User Experience is a Whyologist

Abstract

? Why - make the invisible visible ?- Simon Sinek

The term, User Experience (abbreviated as UX) is one of the most popular terms nowadays everywhere in the world. There are many controversies around how it is being misused and spammed all across the industries and academia but there is no doubt that it has now become one of the buzzwords of the decade. User Experience is to meet the exact needs of the customer, without fuss or bother.

When we say, User Experience many people start thinking about websites and mobile applications, they already tick UX to mobile and web development because majority of the UX jobs were posted from software or information technology (IT) companies. 

I was in my deep-thinking time, I realised, depend on my experience on this field that User Experience (UX) is a melange of Psychology, Sociology, Innovation, Usability , Human Factors , Engineer, Utility , HCI (Human–computer interaction), Ergonomics , System Performance , Marketing , Accessibility , Design Human development, Logic, Creativity, Motivation, Leadership, Management, Strategy and Communication.

To sum up, in order to be a real User Experience (UX) you should have a bit knowledge and skills from everything, but the most important is you must have sense of Whyology –Science of WHY -.

Key Words: User Experience, Whyology, Innovation, Philosophy, Psychology, Limbic brain ,Neocortex, Golden Circle, Creativity, Mindset.

What I meant by a “Whyology”.

        Whyology (why-ology) n – Why: or what cause, reason, or purpose, the suffix -logy means a branch of learning, or study of a particular subject.  

        I still remember during my bachelor degree in Usability Engineering class with Prof. Dr. Mustafa ?eref Ak?n, Expert on Innovation and Entrepreneurship and TEDx Speaker: The professor was telling us ‘Why is a Shorten the way for knowledge’. Always he was urges us during our UX researches to ask WHY many times and to be smart in our way of asking, till to reach the main target that we want to hear. I did not understand the real intended for this urge until I reach the field.

        Moreover, I also remember a great taught of my Prof. Doc. Nader Nada a CEO of Ainovia Oy Helsinki; founder of the first Design Thinking Lab in Istanbul and founder of the first International graduate program on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Turkey on his TEDx Fatih University Speech: ‘Our Education system become more rigorous like a mechanical system or command and control’. Which mean our educational system who is making and shaping us who we are. He also teaches us ‘Innovation is about discovering, knowing and finding the WHY’.

Your “WHY” is your purpose, your calling, and the reason you get out of bed in the morning. Nevertheless, defining your “WHY” can be hard.

As I am always saying ‘Why, What and How are brothers in law’. Let me explain.

Your “WHY” and “HOW” are driven from deep inside your Limbic brain – The Limbic brain comprises of the middle two sections and is responsible for all our feelings, such as emotions, trust and loyalty. This area of the brain is responsible for all human behaviour, and all our decision-making. It is where our emotional connection takes place, and it has no capacity for language.-. 

For example, if I asked you “WHY” You Love your Parents, the chances are you would spew out a list of facts and features, but you would never really get to the core. Again, “WHY do You Love Your Parents?” Almost out of frustration, you would likely yell back, “Because…. I just do”. Your inability to produce an emotional answer is very common. It is difficult for your limbic brain to put those feelings into words.

On the contrary, the “WHAT” of your brand’s Whyology are driven from the neocortex: portion of the brain. This is our newest area of the brain, our Homo Sapien - (Latin: "wise man") - brain, and this corresponds with the WHAT level. This is responsible for all our rational and analytical thought and language. This section of the human mind allows us to look through or responsible for facts, figures, analysing and data, but it does not drive behaviour. This is why it is so confusing when we go shopping for a specific type of product that offering a range of similar features and benefits. It’s where you house all of your capacity for language, and it’s the portion of the mind responsible for asking the limbic brain the incredibly important question; “should I care?”

Whyology is a Science of WHY and Whyologist is the person who is using the art and science of using research and big data to uncover actionable insights that help person to find better solutions. 

WHY can be a Philosophical or Psychologist question?

Definition of Philosophy

The term Philosophy, philosophia derives from the Greek words philein to love, and sophia wisdom which mean love of wisdom . ‘The term was probably coined by Pythagoras (c. 570–495 BCE)’.

Philosophy is a study of general and fundamental problems that are ultimate, abstract and very general. These problems are concerned with the nature of existence, knowledge, values, mind, language, morality, reason and human purpose.

        Philosophy is the oldest discipline at the university and is often considered the "mother science" of numerous other disciplines practised at the modern university.

        Philosophy is the systematic and critical study of fundamental questions that arise both in everyday life and through the practice of other disciplines. 

         Philosophical methods include questioning, critical discussion, rational argument, and systematic presentation such: Why Philosophy? How do we know? What is truth? How are scientific claims justified? Are we naturally good or evil? Are we responsible for our actions? How do human minds and bodies interact? Do people have free will? Do people Says what they Feels and Do what they Thinks?  

