In Kathy Sierra’s talk at SXSW she asked “What power do you give your users? Would it work as a superhero emblem?”
Kathy Sierra’s great talk at SXSW 2009 (dramatization)
It felt like she was zapping me with mind-melting lasers because that same morning over breakfast Havi Brooks, Richard Miller, and I had talked about winning by doing what you’re best at. I showed them uxhero.com on my iPhone (I hadn’t gone public with it yet) and explained that to me “what you’re best at” is your superpower.
My superpower is that I can feel the texture of user experience.
This goes beyond having a feel for fonts and layouts. It’s more like being able to touch an object and sense where it’s been and where it’s going. Show me a web site and I can tell you how it went off the rails when the lawyers had their say in the design committee.
Great mechanics know what’s wrong with an engine just by listening. Magic Johnson could make no-look passes because he was Magic. Acutely feeling UX failure and knowing what to do about it is my thing.
During Kathy’s talk I quit stalling and launched uxhero.com with a tweet:
