Experience architecture (XA) is the art of articulating a clear

user story In software development and product management, a user story is an informal, natural language description of features of a software system. They are written from the perspective of an end user or user of a system, and may be recorded on index ...

/ journey through an

information architecture Information architecture (IA) is the structural design of shared information environments; the art and science of organizing and labelling websites, intranets, online communities and software to support usability and findability; and an emergin ...

, interaction design and

experience design User experience design (UX design, UXD, UED, or XD) is the process of defining the experience a user would go through when interacting with a digital product or website. Design decisions in UX design are often driven by research, data analysis, an ...

that an end user navigates across products and services offered by the client or as intended by the designer. This visual representation is intended not only to highlight the systems that the end user will touch and interact with, but also the key interactions that the user will have with interacting the internal systems or back end structure of an application. It provides a holistic view of the experience, vertical knowledge of industry, the systems, documenting, analysing and the points that should be focused on when developing a series of interactions that are intended to enhance end user's emotions. The Experience architecture provides an overall direction for user experience actions across the projects.

Experience architect

An experience architect (also known as an XA) is a designer authoring, planning and designing the experience architecture deliverables. An XA will encompass a variety of interaction and digital design skills of human behaviour,

user-centered design User-centered design (UCD) or user-driven development (UDD) is a framework of process (not restricted to interfaces or technologies) in which usability goals, user characteristics, environment, tasks and workflow of a product, service or proc ...

(UCD) and interaction design. This person is also responsible for connecting human emotions with the end product thus creating co-relations by ensuring that the experience meets or exceeds needs and objectives of the intended or wide users. The XA integrates the results into an actionable requirements. They are responsible for conceptualising and delivering the design deliverables that meets business and usability objectives by identifying the modules, templates, structure and evaluating the end product integration.

Experience architect deliverables

Experience architects are responsible for documenting and delivering a series of project manuals, guidelines and specifications. These include all or some of the below practices. *

Persona A persona (plural personae or personas), depending on the context, is the public image of one's personality, the social role that one adopts, or simply a fictional character. The word derives from Latin, where it originally referred to a theatri ...

Scenario In the performing arts, a scenario (, ; ; ) is a synoptical collage of an event or series of actions and events. In the ''commedia dell'arte'', it was an outline of entrances, exits, and action describing the plot of a play, and was literally p ...

User story In software development and product management, a user story is an informal, natural language description of features of a software system. They are written from the perspective of an end user or user of a system, and may be recorded on index ...

User journey A user journey is the experiences a person has when interacting with something, typically software. This idea is generally used by those involved with user experience design, web design, user-centered design, or anyone else focusing on how user ...

Process flow diagram A process flow diagram (PFD) is a diagram commonly used in chemical and process engineering to indicate the general flow of plant processes and equipment. The PFD displays the relationship between ''major'' equipment of a plant facility and does ...

Information Architecture Information architecture (IA) is the structural design of shared information environments; the art and science of organizing and labelling websites, intranets, online communities and software to support usability and findability; and an emergin ...

* Wireframe ** Ranging from High-Fidelity to Low-Fidelity *

Content strategy Content strategy is the planning, development, and management of Content (media), content—written or in other media. The term has been particularly common in web development since the late 1990s. It is a recognized field in user experience design, ...

* Prototype *

Functional specification A functional specification (also, ''functional spec'', ''specs'', ''functional specifications document (FSD)'', ''functional requirements specification'') in systems engineering and software development is a document that specifies the functions ...

Inclusive experience

A great design experience must be self-explanatory and emphasizes on a user journey from step to step in minimalistic manner. In a broader term, it is a branch of

inclusive design Inclusive design is a design process in which a product, service, or environment is designed to be usable for as many people as possible, particularly groups who are traditionally excluded from being able to use an interface or navigate an environm ...

and

universal design Universal design is the design of buildings, products or environments to make them accessible to people, regardless of age, disability or other factors. It addresses common barriers to participation by creating things that can be used by the m ...

. The purpose of inclusion in the context of experience architecture is to create technology and user interfaces accessible for wider audiences inclusive of full range of human diversity with respect to ability, gender, age and other forms of human difference. This methodology is to achieve independent experience and accessibility for users who are aging, abled or disabled or impaired either by birth, natural or incurred through natural events. It requires exercising and creating interfaces or prototyping a lower level design for physical world that makes actions and steps more self-explanatory thereby removing layers of prerequisite requirements to access any digital system. Inclusive Experience is an emerging and developing skill sets and standard elements in applications that are mass-produced for consumers, government and in other public domains.

Education

The first Experience Architecture program began at Michigan State University. Developed by Liza Potts, Rebecca Tegtmeyer, Bill Hart-Davidson, this program launched in 2014.

Bachelor programs

*
BA Experience Architecture
–

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

Related areas

* Application architecture *

Business analyst A business analyst (BA) is a person who processes, interprets and documents business processes, products, services and software through analysis of data. The role of a business analyst is to ensure business efficiency increases through their know ...

Card sorting Card sorting is a technique in user experience design in which a person tests a group of subject experts or users to generate a dendrogram (category tree) or folksonomy. It is a useful approach for designing information architecture, workflows, m ...

Contextual inquiry Contextual inquiry (CI) is a user-centered design (UCD) research method, part of the contextual design methodology. A contextual inquiry interview is usually structured as an approximately two-hour, one-on-one interaction in which the researcher ...

Data architecture Data architecture consist of models, policies, rules, and standards that govern which data is collected and how it is stored, arranged, integrated, and put to use in data systems and in organizations. Data is usually one of several architecture dom ...

Data management Data management comprises all disciplines related to handling data as a valuable resource. Concept The concept of data management arose in the 1980s as technology moved from sequential processing (first punched cards, then magnetic tape) to ...

Design thinking Design thinking refers to the set of cognitive, strategic and practical procedures used by designers in the process of designing, and to the body of knowledge that has been developed about how people reason when engaging with design problems. De ...

* Experiential interior design *

Human factors Human factors and ergonomics (commonly referred to as human factors) is the application of psychological and physiological principles to the engineering and design of products, processes, and systems. Four primary goals of human factors learnin ...

Information architecture Information architecture (IA) is the structural design of shared information environments; the art and science of organizing and labelling websites, intranets, online communities and software to support usability and findability; and an emergin ...

Information design Information design is the practice of presenting information in a way that fosters an efficient and effective understanding of the information. The term has come to be used for a specific area of graphic design related to displaying information ...

Information system An information system (IS) is a formal, sociotechnical, organizational system designed to collect, process, store, and distribute information. From a sociotechnical perspective, information systems are composed by four components: task, people ...

* Interaction design *

Participatory design Participatory design (originally co-operative design, now often co-design) is an approach to design attempting to actively involve all stakeholders (e.g. employees, partners, customers, citizens, end users) in the design process to help ensure t ...

* Semantic Web *

Service design Service design is the activity of planning and arranging people, infrastructure, communication and material components of a service in order to improve its quality, and the interaction between the service provider and its users. Service design may ...

Taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

Usability testing Usability testing is a technique used in user-centered interaction design to evaluate a product by testing it on users. This can be seen as an irreplaceable usability practice, since it gives direct input on how real users use the system. It is ...

User-centered design User-centered design (UCD) or user-driven development (UDD) is a framework of process (not restricted to interfaces or technologies) in which usability goals, user characteristics, environment, tasks and workflow of a product, service or proc ...

User experience design User experience design (UX design, UXD, UED, or XD) is the process of defining the experience a user would go through when interacting with a digital product or website. Design decisions in UX design are often driven by research, data analysis, an ...

Design