I just listened to a wonderful podcast by Teresa Brazen, in which she interviews Jesse James Garrett about user experience design. I worked with Teresa and Jesse at Adaptive Path, and have to say this is one the best introductions to user experience that I’ve come across. In the podcast, Jesse articulates how he came to user experience design and explains some of it’s key principles.

There were a couple takeaways that I think bear noting, such as the fact that Jesse has a background in marketing. As Jesse is one of the pioneers of user experience design, I think this highlights the connection between marketing and user experience. Marketers and user experience designers are ultimately concerned with the same thing, customer satisfaction. Positive experiences over time lead to trust, loyalty and an emotional connection with your brand. In many ways user experience designers have done what markets have been failing to do, which is to put people at the center of the design process. One challenge for marketers today is to build on the success of user experience designers by putting people back at the center of organizations … rather that just at the center of the design process.

I think this podcast should be taken as an inspiration for marketers. And, I encourage you to subscribe to Teresa’s podcast, you won’t regret it!

For more information on user experience design, look no further:

• Jesse’s awesome diagram from his book The Elements of User Experience
• Wikipedia entry
• 10 Most Common Misconceptions About User Experience Design
• UX Matters Site