Traditionally, computers are viewed as a tool to get things done. So pleasure hasn’t been a big goal in User Interface Design.

Mobile Devices and Pleasure

I recently jumped ship from iPhone to an Android. My iPhone constantly dropped calls (thanks, AT&T) and some iOS update made my phone very slow.

I bought a Samsung Charge that runs Android. At first, I liked it. It was more powerful than my iPhone and much faster and more responsive.

But now that I’ve been living with it for 3 months, I have come to the conclusion that it’s not as pleasurable to use as an iPhone.

It’s faster.

It can do everything the iPhone can do.

And I don’t enjoy it nearly as much.

Business Software and Pleasure

I’m currently the UX Team Lead on a software project that has some significant usability issues. The software is still in alpha, so things are being worked on. But what I notice is that users take pleasure in using the software. That pleasure seems to supersede anything else.

Pleasure in Tech

Perhaps pleasure is an underrated je ne sais quois in software design. I currently have a Windows machine and am considering making the leap to a Mac. Why? In part, pleasure.

Apple seems to understand more about this than any other player out there. And I wonder if pleasure ends up winning, even over things like usability. (Of course, terrible usability contradicts pleasure…but even with all of my iPhone aggravation, I’d still go back to the iPhone next time.)