Definition of Psychology

Psychology is the scientific that encompasses the study of human thought, behaviour, development, personality, emotion, motivation, mind and more including conscious and unconscious phenomena, as well as feeling and thought.

     Psychology s a multifaceted discipline and includes many sub-fields of study such areas as human development, sports, health, clinical, social behaviours and cognitive processes. It is an academic discipline of immense scope and diverse interests that, when taken together; seek an understanding of the emergent properties of brains, and all the variety of epiphenomenona they manifest. As a social science, it aims to understand individuals and groups by establishing general principles and researching specific cases. Gaining a richer and deeper understanding of psychology can help people achieve insights into their own actions as well as a better understanding of others.

Psychology is the study of the mind and behaviour. Research in psychology seeks to understand and explain how people think, act, and feel. Psychologists strive to learn more about the many factors that can impact or influence thought and behaviour, ranging from biological influences to social pressures.

After understand the mean of Whyology, Psychology and Philosophy we can draw a conclusion in our brain that three of them are completing each other, or in other version.

So what is the relation between Whyology, Psychology, Philosophy and User Experience?

When we come back to User Experience and according to Wikipedia definition ‘User Experience refers to a person's emotions and attitudes about using a particular product, system or service’, so you as a UX in order understand your user or customer you have to be Whyologist to reach the limbic brain and then the neocortex of your user. With a view to understand your user or customer, you have to follow two initial methods:

• Observation: Observe their behaviours and reactions that he/she have and approach them if necessary to help design a better conclusion for a better experience for them.
• Alternatively, Ask for the ‘WHY’ - Why is the powerful question that make you understand what going on human brain. To treat a diseased tree, you have to deal with it from the roots such that problems to perfectly understand it, you have to keep asking many whys to really go deeply and deeper to the root of the problem. When you came to understand this Principe of Whyology you can truly understand and pull out what the user want and what he is suffering from. Thus, ultimately you end up with a solution that he will come back to use the products again, because the product is already coming from him. The equation is too simple: ‘Give to you customer what he want he will give you what you want’.

Anyways, let’s get back to the point of ‘WHY’, like its known, User Experience is all about understanding people. As a User Experience have a good starting point that is ‘WHY’. You are already at a point where you have some familiarity behaviours about people in general and the reasoning’s behind their actions. The theories that you learned, reading that you had finished being able to empathize with people knowledge that will help you approach the field of UX.

UX is a Mindset, that is to say, we have to make a revolution on our mindset, way of thinking and actions to make this kind of change. 

Why Is UX Important and What key aspects UX need to know?

I read - Mindset: The New Psychology of Success- by Carol Dweck and The Power of Positive Thinking - think Your Way to Success by Mark Rhodes a few years ago and I learn and become expert on Design Thinking Method from “Prof.Doc Nader Nada.” After reading and learning, my life totally changed, I became interested in what I could do to improve my own mindset, how canvases can make our day and life, how to delete term problem from you dictionary and replace it witch challenge, how I could learn more effectively, and apply that knowledge into more success in work and life. I have learned You can achieve anything you want when you know how to put your mind to it.

Anyhow, that was just a brief information. Back to Mindset: The New Psychology of Success book the authors, the awesomely named Doctors Burger and Starbird mentioned 5 Elements of Effective Thinking:

1-   Understand Deeply

Don’t face complex issues head-on; first understand simple ideas deeply? Clear the clutter and expose what is important. Be brutally honest about what you know and do not know. Then see what is missing, identify the gaps, and fill them in. Let go of bias, prejudice, and preconceived notions. There are degrees to understanding (it is not just a yes-or-no proposition) and you can always heighten yours. Rock-solid understanding is the foundation for success.

2-   Make mistakes

From the book: Try something: see what is wrong; learn from the defect; try again. When Edison said that invention is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration, the perspiration was the process of incrementally making mistakes and learning from them to make the next attempts apt to be closer to right.

3-   Raise questions

Constantly create questions to clarify and extend your understanding. What is the real question? Working on the wrong questions can waste a lifetime. Ideas are in the air — the right questions will bring them out and help you see connections that otherwise would have been invisible.

4-   Follow the flow of ideas

Look back to see where ideas came from and then look ahead to discover where those ideas may lead. A new idea is a beginning, not an end. Ideas are rare— milk them. Following the consequences of small ideas can result in big payoffs.

5-     Change

The unchanging element is change— by mastering the first four elements, you can change the way you think and learn. You can always improve, grow, and extract more out of your education, yourself, and the way you live your life. Change is the universal constant that allows you to get the most out of living and learning.

 

As we, all know, as a common description of UX is a person who has a better understanding of people felling, behaviours and needs, abilities, limitations through conducting interviews, testing and analysing the results, the way in which he can bring their knowledge to the table could potentially come in many different ways.

