{"id":66,"date":"2009-11-11T21:35:41","date_gmt":"2009-11-11T21:35:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/uxtraordinary.com\/?p=66"},"modified":"2018-10-22T14:42:32","modified_gmt":"2018-10-22T14:42:32","slug":"evolutional-ux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aeoneal.com\/blog\/evolutional-ux\/","title":{"rendered":"Evolutional UX"},"content":{"rendered":"

This was originally posted on the UXtraordinary blog, before I incorporated under that name. Since then this approach has proven successful for me in a variety of contexts, especially Agile (including Scrum, kanban, and Lean UX – which is an offshoot of Agile whether it likes it or not).<\/em><\/p>\n

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I subscribe to the school of evolutional design. In evolution, species change not to reach for some progressively-closer-to-perfection goal, but in response to each other and their ever-changing environment. My user experience must do likewise.<\/p>\n

Rather than reach for pixel-perfect, which is relatively unattainable outside of print, (and is probably only “perfect” to myself and possibly my client), I reach for what’s best for my users, which is in the interests of my client. I expect that “best” to change as my users change, and as my client’s services\/products change. This approach makes it much easier to design for UX.<\/p>\n

Part of evolutional design is stepping away from the graceful degradation concept. The goal is not degraded experience, however graceful, but differently adapted experience. In other words, it’s not necessary that one version of a design be best. Two or three versions can be equally good, so long as the experience is valuable. Think of the differences simply resizing a window can have on well-planned liquid design, without hurting usability. Are the different sizes bad? Of course not.<\/p>\n

This approach strongly supports behavioral design, in which design focuses on the behavior and environment of the user. You might be designing for mobile, or a laptop, or video, or an e-newsletter; you might be designing for people being enticed to cross a pay wall, or people who have already paid and are enjoying your service. You might be appealing to different demographics in different contexts. Evolutional UX thinks in terms of adaptation within the digital (and occasionally analog) ecology. <\/p>\n

Evolutional UX also reminds the designer that she herself is part of an evolving class of worker, with many species appearing and adapting and mutating and occasionally dying out. We must adapt, or fall out of the game—and the best way to do that is to design for your ever-changing audience and their ever-changing tools.<\/p>\n

And now, some words of wisdom from that foremost evolutional ecologist, Dr. Seuss. Just replace the “nitch” spelling with “niche” and you’ve got sound ecological theory, as every hermit crab knows.<\/p>\n

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And NUH is the letter I use to spell Nutches,
\nWho live in small caves, known as Nitches, for hutches.
\nThese Nutches have troubles, the biggest of which is
\nThe fact there are many more Nutches than Nitches.
\nEach Nutch in a Nitch knows that some other Nutch
\nWould like to move into his Nitch very much.
\nSo each Nutch in a Nitch has to watch that small Nitch
\nOr Nutches who haven’t got Nitches will snitch. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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