Experience longetivity

It’s the Experience

You are sitting at your desk and some one comes and keeps a brand new product in front of you. The product could be anything; lets say that this is a pen stand. It’s good to look at, it holds your pens and you like it. Job Done !!
This would have been the traditional approach for product design. It’s a good looking functional product that the user has liked !! What more is there to talk about?
However, this is wrong. Product design is no longer limited to the first usage. Traditional approach assumed (wrongly) that the first few uses of that ‘pen stand’ and the 100th use would be same and that there is no opportunity for a product designer beyond the first few uses.
When you use that pen stand for the first time you create an element of experience. With each use of the pen stand there is an additional bit of experience that gets generated. Whether you want it or not a tiny bit of experience is added even when you glance at that pen stand. You move the thing, you hold it, you lift it, you open it, you touch it and every time you are adding a layer of this invisible shield called experience around that product.
After the first few uses, you can no longer perceive the product on its own. You will always see it through this invisible shield of experience that you have created around it. The experience that you have with the product colors the way you perceive it. If you have had good experience in the usage you will start looking at the product favorably. (Irrespective of the opinion that your neighbor might have about the same product). If there was that touch of surprise on the way the surface felt, that experience will go a long way in your valuation of the product. On the other hand, if there was some sharp corner that cut your hand, you may never like the product even if its excellent in its functions.
Experience has a life of its own. When the product is new the experience is a child and needs to be nurtured and protected. At this critical stage if the experience stumbles and falls the product will not survive. Depending on the product the experience can grow up quickly and can be a healthy adult who in turn will guide and protect the product. The experience will grow old and disconnect the bond between the product and the user.
Product designer has to be aware of the existence of this ‘experience’ and design the product to give out a fulfilling and joyful experience to the user. The designer can alter the product for a better experience. Rather the designer can design the experience and create a product that does the job.
There is a third element beyond the product and the user that can greatly influence the experience. This is the brand and the power of the brand. A brand has the ability to generate experience even before the product and the user meet. The brand has the ability to protect the product when the experience is still a baby. The brand can automatically set expectations and boundary lines for the experience to grow and prosper.
If the product is good the experience will actually feed back to the brand and make the associations stronger and better. Experience is the child of Brand and Product. Like nature, it’s the duty of brand and product to raise a good experience and we product designers can watch the play.