While I was sorting through my reader I found this blog from the UX booth entitled, ” UX Unicorns and other fanciful creatures”. Naturally, I had to read such an interesting sounding title. It was a thoughtful post about what a user experience designer actually does.
The blog can be found here: UX Unicorns and Other Fanciful Creatures
I particularly liked where the authors points out that a user experience designer cannot design an experience, the best they can do is design for an experience. You cannot force someone to experience something in a particular way. You can try, but people are very different and the line “you can’t please everybody” is pertinent here. You cannot design for everyone, you just have to try and make certain its functional even if they don’t get a thrill from using the product.
He ends up concluding (in his own words, a gross oversimplification), that the following points are what a user experience designer actually needs to do.
- find out about the users (user research),
- make sure your content is relevant to them (Content Strategy),
- make sure they can find it easily (Information Architecture) and
- move around in your application easily (Interaction Design),
- make sure your application is aesthetically pleasing (Visual Design), and then finally
- make sure that it all hasn’t been foiled by something you’ve overlooked – or couldn’t anticipate at any other stage (Usability).
I recommend you read it!
Katie Cissell 