular act (of the transaction) and take note of the big, holistic picture that revolves around the experience of the act and all touchpoints concerned.
Each and every single facet of an experience needs to be contemplated — designed — for optimal performance. This is where design (at its best) comes in, and this is where enlightened management — hence Design Management — is critical.
Forget Design Management unless you strive for excellence. If you strive for excellence, be prepared to go far beyond the mundane — from the boardroom to the showroom.
Further Reading:
[video]