In UX design and research, we frequently deal with the concept of time. When we create customer journey maps or refer to frameworks proposed in the “User Experience White Paper” (Roto et al., 2011), we often divide experiences into phases such as “before use,” “during use,” and “after use.” Breaking complex phenomena into manageable phases can be extremely useful in day-to-day practice.
However, we want to pause and ask. Inside the users’ mind, are their experiences divided into these neat phases? Here, we look through the lens of French philosopher Henri Bergson, particularly his concept of durée (pure duration). His perspective helps us see that people’s experiences are continuous and unfolding, rather than neatly divided into separate phases.
The Time We Analyze vs. the Time We Live
Bergson distinguished two different ways of understanding time.
Spatialized Time:
It is uniform, measurable, and divisible, like the minutes marked by a clock. Metrics we see in tools like Google Analytics, such as “average session duration: 3 minutes 15 seconds”, are exactly this kind of time.
Pure Duration:
This is the time we actually experience. Enjoyable moments seem to pass by instantly, while boredom feels endless. The past flows into the present and accumulates into the future, creating a continuous and inseparable experience.
Analytics tools can only capture the first type of time as fixed samples. In reality, what users experience is a living flow, where past and future merge seamlessly with the present.
Expectation and Interaction Cannot Be Separated
Bergson compared this flow of duration to a melody. In a melody, the previous notes do not disappear. They linger and blend into the next notes to form a whole. If each note were separated from each other, what remains is no longer music.
This view is something often overlooked in UX. The line between anticipation before use and the experience during use blend together much more than we usually think. Excitement before using a product carries over into the interaction itself. High expectations can make minor UI flaws feel like an irritating noise. On the other hand, if expectations are well aligned, the same minor flaw can feel like a pleasant note.
We often obsess over fixing the screen in front of us, forgetting that the “ghost of the past note” is already shaping how the user hears the current one.
A Real-World Example: Retail as a Melody
A past study of in-store experiences revealed how anticipation and actual interactions blend together. Website ads and storefront signage created a specific anticipation: a prelude. The staff’s polite greeting was not just a service; it was the confirmation of that prelude. The chord resolved perfectly.
The opposite is also true. If the service falls even slightly below expectations, it is remembered as a sense of betrayal. UX cannot be fully understood by evaluating individual phases and rather emerges from the way anticipation and experience resonate together.
The Weight of Accumulated Experience
Bergson also used the metaphor of a snowball to describe memory. The past does not simply pass. Instead, it accumulates, carried along into the present. In the context of UX, this means that cumulative experience is not just an average of past interactions. It is a weighted history.
For a service that has been used and trusted for years, a mistake or two can be absorbed without much impact. But if distrust has built over time, even the most attractive new feature will struggle to win over the user. Even if a user appears loyal, they may still be just one snowflake away from walking away. In the very moment a user decides to leave, the weight of all the experiences they have accumulated comes down on that single decision.
Listening to What Metrics Can’t Capture
If analysis is about breaking something down from the outside, intuition is about stepping inside and aligning with the flow of experience. Bergson emphasized the importance of this second approach, and in many ways, this is exactly the challenge we face as UX researchers.
Quantitative data can show us what happened, but it rarely explains why. Qualitative methods such as conducting interviews allow us to step into the users’ lived experience and uncover insights that numbers alone cannot reveal. By sensing through intuition, shaping observations into hypotheses, and validating them through analysis, we begin to truly understand the flow of user experience over time.
Closing
UX is not about arranging disconnected boxes. It is about shaping the melody of a user’s lived experience. To create a melody that resonates, we must listen carefully to how expectations, interactions, and memories overlap.
What kind of weight does your product or service leave in your users’ memories?
At Uism, we look beyond the dots. We use behavioral observation and in-depth interviews to uncover what numbers alone can’t reveal. By deeply understanding users’ experiences, we help turn insights into better UX. Please feel free to reach out to discuss how we can support your team.
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Exploring how users interpret interfaces across contexts reflects the continuous, lived nature of experience that Bergson highlights beyond segmented phases.