Reflections on "User Research Smoke & Mirrors"

The steps to creating 'user experience' has all along be indefinable. After reading the Fahey's reading, it has certainly reinforces the idea of having no rule of thumb to even the very basic step of researching on the users in the process. However, at the same time the article has caused even more uncertainty and 'insecurity' or so to speak, with the ever hard to grasp term being even more intangible with its subjectivity being highlighted.

I think humans are never comfortable with things that are intangible and indefinable (probably that is why they often call painters/artists mad), and thus, have absolute reliance on facts and figures, math and science. Upon meeting such a elusive subject, they started grabbing all possible ways to pull the concept to the ground and nail it tightly so they are able to grasp and explain the term 'experience' with (statistics) confidence. It is indeed laughable looking at how the eyetracking has been used by misguided people. It all comes to prove that they simply can't live without hard ground facts.

I think Fahey has made a very good point that it is alright to have all these scientific methods lying around as options to be used as thinking tools but not the foundation of things. Seeing research as pieces of information to be used to plan design and not a measurement of effectiveness definitely allows more room for creativity and thinking. The tendency to focus and rely on specific statistically proven 'problem' will often lead to blindness to what is supposedly obvious.

Awe as can be, I was truly amazed by the creation of 'persona rooms'. As argued by Fahey, it may indeed be not worth the money, but I guess big organizations employ such [in]famous methods as part of their publicity. Imagine: "Company XYZ has spent $$millions on creating persona rooms to help facilitate their design process..." How much face value is being churned out here?

Although subjectivity is being much appreciated (makes it alot easier to argue for things when opinions differs; one just can say 'oh it's a matter of perception, no one can be wrong or right'), it is at the same time disturbing. Because one can never be sure of what to employ for the steps to designing (experience) and whether things will be successful. Uncomfortable with the idea, but I guess it is inevitable since appreciation of design and art has all along never be something tangible. Accepting and appreciating the nature of such subject matters is far better than being the misguided soul who tries to nail everything down with facts and lose the way amongst the 'smoke'.