By Steve Seepersaud
As a student at Binghamton University, Anthony Conta '08, MA '09, was fascinated by the behaviors that motivate people to take action. It's why he majored in economics.
In his user experience (UX) design work, Conta enjoys getting inside the head of a person interfacing with a system, knowing what they are trying to achieve, and sometimes making it difficult on purpose.
"One of the main differences [between work and play] is designing for friction," Conta said. "In user experiences that are not game-based, people want to accomplish goals and reach their destination with as little friction as possible. Good UX is to make the process easier and quicker for the user.
"With game design, it's actually the opposite! Establishing friction creates challenges for the user to overcome, which produces tension, reward and accomplishment. The journey toward the destination needs things that get in the way, so the user can feel challenged and defeat those obstacles."
Conta has designed a number of physical and digital games, the most noteworthy of which is Funemployed, a card game about applying to real-world jobs using words you'd probably never say in an actual interview. For example, you’re applying for the position of astronaut and use seemingly random words such as "lasso" or "trust fund" to explain why you're the best candidate.
"Perhaps that lasso would let you be a real space cowboy or that trust fund would let you build your own rocket," he said. "The story's up to you. After testing the game with hundreds of people, I eventually sold the game to Mattel, who now publishes it around the world — my second greatest accomplishment in gaming. My greatest would be using Funemployed to propose to my wife. I applied to be her husband during a playtest session, and thankfully I got the job!"
Conta initially used his economics background to work in law and finance, understanding market factors that could lead to collusion and antitrust law violations. After several years pursuing litigation against anti-competitive markets, he launched his own game design studio because he wanted something more light-hearted and entertainment-focused.
"I designed board games from scratch, creating prototypes, testing them with users and iterating on those ideas until they were market-ready," Conta said. "I published my games through Kickstarter then took those games to larger publishers like Mattel. Eventually, I worked at Nickelodeon on Blues Clues, which got me exposure to digital design and the field of user experience."
Conta recently published The Art and Science of UX Design (New Riders, 2023), which details the entire design lifecycle and provides instructions on how to work on a design project. His book is intended for anyone from a beginner to a seasoned professional.
His professional time is split between designing and teaching. He's a senior product designer at Amazon Music, focusing on the user's experience playing music in Amazon products. This fall, Conta is teaching product design at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. He appreciates Binghamton's broad-based and exploratory culture for enabling him to develop a wide range of interests and skill sets.
"I think the purpose of school, especially college, is to give students the freedom, flexibility and encouragement to explore. School should enable and push its students towards discovery and figuring out what they love. We're all so unique that a prescriptive set of education and requirements prevents us from more easily finding what we love. Binghamton was structured in a way that allowed me to explore various courses and find concepts and topics I had no idea existed prior to going to college, and I fell in love with them."
