The User Experience in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Abstract How do we teach UX/HCI concepts to an audience who have not encountered the domain before? We thought the learning process may be best supported by using material which might be more compelling. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (ZAMM) is a classic and accessible work of American literature, often taught at college or as part of University degrees. Published in 1974 ZAMM is a first person account of a 17-day motorcycle journey from Minnesota to Northern California by the author and his son. Surprisingly, we encouraged reading ZAMM as a method of learning the over arching issues in HCI and UX. Even more surprisingly, students reported benefits in the comprehension of HCI/UX topics from reading it