Design for Life by Identifying the Lifecycle of an Experience
German Leon, user experience manager – global marketing, Vodafone Group Services GmbH
Experience design has become a very popular term these days. Most designers believe that we can design an experience, which is not the case, and experience is something that we can improve or simply think through. The way that we have traditionally designed products has impacted the world badly, not only because we are hurting the environment but also because it’s failing to identify the lifecycle of users’ needs and envision solutions. Designing for life has big implications; it touches companies communications, collaboration with other professions and challenges the way things are envisioned. By accepting the challenge of designing for life rather than focusing on particular instances of a product, we might find a strategy to help change some of the biggest issues in our society today. I invite you to listen to my ideas about how by identifying the lifecycle of an experience, it’s possible to design for life, and perhaps improve it.

I have a BFA in industrial design and a Master’s degree in interaction design from Umeå Institute of Design in Sweden. My career includes Experience Design, Interaction Design and Product Design; Currently I work as a user experience manager for Vodafone Global in Germany. Previous positions across the globe include serving as design lead of strategic projects for FI, a design agency in Stockholm, for clients such as Time Warner and AT&T. I also worked in Colombia for Bancafe, a bank that developed finger recognition services for ATMs and internet services, and I have been a lecturer in interaction design at Umeå University in Sweden. I consider myself a natural observer of people’s behavior and I believe that great user experiences are based on simple human interactions. As an interaction designer, I have used a broad range of methods and disciplines such as ethnography and user centered design. However, my true passion is UX prototyping.