Christian Kraft - User Experience Innovation: User Centered Design that Works

If you are working in a fast-paced new product development project or have just been given the task of figuring out why an earlier product or software release is not a raving success among its targeted user base, this book is for you. Written by a creative and productive user experience designer with a long and successful track record in user experience innovation, this is a practical cookbook for product developers, marketeers, strategists, and user experience practitioners alike.

I learned to know Christian in the late 1990s when we were exploring future mobile phone user interaction opportunities in the corporate research unit of Nokia. That concept design work later found its way to about 1.5 billion Nokia mobile phones running the S40 software platform and user interface. Later on, we collaborated around topics like text input research and the seminal Navi-key user interface design.

During his career, Christian has produced and contributed to numerous innovations and patents in the field of human-computer interaction, and in this book he unfolds his experiences and insights of the user experience what and how, describing recipes to be followed and warning about dead ends to be avoided. Equipped with the user experience toolbox introduced in this book, you will get a head start in creating the next product your users and customers will fall in love with.

Creating breakthrough innovations is something most companies dream of and pursue. Few have succeeded and many talks and books have been made about the subject. Christian Kraft is one of those authentic innovators who actually has been there and created winning concepts. He is behind 100s of patentable concepts that millions of people have used. I had the pleasure of working with Christian while at Nokia, where we joined his unique ideation techniques with User Driven Innovation into a cross organizational ideation hub.

In this book, Christian invites us into his special universe of User Experience Innovation. Christian shares stories from the birth of the telecom era with us. We are presented with the background of the first game launched in a mobile phone device and several other now iconic features. He shows how the universal values of curiosity, creativity and persistence can drive innovation into the future.

Christian is the most productive inventor that Ive ever seen. If you need to get convinced, just check out how many times his name can be found in the patent databases.

Innovation requires creativity, persistence, attention to detail, and a very pragmatic mindset. Christian has all of this. Im happy that he is sharing his secrets behind his innovation power in this practical and helpful book. Its a must read if you want to be a better innovator.

I have worked with Christian over many years at Nokia. Christian is a classic ideas man, one of the most creative at Nokia, with many innovations and patents to his name.

I have had the pleasure to work closely with Christian Kraft during almost a decade in Nokia Mobile Phones. During this time, Christian Kraft has been a constant source of inspiration to me and enriched my professional innovation abilities to a degree that made me a key inventor in Nokia and made me dedicate my professional life to constantly seek better and newer ways of meeting and exceeding the customers expectations.

With this book, Christian Kraft has deservedly established himself as one of the pioneers within User Experience Innovation and I am convinced that with this book, not only larger corporations who seek methods to increase creativity and put more focus on innovation, but also individuals who want to make innovation more tangible and concretize their ideas into intellectual property rights, will have an extremely valuable tool.