What is UX Design?
I’m at the point in my life where one of the first questions a person asks when meeting for the first time is about one’s job. These days, this is pretty much how the conversation goes about my job -
Them: “What do you do for a living?”
Me: “I’m a UX designer!”
Them: “Oh okay - that’s cool…” (insert confused face)
Me: “Have you heard of UX design before?”
Them: “Nope, what is that?”
The number of blank stares I’ve received after telling people I’m a UX designer? I’d definitely have enough money for groceries if each look was worth $1. What’s beautiful about this field is that everyone knows about it. The only difference is that there is an actual term associated with it.
Let’s talk about UX
UX stands for User Experience, and this pretty much encompasses any experience an individual (user) has with a product or service. Let’s look at some examples of UX in practice.
Have you visited an amusement park? They have to consider any and everything visitors will interact with within the park and attempt to tie positive feelings and emotions with those experiences.
Have you visited a really cool website that doesn’t miss a beat and is pretty bomb? Behind the scenes, they had to think about you as a visitor, how you’d move through the website and create the most efficient process to achieve a specific goal (subscribing, purchasing, etc.)
That Heinz Ketchup Squeezable bottle? Even that’s an example of looking for ways to make the ketchup pouring process as easy, and dare I say it, as fun, as possible.
User Experience design does not have a one size fits all definition, and it is not only used to apply to websites. Great examples of UX design can be found all around us. It’s about taking a problem and designing the best solution.
Here’s a quick video that covers some of the basics.
