The post NM4210 era

I'm sad. The semester is already over and I won't get any courses about User Experience design anymore. You might wonder why. Design experience wasn't for me some more learnings to add to my background. It's one more key. Another key to know who I am.

I am what I buy, what I use, what I own, what I pay attention to, where I go and what I'm looking for. Why do I like Chloe clothing and the department store Le Bon Marché, why am I a proud-to-be Mac user, why do I only keep Abercrombie & Fitch bags to reuse these, why have I been amazed by the ones from the Apple Store in New York City, why do I need to shop in a nice district of Paris like the Marais, why do I want my life esthetically beautiful ?
And why, why am I considering to leave MySpace for Virb.com ? That's the big question...

As I remember, the first class was amazing. I was excited and worried about what we would learn during 3 hours for the first class. 3 hours is long, very long for me... I've been surprised, the introduction class only lasted 15 minutes.
During the following classes, I learnt that pleasure wasn't useless or something superficial. It's not because there is actually 4 different kinds of pleasures you might consider when you feel happy, satisfied or anything else. Then if it's that complex it's first not superficial, and secondly it's useful to see, know, understand and justify a lot of things...


The Product : NM 4210 & Mr Reddy the lecturer

Visceral design : The impact was big during the first lecture, because the presentation was fun and it lasted 15 mn instead of 180. Surprising class
Behavioral design : They were so many ways to experience UX Design courses.. Blogs, 15 mn activities, 2 weeks assignements, 1 month project. The subjects were different from one to another. Rich courses
Reflective design : I felt that my way of life wasn't superficial anymore. Norman and Jordan replaced Epicurus and Mill.

Physiological pleasure :
* pleasing hearing - Need
Psychological pleasure :
* satisfaction of acquiring skill for everyday life and especially consuming life - Appreciation
* finding an topic for my master thesis - Need
Sociological pleasure :
* not being seen materialistic anymore - Appreciation
* being taken seriously - Need
Ideological pleasure :
* knowing more about myself - Appreciation
* understand brands' successes - Need (for my future job)




I am User Experiencer now..

Four-pleasure analysis of Emina

Our subject ? Emina



Emina, 27 years old, is a strategic planner in the design department of M&C Saatchi agency in New York.
It's one of the youngest and fastst growing global advertising agency in the world. Young spirit and ambitious. That's what caracteries the agency she works for, and that's what she is either. She's very proud of it. It's her second job since leaving the school of communication where she graduated in Brand Management. Everything there is more than in the first agency where she worked. She has more responsabilites, more work, but it's for a good reason. She is the strategic planner of her department and she earns good money.
She is really smart and take her job seriously. She is very professional and puts a lot into her work, so she doesn't like to waist her time. Usually she starts at 9 am and leave at least at 8 pm. But she never comes back home directly. She always meet her friends for an after-work dinner or meeting. The only reason she wouldn't go at one one these meetings would be because of a movie she's going to watch with her boyfriend.
Emina is dating Stephen a graphic designer with who she lives near the meatpacking district. For Emina it's the best place where she could live, because of the shops, the clubs, the hairdressing salon she likes are in this district. She is keen on graphics and music which explains her artistic network. Her best friends are actors, deejays or graphics artists. She's also comitted. Since she saw the movie Lords of War and recently Blood Diamonds, she tries to be a responsible consumer. Last thing she did about that was buying the iPod nano, the RED (product). She wanted to, as they say at the Apple Store, put a different kind of change in her pocket...



Four pleasures of a handphone : Hybrid of Blackberry Sony Ericsson and a RED (product)

* Physio-pleasure
Leightweight and sleek - Need
Large Screen - Need

* Socio-pleasure
Image enhancing - Appreciation
Being considered as a geek/early adopter - Need

* Psycho-pleasure
8 Go memory - Appreciation
Mp3 player - Need
Multitask (mail, phone, camera, mp3, bluetooth) - Need

* Ideo-pleasure
Red color - Need
Feel free, independant - Need
In the forefront of technology ans aesthetic - Appreciation

How to improve relationships and well-being

Socializing and shopping are my life. I can not say which one I would give up for the other, because if I don't shop, I won't have anything to tell to my friends, and if I don't socialize anymore, I won't have any reason to shop again...

Socialize-with-...



Visceral : Simple ergonomics. An easy cheap way to chat with your friends.
Behavioral : You feel free to say everything behind your laptop. You look good on your picture when you log on.
Reflective : It's about WHO YOU ARE. You just can talk with the pals you know the mail adresses.



Visceral : I can do everything I did with MSN, even more. Because of these too many options you don't use MySpace for chatting.
Behavioral : You belong to one of the most important networks. With your profile you can let the whole world know more about you, thru the music you listen to, the friends you have, the comments they post about you and a lot of pictures (you look good 24 hours a day).
Reflective : You don't feel alone. You have 3000 friends. It's about WHO YOU'D LIKE TO BE.



Visceral : It's not anymore a question about chatting. Original but too complicated just for telling your shopping raid.
Behavioral : You create your own avatar, but you can also earn and spnd your money in this world. In other words go shopping with your friends !
Reflective : Your dreams and your fantasies become true. It's about who you'd want to be or WHO YOU NEVER DARE TO BE.

Shop-in-a-...

Mall : Queensway Shopping Center



I need a pair of shorts, i need to go there.
Visceral : You know you'll find what you need.
Behavioral : You don't and you can't expect to find anything else.
Reflective : It's definitly the place where the more fast you go out, the more pleased you are.

Concept-Store : Colette



I want people know I bought this pair of shorts sold exclusively at the most famous french concept-store in the world, I need to go there.
Visceral : You can not go in that shop without planning it.
Behavioral : The pride to be in one of the most trendiest places in Paris.
Reflective : You belong to one the urban progressives tribe.

Box : Venue



Whatever I buy, I need to go there.
Visceral : To know this sort of place you have to read the right books and magazines at the right moment.
Behavioral : It's such a new way to go to shop that you can't go there to show yourself, you're not used to it.
Reflective : It'more than being an early adopter, it's being simply influential.

Too much perfection kills perfection

Hi. I'm Jennifer and I'm an Appleholic (you're suposed to say "Hi Jennifer").
I'm addicted to Apple since three years. Since almost 36 months I swear by Steve Jobs and celebrate his great resurrection. First, I started modestly with about 30g. I wanted to get this iPod Shuffle I could hold in an armband and not in my bra like I used to before (because of the weight of my last mp3 player). It was in NYC. I went to this Apple store in SoHo and since that afternoon I got hooked to every single thing made by this brand. Everything is so perfect : from the store design to the way the products are presented to the bags. Even the costumers are SO fashionable... Since then I tasted the iPod Nano, the iBook, the MacBook and finally the iPod 30GB.

I realized the damaging effects of the perfection whith my last jewel. The iPod box is really beautiful. Black, satin-like, we could range it among our collection of CDs. But the problem is that this box is so close and tight that you can not open it without losing a finger. That's what happened when I oppened it as I could. I lost my manicure.




Manicure your nails or getting an iPod, girls you have to chose.