Part of my struggle as an interactive designer has been the desire to create something which withstands the test of time. I used to think that the desire to create something that lasts is somewhat inedible. I wanted to make my mark on the world. In some way or another we all want to be remembered. Some design professions like product design and Architecture are better positioned to create things that stick around. While a product's life cycle is generally shorter than the life span of a building, both typically have some amount of longevity. Fundamentally product design and Architecture create artifacts as the result of their design process. The end result is tangible. For a long time I was very jealous of this tangible end result.

On the other hand, music embodies a purely temporal experience. We listen to the song, we enjoy the moment and its over. We go on to the next song, we move on to the next moment in time. We go on our way. With the progression of digital media to an online state, the artifact of how consumers purchase music has become arguable negligible. As a DJ for many years I've also enjoyed creating and playing music but always recognized it as the creation of a fleeting moment.

I used to think that the intent of what I created as and interaction designer was to produces web sites and interactive experiences that would withstand the test of time. And sometimes they do, but usually they become dated due to the accelerated aesthetic progression of design online. Through my experience of designing and producing interactive experiences I have come to the realization that designing online experiences is more like creating music than it is like product design or Architecture. As with all of the above mentioned disciplines, the intent is to craft an experience that will engage us, captivate us, and enable us. Be it with a song, in their hand, in their home or online. However as with music, the online experience (or the portion of it that one is responsible for creating) will occupy a discrete amount of time and the experience will come to an end. In this way, designing for online experiences is temporal and more closely related to music than it is (form the users perspective) related to product design and architecture. There is no artifact, we experience the moment and go on our way.