What’s the difference between «Experience» and «User Experience»?
Let’s get straight into the topic.
«Experience is the sum of made mistakes divided by the own stupidity» — William Saroyan
What we can learn from this quote is that experience is not similar to knowledge. We can build knowledge out of the reflection of experiences, but the experience itself isn’t knowledge. Experiences are perceived in different ways:
Physical ➔ exclusive touching
Mental ➔ intellect, consciousness, and processing
Emotional ➔ like falling in love
Social ➔ experience received from other people
Virtual/simulation ➔ exclusive games
Spiritual and religious
Subjective ➔ every experience is individually
It’s essential as a designer to consider the different ways of experiences as well as the individual part. David showed us in his presentation the example of the usage/symbolic of computers in Brazil, where the people go to shared places (internet café) to use the computer, while in Switzerland, we often use our computer on our own without social interaction.
User experience is more than only the experience itself. It goes hand in hand with the whole part around. It includes expectations, perceptions, and reactions. It provides everything around a product, from the first research about the product, buying it, unpacking it, using it, etc.
Don Norman did a great job of explaining what user experience is. I recommend watching the short clip below.
Don Norman about the term UX (source)
Don Norman about the term UX (source)