Design as Experience

Alright, here's an interesting thought in the wake of the roll out of the iPad. When we are discussing a design of any kind, we are talking about a design of a full experience. Any product cannot be thought of merely as a product. All products provide some type of service. The user experience with the product, ie the production of the service, is merely the centerpiece of the overall experience with the product. That experience begins with the user first hearing of it and extends through the junking of it. These are not my ideas. Delineated primarily by Don Norman.

Regarding Apple... they are really the masters of defining the user experience of a product as a continuous arc of service from marketing, through opening the box (gawd, what beautiful packaging), through hooking you into "indispensable" services, through interface, and so on. Their products are no products at all, but experiences, and eventually, lifestyles. Masterful understanding of the full arc of design-- cradle to grave.

Meanwhile, as a teacher, I'm trying to envision all the classroom uses of the iPad. It boggles the mind.