Experience design is concerned with developing a holistic understanding of the relationships between person and product over time--meeting needs and exceeding expectations in ways which users perceive as valuable, effortless, and emotionally satisfying. Key to an emotionally satisfying user experience is the speed of need fulfillment--a product's ability to meet needs as soon as possible, or better yet--anticipate needs before they arise.

To illustrate the evolving nature of experience design and the role it plays in the life of individuals, this section presents a few highlights from a day in the life of M, told as a series of positive and negative experience touch-points with products and technologies. Some of these are probably familiar. Note how your experiences with these touch-points are similar to or different from M's. 

Similarities and variations in individuals' experience highlight an essential aspect of experience design--it transforms simple daily activities most would consider both trivial and intimately personal, into a shared social and commercial experience. When we engage with our smart products throughout our daily routines, our interactions and experiences generate a new type of industrial raw material: Data, lots of it. Our individual data is transmitted, and aggregated with data from millions of other users, to reveal common patterns and trends.

And so, the following examples focus on typical mundane activities we perform routinely, activities that feel almost automatic. But, are they really almost automatic? As you read about M's experiences and compare them to yours, think about the subtle but powerful ways in which product experiences can effect behavioral and emotional change, what might explain this power, and what are its limitations.