UX Meets Spirituality - by Elizabeth Buie (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

This book presents a well-researched theory that connects transcendent experience (TX) and user experience (UX). It also offers practical techniques for using the theory in designing technology to support TX. TX research focuses on the experiences and their implications without considering how technology might assist them. UX research, on the other hand, studies "techno-spiritual practices", largely overlooking the transcendent experiences that such practices can initiate. However, both fields could pay more attention to the growing interest in the connections between artificial intelligence (AI) and religion.

The author's theory of transcendent user experience (TUX) combines insights from TX literature with interview-based research on tech and TXs. It reveals TUX as a cycle of phases, detailing their components and technology's role. This theory leads to new design techniques. The playful "Transcendhance" game introduced here, will generate creative ideas for TUX tech; new forms of design fiction aid in exploring how ideas might enhance TUX and change lives. The book also reveals which TUX aspects are easy to design for and which are nearly impossible. The book argues that designing for TUX cannot use straightforward UX methods; it requires an oblique approach. The game and design fictions provide just this. The book concludes with advice on testing product support for transcendence and applying the techniques to broader UX. Ultimately, the framework and techniques provide vital tools for understanding transcendent user experiences and designing technology to support them

About the Author

Elizabeth Buie, PhD, is a UX consultant and independent researcher who specialises in understanding users so that designers can create digital products and services that meet user needs. In almost five decades in industry she has contributed to the UX of websites, mobile apps, kiosks, and control systems, for audiences from the worldwide public to NASA spacecraft controllers. She holds a PhD in design research from Northumbria University, for which she conducted the research that inspired this book. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.

As well as being passionate about design to foster transcendent experiences, Elizabeth is keen on promoting design to be inclusive of older adults and on bringing academic knowledge and research methods into UX practice. She thrives on singing polyphony from the 15th and 16th centuries, for which her use of technology led to the transcendent user experience that motivated her PhD and ultimately this book.