What’s the difference between User Experience and Experience Design?

UX, XD, IXD, VD, GD, CD, PD, RD, VTA… the list goes on. It’s not an uncommon question, especially when the Design industry has evolved so quickly over time. We are seeing disciplines spanning across others as consumers and users may, or may not be, the purchasers, and brand loyalty becomes increasingly more important as products and services fill the shelves, and little furry yellow monsters move from the physical to the virtual reality world.

XD, or Experience Design is the design of a total experience of a product, service, and ultimately, of that brand. It begins the first time we are exposed to it — the first time we hear, see, feel, touch something that represents the brand. It continues as we experience the product, or service, as it succeeds and fails, and continues even past the end of it’s life.

Experience Design is therefore, made up of every single discipline of Design. From the visuals we see in their printed communications (Communications Design, or most commonly known as Graphic Design), such as posters, pamphlets, manuals, and quick start guides, and those we see when we use the product itself or when engaging with the digital platform (Visual Design, or VD) — the icons, colours, and graphics. It involves the interaction with the menus on the displays (Interaction Design, or IXD) and the usability with the physical product (Product Design, and Usability Design). In-store, it encompasses the design of the displays (Retail Design), and the design of scrims in an Expo or Trade Show (Exhibition Design). The Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Snapchat accounts we follow fall under a Social Community Strategy, which is made up of various elements of the previous disciplines to round the total experience. Every element that brings a product or service to life falls under the umbrella of Experience Design.

Until at least a few years ago, Experience Design has been mistaken as UX, or User Experience Design. UX has traditionally been defined as the Interaction (IXD) and Visual Design (VD) of an app or stand-alone application. It looks at the “User” only and his/her experience. To enable an engaged total experience, we must understood how to design with the “User” and the “Consumer” as two very separate entities. Remember, the “Consumer” may not necessarily be the “User”.

So that’s all fine and all, but how do brands go about creating a unified, meaningful, and engaged Experience for their consumers and users? How do we ensure that every element of a brand, its services, and its varied product portfolio is strong enough to ensure brand loyalty over time? We will look at that in another article coming soon!

Revised: July 31, 2016

Design, UX, XD