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As more and more companies adopt a user-focused approach, those who are new to the field often interchange terms that sound alike, but are really different. One might argue that it’s just a matter of semantics, but when talking with a user-experience professional, semantics can mean a great deal.

Here’s a quick guide to make sure you are using the right terminology:

Usability
Often times people will say we are working on a “usability project”. This could mean a wide variety of things. Is it a usability test? Is it a website re-design focusing on improved usability? Is it a review of an existing site to identify usability issues? “Usability” has become a catch-all phrase, but it simply refers to how “usable” a function, feature, or entire website is.

User Experience
Now the user “experience” of a website or product is a much more holistic view of things. It’s much more than how easy something is to operate. When you “experience” something you are taking in multiple stimuli, all of which impact the initial and final impression of a user.

This honeycomb diagram probably explains it best. Originally developed by Peter Morville of Semantic Studios, it provides an overview of the different facets of a user-experience.

Useful - Ensuring the solutions and features help users achieve their objectives.

Usable - How intuitive the interaction is based on proven theories and design principles (and validated through testing).

Desirable - The website’s balance between efficiency and aesthetics – how well the site utilizes the power of perception, image, identity, branding, and other elements.

Findable - Designing navigation, content, and page layouts so users can easily find what they need and be confident that they’re on the right path.

Accessible - Ensuring that everyone (including those with disabilities) can access the features without problems.

Credible - Designing elements that will influence whether users trust and believe what the site tells them.

Valuable - Ensuring that what we are creating delivers value to the user.

When you examine the many facets involved in creating a good user-experience, you can easily see that it’s not just about usability. So, if you decide to launch into a re-design because you are trying to fix “usability problems”, take a step back for a holistic view of things. There may be other areas that, if you focus on them, can result in not just improved usability, but a dramatically better user-experience.

We all know that the current generation of children are going to have a different view of the world and the role of technology in our lives. My kids already want me to “rewind” the radio or anything not hooked up to a TiVo.

Now enter the newest phenomenon – part Gigapet, part Beanie Babies, part Second Life. They are called Webkinz and they are taking over the world.

What does Webkinz have to do with user experience and online marketing?

Unlike other stuffed animals, Webkinz come with a secret code that you enter online to unlock “a world where you care for your virtual pet, answer trivia, earn KinzCash, and play the best kids games on the net!” And not only does it have it’s own currency system like Second Life, but it has a virtual world where kids can interact with each other.

I think Webkinz is interesting for various reasons. It’s not just a well masterminded plan to suck parents wallets’ dry with another collectable; the site itself is addicting for both kids and parents (my wife tries to earn KinzCash in order to buy more stuff for “Sparkles” room)

While there are lots of great marketing ideas that are pushing the growth of Webkinz, the point of this post is that these types of websites are changing the way even the youngest of kids expect to interact online. My daughter is almost 6 and is already part of an online community! She and my son (4) have also been using websites like Noggin.com and Playhouse Disney for the last couple of years. Not only do these sites have games, but they have tons of video content and rich interactivity.

These types of sites are changing the way the next generation will expect to interact with the web. I fully expect that in a couple years we are going to have a good laugh when they say “Daddy, what’s a web page?”

I’d like to use this post to start a discussion about the future of the web. While Web 2.0 is a label given to the evolution of the online medium, most of the ideas often associated with that label really aren’t new.

I spoke about this at a recent event – how Web 2.0 is more about a collection of principles than a bunch of features. I also mentioned that if the web was to continue to evolve, we needed to stop thinking about ideas in terms of “features” and more about creatively addressing user needs and business challenges with original thought – thoughts around architecting interactive strategies aligned with how users interact and consume information on the web today.

I’ve been in the industry a little over 8 years now, and it seems that most of the ideas that have been generated over the last few years are not dramatically new. During the dot-com days, and its subsequent aftermath, a lot of great ideas were built up due to the newness and excitement around the medium. But like a kink in a water hose, technology limitations prevented those ideas from flowing and there was a corporate thumb over the nozzle, blocking the ideas from getting through. Over the last couple of years, the kink has loosened and budgets are shifting toward interactive. As a result, many of the ideas being implemented today are ones that were fighting for existence a few years ago.