To be User Experience, you need to understand well people - Understand deeply and make mistakes - and strive to make them answer “Yes” to all of your questions - Raise questions-. Listening to What users want, Not What they actually use - Follow the flow of ideas- What I’m talking about here is the gigantic difference between what a user says they want, and what they actually use- (Empathy Map Canvas) -Change -.

While to reach the “Yes” level you have to overpower some Top 10 Important tools for a User experience that will listed in order below: 

User Experience Framework

1. Observant, Listener and Storyteller
2. Ability to understand people’s emotions, behaviours and motivations
3. Empathizing with people
4. Knowing how to communicate with others
5. Understanding the importance and power of research
6. Use Theories, flows, rules, surveys, experimentation and analysis learned
7. Have a Noble Vision and use taxonomies
8. Reading and writing through many practices
9. Collaborate and share with peers in teams to build on top of each other ideas
10. Iterations 

Considering User Experience Key Aspects: 

Top 20:

1. Do Research and Clarify the Problem
2. Be Consistent
3. Be a Stakeholder and storyteller
4. Be Creative, Innovative and Motivated
5. Love your Work and Enjoy Spend for Good Design.
6. Goal for a WOW Design and Be Detail Oriented
7. Love Your User
8. Be Competitive and Design to Solve Problems
9. Do not Make Personal Opinions. Think as If you are User, Not Designer
10. Avoid Fake Experts and do not be Afraid to Iterate
11. Focus on Ease of Use. Do not just be Designer, Learn Technical Knowledge
12. Generate Thousand Ideas and communicate them effectively
13. Make Understandable Design and keep it Simple
14. Eliminate Unnecessary UI
15. Keep Business Objective in Your Mind
16. Make Things Simple
17. Take Initiative and Test Your Design with Users
18. Focus on User Experience
19. Empathize Taking User Feedback Personally
20. Love what you do.

Why a UX is Not a UI?

UX = Research & UI = Visuals, UX≠UI

According to Wikipedia ‘User Experience (UX)’ refers to a person's emotions and attitudes about using a particular product, system or service. User experience is about how the user interacts with and experiences the product.

According to Wsability.gov ‘User Interface (UI)’ Design focuses on anticipating what users might need to do and ensuring that the interface has elements that are easy to access, understand, and use to facilitate those actions. UI brings together concepts from interaction design, visual design, and information architecture.

Do User Experience have process?

At the beginning of every new client meeting, in knowledge collection mode, I start by asking lots of simple questions in an attempt to get all the facts I need in order to sell my clients product’

According to my modest experience in this field working with different methods such Luma Method – a Taxonomy of Innovation -, IDEO Method and other methods, I believe that every User Experience should follow those 5 simple main elements –They look like Design Thinking Process-: 

1. Strategy – Meeting with the problem owner, client or user to understand their problem they are trying to solve with this project.

2. Discovery – Begin gathering information on current user experiences. The amount of research needed can vary greatly and depends on how complex it is.

3. Analysis – You understand the goals and scope, and the current landscape. You now begin to put your findings together to create whom the actions that they are trying to accomplish, and even map their overall experience with the brand.

4. Design – Begin to create the solution to the problem. How do we want them to feel when interacting with the brand? How do we design the solution to help support what wants to accomplish, while supporting the goal? You begin mapping the new journey.

5. Production – Fully functional prototyping for one last round of testing before to do any action. The problem owner, client or user will be able to see the finished solution, and even interact with it.

N.B: Anywhere along the way, you may find new information that causes you to stop and go back one or two steps to incorporate this new information into the process. Even though it feels like a long, cumbersome process, it can actually go quickly if you have the right team in place, with good communication.

As you can imagine, the User Experience must understand all the nuances of each part of the problem, from understanding how to interpret what the problem owner, client or user is asking for, to knowing how to design for and bring the solution the see the light. 

Conclusion:

To conclude, User experience can be designer, developer, planner, creative, account management, management consultants, project manager, business analysts, architect, doctor , engineer, market owner, Visual Design as long as there are users, there are always work needed for the UX mindset professionals.

As an experience to share, we have to use everything we learned such Whyology, Psychology, Philosophy, and User Experience in our daily life to deal with other. Creativity and Innovation to change our mindset and to develop our life style.

‘What we have learned in school should not remain just ink on paper, but we must use it and apply it to our daily lives.’ –Change your Mindset -

UX is a Mindset- ‘New Innovation thinking will always end in a certain number of mistakes – but you’ll be achieving much more than your risk-averse peers. Becoming a master of mistake making is the key to making progress in sales. – Sales Mind by Helen Kensett.

“Human being creativity can be used in any field just understand the WHY”.

Prof. Dr. Nader Nada

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Updated February 05, 2018.

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