Is the ThoughtWorks mind the creative mind?
The guys over the fence in the media and advertising world are seeing a paradigm shift away from focussing upon the narrow “message” of a campaign to the broader “user experience” that encompasses the whole brand, not just a flashy graphic. This requires the “creative minds” to broaden their horizons. One such creative mind has created a picture that illustrates this.
This is a good way of thinking when attacking an IT problem. Not just focussing upon implementation detail, but the whole user experience. It means broadening the mind beyond the analytical. In addressing IT problems, developing greater “curiousity” and “expressiveness” is not a giant leap. But sesuality? Can developers ever have a sensual mind?
Recent experiences suggest so. Once a Dev has been hypnotised with a bit of web 2.0, emotional design seems to flow through their arteries. They “seek to satisfy all the senses. Aesthetics, beauty and form are driving forces…” That is they get all gradient-fills and curves and funky Ajax gizmos…
Oy. If all we can really do to improve the user experience is add gradients and Ajaxy animations, I think we’re in a heap of trouble. What about rounded corners, Flash, and Lucida Grande fonts, too? (kidding)
I believe everybody already has a sensual mind (developers included). We all know when we’re offended by an ugly product, piece of software, presentation, tv show, movie, etc. Humans have a powerful, innate ability to judge aesthetics in nearly every situation we encounter. When your friend is unhappy, you can nearly always tell by his/her face or mannerisms. Most people can decide if they like a movie in the first few minutes, falling deeper in love or hate as time continues.
However, most people cannot express why they feel the way they feel in terms of these emotional instincts. (Of course, when pressed, they are really good at making up a reason.) What it really takes is a little practice to understand how these emotions work. We’re all up for it, we just have to get in touch with our emotions. 🙂
Enough ranting for me for today…
[…] For the past few days, I’ve been taking in the following image, linked to me from the blog of a future coworker of mine, which was originally linked from here. […]