My point? I believe this new flow of old ideas has caused the stagnation of original thought. We got so excited that we finally pushed through an idea we’ve been passionate about that our focus shifted away from coming up with new ones. Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying there aren’t any new ideas today. The Web 2.0 movement has caused people to start the ideation process again. But, for the most part, these ideas are being conceived by a small percentage of people.

The larger percentage of ideas being generated by companies and agencies today are either jumping on a fad bandwagon, recycled ideas from years past or the replication of a feature already being used by their competitors or the latest cool site. Unfortunately, this often results in the misapplication of the idea – either not aligned with user needs, the business objective or both.

Maybe it has always been this way and always will, but I do think the web is at a growth stage where the time is right for a surge of new ideas.

So now what? How do we shape the future of the web without staying attached to the past? I’ve got a few ideas, but I want to see what you think. Discuss…

Our very own Wade Forst moderated this month’s Atlanta Interactive Marketing Association (AiMA) last night, titled Branding 2.0: The New Online Community. The event had an amazing turnout of around 200 people.

Wade was able to pull two speakers from heavy-hitting consumer brands; Tom Daly with Coca-Cola’s Global Interactive Marketing and Michael Friedman, who is in charge of Strategy and Planning for Darden Restaurant’s interactive marketing.

The topic of Web 2.0 is a popular one. Last night’s event touched on some very interesting ways consumers are interacting with brands online. For those of you not able to attend the event, here are some of the key take-aways:

• Consumers will be part of the brand with or without you. It’s your job to leverage and enable the consumer’s interaction – without it feeling unauthentic (i.e. Dove’s video advertisement on YouTube).
• Support what customers are doing and do not dictate their actions. To work you have to let them interact freely with your brand.
• Seeding can be risky because people can be vocal about authenticity.
• You can’t buy viral. Something will either catch on or it won’t. Forcing it won’t appear natural and consumers will be turned off.
• Fish where the fish are – don’t try to get them to swim in your pool first.
• It’s not just about sending people to your website any more. Interaction with your brand happens within multiple, fragmented mediums.
• Companies have less and less control over brand today. You must relinquish full control and seek to guide and influence it.
• There are different kinds of KPIs for user generated content. It’s not all about driving traffic; there is a reinvigoration of the importance of brand lift online.

My wife was perusing Art.com the other day looking to fill the walls of my 9-month old baby’s room. As I was looking over her shoulder, I couldn’t help but notice how well certain aspects of their interface were designed from a usability perspective. But then I thought…is it that the page is “usable” or is it “persuasive”?

It’s both really. But the thing that caught my eye the most was how simple the visual layer was and how it created a perception of usability. Are there only a few items on the page that make it simple? NO. And that is the beauty of it. In a recent blog post, I talked about the Misconception of Clutter and this site does a great job of illustrating my point. There are actually a lot of items on each page. But Art.com has done a great job of stripping away fancy creative elements that don’t serve a purpose and uses the power of visual design to create not just a simple, usable page; but one that subtly persuades users to follow a path towards making a purchase.

They use lots of white and very light grey tones as the base color for the site. What this does is allow the color they use for their primary calls to action to really pop. It really makes the eye focus on the primary action, which is Add To Cart. There is something about that shiny orange button that creates a gravitational pull towards clicking it. Something about it brings me back to the old dot-com days where anything that looked interesting, made me want to click it just to see what would happen. But the reason why the button brings attention to itself is not just the shiny gradient color, but the absence of color around it.

My point with all of this is that I think the role of the creative designer is often underutilized when it comes to website design. Everyone wants the site to look good and be consistent with the brand, but the creative designer plays a much more important role in User Experience design. How information and interaction elements are presented visually are critical in helping the user clearly understand them, as well as persuade them into taking the action we want them to take. Designers aren’t there just to make things look pretty…although if it’s pretty enough, it might make me want to click it.