I don’t design experiments. Neither can you. Sorry, folks.

Before I throw tomatoes at myself, I still want to say that the professions of UX, CX, HX, EX, etc., are important. But if you care about these disciplines, maybe this article will make you think about my first statement.

So, we don’t design experiences.

• We design interfaces (UX) to connect a company’s purpose with its users. The same interface may be perfect for some people and abysmal for others.
• We design sales processes (CX) designed to entice customers to buy a company’s product or service. If the experience is pleasant but not profitable, it will be modified.
• We analyze human behavior (HX) in order to transpose it to a business or social problem. The same human solution may be right for one, but wrong for another.
• We design work environments (EX) to optimize employee performance and retention. For some, this means promoting pleasure and well-being, and for others, efficiency and fulfillment.

Ici, je n’ai pas noté toutes les subtilités de chaque discipline, mais l’essentiel de l’idée s’y trouve.

UX, CX, EX, HX and other “X ”s: concepts invented to mark out practices, but the reality is far more complex.

In business, we often talk about UX (User Experience), CX (Customer Experience), HX (Human Experience) and many other “X ”s that flourish in conversations. These concepts were created to explain, frame and structure people’s fields of action. After all, a company has to be organized with roles, positions and responsibilities.

But in reality, experience knows no disciplinary boundaries. It’s everywhere. And we hear this from all these disciplines. Every interaction, whether digital, physical or emotional, is an experience in itself. And therein lies a fundamental truth: we design interfaces, products, processes, objects… but never the experience itself.

What we control: design

What we design is tangible, stable, sometimes even rigid. An interface has a limited number of buttons; a product has precise functionalities; a process follows a defined logic. These creations are fixed in their state once they are made available.

What we can’t control: experience

Experience, on the other hand, is subjective and unpredictable. It depends not only on the designed object, but also on a host of external factors.

• Economic context: A luxury service may be perceived differently in times of economic crisis.
• Context of use: an interface that appears fluid to a calm, relaxed person may seem complex and dry to someone under pressure.
• The weather: the same product can be perceived positively in the sunshine and negatively in the rain. Or even too much sun, eh? And snow? A disaster in April, a blessing in January for skiers.

The role of the experience professional…

The role of the professional (UX, CX, HX, EX, etc.) is to design a stable base, a structure that offers the best chances of generating a desired experience in a desired context for targeted users. But once our creations meet the reality of the world, we can only cross our fingers.

At that point, we can only observe the experience. And it’s from this loss of control that I say we can’t design an experience or experiences. The experience belongs to the user and is something abstract and intangible. And no, your user journey with the pain points is not reality. It’s a highly simplified representation of an experience at a fixed moment in time, designed to communicate.

Who is responsible for the experiment?

Ask yourself two questions about the use of the terms in X :

1 – If the experiment is magnificent and “successful”, whose fault is it?

2 – If the experiment fails, whose fault is it?

My logic, and you can challenge it:

• If it’s the experience specialist in both cases, you’re underestimating the importance of all your colleagues. I feel sorry for your colleagues.
• If the answer is “everyone” in both cases, how can you really be responsible?
• If it’s you for question 1, but others for question 2… damn… I really feel sorry for your colleagues.
• If the answer is “Nobody”, I feel sorry for the company you work for.

The answer to these questions?

This text is not an article of the “Experience is dead” or “We should no longer use the terms UX, CX, XX” type, but rather a reflection that I believe is important for every professional. We don’t design the experience; we design the conditions that enable – or not – a successful experience. It’s the users and customers who live and create the experience at a given moment, in a given context.

Personally, I’d rather be responsible for the things I control (models, processes, diagrams, etc.) than for people’s emotions. Wouldn’t you?

Ah, and for the fish…

Please stop putting professions in circles defining what encompasses what. This suggests levels of importance and hierarchy that have no place when it comes to discussing the good of customers or users. If we play this game among ourselves, there will always be a circle bigger than us. In other words, it’s not a competition. Whatever the profession, if you want a fair deal, you have to stop pitting yourself against each other.

With love, happy Valentine’s Day!