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Running Head: DESIGN PAPER 1

Design Paper

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DESIGN PAPER 2

Design Paper

Introduction

According to Dewey’s theory of experience, individuals undergo experiences

continuously without even noticing them (Quay, 2013). Therefore, the society and nature have

different forms, which are later translated into experiences by people. As such, form exists in

everything including organizations, energy, landscapes, ideas, intent, and objects. When

individuals interact with such forms, they turn them into their own experiences. In this case,

experiences occur when there is unity, fulfilment, a start, middle, and an end. For an experience

to be achieved, the intellectual, the aesthetic, and the practical ought to come together (Kolko,

2011). The element of aesthetic represents the agent of motional binding that unifies the

experience. The experience(s) that individuals have result from perception(s) on the basis of the

experience(s) that they had in the past. A designer uses aesthetic to create a form, which

represents the subject matter. The audience reconstructs such form into experience. Thus,

according to the form that the designer makes, the audience may be influenced in terms of their

experience. With this stance, a designed experience is an experience that is as a result of a form

created by a designer in order to induce such an experience.

The third order of design involves the designing for experience and the user experience

design. In this case, Dewey argues that the experience of persons can be shaped by the design

created by the designer using aesthetic (Quay, 2013). Being one of the core elements defining

experience, by shaping aesthetic, designers allow the audience to engage their intellect and the

practicability of the given form to come up with an experience. Case in point, the experience

with the Uber taxi driver lies within the third order design as it involves the entire experience of

the customer and the driver, and not only the aesthetic behind the application. As such, in as

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much as the Uber application allows for an admirable interaction between consumers of cab

services and drivers willing to earn returns using their cars, the practicability of the application

especially in the case where both the consumer and the driver are not well aware of the region

and traffic undermines the end result of the intended “good” experience for some users.

A Description of the Experience

Pittsburgh is a well-built city found in Pennsylvania, North Eastern US. Uber has

extended its services in the United States, allowing individuals to travel easily at a cheaper cost

and convenience. For most, Uber is the ultimate technological advancement in the taxi industry

as it provides them with a good experience. However, the same did not go for me when I wanted

to travel using a taxi ordered via Uber in Pittsburgh. Being new to the area, I believed that the

best way to move from one point to the other without much of a struggle was to ask for a taxi

that would take me where I wanted to go. The Uber application is designed in such a way that

one can see the number of cab drivers that are within their proximity and to book one of them for

a trip, according to the customer’s convenience. As such, being in a hurry, I ordered the cab that

was closest to me, which the application indicated was only five minutes away. However, the

driver drove past me and got lost as he was also new to the area. This forced him to call me and

ask for directions, which I was unable to give as I was not so familiar with the area. I tried

directing him but he had problems tracing my location as he was not familiar with the area. This

went on for thirty minutes, until I finally gave up and told him that I was going to cancel my ride

as I was getting late. The driver was not happy with my decision to cancel the trip and with

anger, he swore at me and hang up. This was a disappointing experience. I believed that the Uber

Company had the capacity to prevent such occurences through proper design.

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The Five Ps Model and the Uber Experience

People

The people involved in the Uber service cycle include the providers of the Uber

application services, the drivers, and the consumers. The providers of the application services

have a central role to play in facilitating a good experience for both the drivers on the Uber

program and the customers. As Dewey noted, practicability is important in shaping experiences

(Dewey, 1934). Thus, these providers ought to consider establishing a design that would allow

the drivers, who play the intermediary role, to effectively provide consumers with their services

and a good experience. It is one experience for a customer to apply for a driver via Uber and the

driver to call back asking for directions, and a whole new dimension of experience for such a

customer to apply and within the displayed time, or a few more or less minutes, a driver, using

the GPS directions provider, arrives without asking for directions. The former is especially a

frustrating experience for customers who are visiting other countries, cities, or regions and are

trusting that cab drivers would help them easily navigate the area.

