UX vs. LX: Designing how people access knowledge
The difference between easy access and earning access
I’ve only recently started learning more about Learning Experience Design (LXD) as someone who has only been taught User Experience (UX) design principles throughout college. Initially I was confused when faced with the many overlapping similarities between the two, and even more so when Human Centered Design (HCD), Interaction Design (IxD) and Instructional Design (ID) were introduced. TLDR; here’s how I’ve differentiated these practices based on their individual origins, perspectives, and focuses:
- UX = the umbrella term regarding the entire design process of building meaningful, intuitive, and delightful experiences in products for users
- HCD = focuses on people’s thinking, emotions, and behavior
- IxD = the interaction between a user and a product (includes UI, graphic, motion, and sound design — perhaps more)
- ID = a scientific, methodical approach to create learning experiences
- LXD = a creative, adventurous approach to create learning experiences
However, what’s really helped me as a newbie to understanding LXD is to think about “how the who reaches their goal”. The way I see it, the “who” is a person that starts with a certain level of knowledge that they must utilize to achieve a goal. The “who” can be…
- completely new to,
- slightly familiar with, or
- an expert
…on “how” they accomplish said goal (the how is the product or service they must use to do so).
Note: I’m using the term “knowledge” as conceptually synonymous to the act of understanding of something, but it can also physically refer to data, facts, ideas, etc.
People will manipulate their existing knowledge to either equip it or expand it. This will depend on what their goal is. Are they trying to use a product that they’re relatively acquainted with to do a task? What if the user’s task IS to learn about a product (or skill, service, etc.)?
This is how my methods of “easy access” and “earning access” to knowledge define the respective purposes of UXD and LXD.
As summarized earlier in the article, UX is the broad practice of designing good experiences in products for their users. IxD is only one part of an ever-iterating process that involves things like:
- conducting research (UXR)
- understanding branding (marketing),
- and observing usability (information architecture) in the current or prospective product.
By doing all of this, one will discover the existing factors that influence target users in how they would interact with the product. Meaning, the practice of UXD identifies all of a person’s “whys” for using a product, therefore using that context to design the easiest way(s) to complete their goal. Here’s an example:
Let’s say Person A wants to send a direct message to a friend on Instagram, which is one of many features on the platform (aside from posting content, searching accounts, and commenting on posts, etc.) Practicing UXD is to take their overall familiarity of Instagram through research (ex: gauging via analytics by discovering account activity, age, engagement, etc.) and designing the Instagram DM experience to be consistent with the platform’s aesthetic identity and layout through IxD methodologies.
On the other hand, some people are learners and not users (there’s a difference). Their goals are fundamentally different because they aim to do different things with their knowledge. Learners sometimes won’t know specifically what they don’t know, therefore LXD must create curriculums that can effectively teach the necessary content. The following example demonstrates this:
Let’s say Person B wants to learn Russian on Duolingo. They have 0 prior experience with the language, so Duolingo LXDesigners must take the basic, foundational knowledge a fluent Russian speaker would have (ex: numbers, common verbs, conjugation, etc.) and structure them in a certain order of varying activities that the learner can build their knowledge on as they progress throughout their lessons.
This is what I mean by “earning access” to knowledge through LXD — a learner’s goal is to fully grasp a new skill, product, or service so they can enhance their own lives with it. And in order for a learner to truly understand the content they are taught, it wouldn’t help to simply be given “easy access” to the information — they need to earn the knowledge in a constructive way.