Designing Software for Positive Work Experiences

When? Monday, November 13th at 19:00
Where? User Interface Design GmbH, Claudius-Keller-Straße 3C, 81669 München Map

FREE event (but registration is required!)
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What is the talk about?

Knowledge workers use software for about 28 hours per week. Therefore, software should support work tasks and it should be easy to use. This is a consensus in the software development community. And of course, we have the right processes, methods, and tools to do that: Human-Centered Design, Lean UX, Design Thinking … The goals of these methods are manifold –  creating innovations according to the requirements of users, increasing acceptance of technology and, associated with that, reducing the risk of rejected products, increasing productivity and finally ensuring economic benefits. With regards to the user experience, the main goal is reducing negative experiences like frustration, anger or anxiety. Here the focus is on removing all obstacles so that the user can do optimal work.

For the last 20 years, however, researchers and professionals have been looking for more. Technology should be able to evoke positive experiences. A common and well-accepted approach is, designing more beautiful software, often related to designing for a positive brand experience. And yes, that is a valid measure. Users like and prefer beautiful products.

New research shows that you can do more. There are more ways to evoke positive experiences by design and this is valid for work contexts as well. But it is necessary to move past established ways of thinking about designing software or technology in general. Even modern innovation processes like Design Thinking have to be changed or extended. We have to work with new theories, new methods, and new tools.

In his talk, Michael Burmester wants to give some insights about research on positive user experience for work contexts, a new perspective on technology design, new methods, and tools.

 

About the speaker

Michael Burmester is Professor for Ergonomics and Usability at Stuttgart Media University. He is representative of the Information Experience and Design Research Group (IXD) and is leading the User Experience Research Lab (UXL). His main research interest is understanding how technology can be designed to evoke positive experiences. With his team, he developed a design methodology consisting of several methods and tools to support design for positive experiences. His goal is making work experiences more positive. This is not only important because the effects – that people are more motivated, more engaged and their work is more creative. But also, people are happier at work and positive experiences at work, in turn, contribute to their well-being.

 

Sponsors


We would like to thank User Interface Design for supporting the local IxD community! Drinks and snacks will be provided.

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