I took part in the 10th Computing Week at IME-USP, at the organizers’ invitation, discussing UX (user experience) for “smart citizens.”
The presentation began with a central question — is it possible to talk about UX without talking about UI (user interface)? — and proposed dismantling some myths surrounding the idea of the “user” as a generic entity.
The premise was to understand design not as a product’s final form, but as the outcome of choices made in relation to an objective, whose essential attribute is the ability to respond to a situation.
To think of UX as everything that takes account of users’ emotional, cultural and social dimensions — I prefer to call them recipients — we need to recognize human variability in all its power. With this in mind, three fundamental elements guide creation:
- Context (the product is not about you)
- The human dimension (interaction with people is what matters most)
- Intellectual generosity (the product is for others)
This means that “the” user does not exist. There are people and their contexts.
From this perspective, understanding the interface beyond the screen is fundamental. This means transcending the notion of the interface as a membrane separating two poles — sender and receiver — to understand it as the foam of waves breaking on sand. This understanding brings us closer to a systemic, multidirectional view of processes. Systems change us, just as our presence changes the environment.
Projects such as Umbrellium’s smart pedestrian crossing (Starling — STigmergic Adaptive Responsive LearnING — Crossing) operate in this direction. Focusing on the “smart citizen” rather than the smart city itself, its architecture assumes a concept of UX design that responds to collective demands, adapting to dynamic contexts rather than forcing “users” to conform to its prerequisites. This seems to me the most interesting approach to thinking about UX from a perspective oriented toward diversity rather than the standard.