Product

In the current market place, organizations acknowledge the importance of customer

satisfaction in improving their profitability. Customer satisfaction can only be achieved through

designing forms that would allow the customers to create unforgettable experiences. In this case,

the product and service should be designed in a way that it will be both aesthetically attracting

and effectively working (Fiore, 2010). For the Uber application, it has failed to create customer

satisfaction by denying some of the users a good user experience as a result of its faults. Case in

point, the Uber application is less practical in the sense that the indicated time within which a

driver may make it to the pick-up point may be outdated and wrong at times, and the application

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does not give Uber drivers directions to the pickup point, and expects them to manoeuvre their

way to such points. This is highly frustrating to the customers and hence interferes with the

intended customer experience, thus impeding satisfaction.

Process

The element of process involves all the interactions involving the participants in an

interaction and the pathways through which an experience is developed (Fiore, 2010).

Interactions within any business premise or as designed by the designer should be aimed at

promoting a good experience for the consumer. Dewey’s theory of experience demonstrates that

customers rely on their perceptions as shaped by their previous experiences to make judgements

on their expectations (Dewey, 1934). Case in point, for my case, I would hardly apply for

another Uber taxi after the experience I had with the driver in Pittsburgh considering the

perception that I have created of their services. The designers of the Uber application hence

failed to incorporate pathways that would facilitate improved customer experience, including a

management team that would play the middleman role between the customer and the driver. This

would have helped my case as the team would have guided the driver to my location without

much of a struggle.

Place

The location of a business is also important in cultivating the experience of the customers

considering the element of aesthetics as defined by Dewey (Fiore, 2010). In his definition,

Dewey considered the aspect of aesthetic as playing the role of and emotional binding agent

between the intellect of the customer and the practicability of the product to form the experience

(Quay, 2013). Place plays a major role in creating a good customer experience as it defines

convenience. Being an online business, the Uber application provides a good experience for the

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customers. However, the connection between the application for the services and the provision of

the services is poor, an aspect that interferes with the user experience.

Performance

Design does not simply involve how something feels or looks. Rather, it has more to do

with how the thing operates and its impact on the environment, individuals, or the society at

large (Kolko, 2011). When such an aspect is overlooked, the results are a large deviation from

the intended experience, and in worst cases total failure of the design. The designers of the Uber

application failed to realize how important it is to create an application that stays updated in

terms of the GPS and can easily create directions for the customers. Dewey established that in as

much as designers cannot directly shape the experience of their audiences, they can manipulate

such experience by ensuring that the form that they design is not only aesthetically welcoming,

but also practical.

Conclusion

It is clear that the designer of the Uber taxi business failed to consider the collaboration

of the major drivers of consumer experience, hence leading to failure of the design to equally

satisfy all consumers. The design fails to create a proper process by limiting effective interaction

of the participants involved, including the providers of the application services, the drivers, and

the customers. The performance of the program is also problematic as the design does not

provide drivers with proper GPS services that would allow them to easily locate their customers

upon applying for transport services. Without GPS guidance, the drivers lose out on business as

they are at times forced to contact their customers to provide them with directions, which results

in further inconveniences such as time wasting and cancellation of trips. As much as online

services provide convenience for the consumers, if not properly managed, like in Uber’s case,

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they come second to the traditional business approaches, such as stopping a taxi on the road. To

establish services that are aesthetically pleasing, satisfying, and enjoyable. Uber designers should

reconsider the design of their software and put in place interactive options that would allow both

the drivers and customers to benefit from connectivity help. The software should be designed in

a way that not only includes a GPS, but the GPS is able to track the customers, to make it easy

for the drivers to locate such customers and to increase customer experience.

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References

Dewey, J. (1934). Art as Experience. New York: The Berkley Publishing Group.

Fiore, A. M. (2010). Understanding Aesthetics for the Merchandising and Design Professional.

New York: Fairchild Books.

Kolko, J. (2011). Thoughts on Interaction Design. Burlington, MA: Elsevier.

Quay, J. (2013). Education, Experience and Existence: Engaging Dewey, Peirce and Heidegger.

New York: Routledge.

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