The mis-selling of Design as UX is the problem
Karl A L Smith, FBCS, FRSA
数字设计、战略和转型主管 | 转型总监 | 敏捷世界? | FBCS | FRSA| 理学硕士 | 蓝筹咨询| CXO | 客户敏捷性和用户体验创始人 | 发明家和工程师| 作者 | 博学者
Mis-selling of design as UX is the problem
I keep meeting people who say they do UX but don’t, they are designers and there is nothing wrong with taking a design approach to digital, process or product development projects. The problem comes in the mis-selling of design as UX, as the results are dramatically different.
If a client does not want to pay for UX they get Design
Paying for UX means paying for research, insights, testing and customer requirements. It’s survival of the fittest, some companies should fail in any case that is normal. If you pay peanuts… and some client companies think you can get platinum by paying for cement. That’s not what the market is for, the market exists to offer wider choice, not cheaper brilliance.
If a client does not want UX (user/customer research and insights) they get design
- UX creates user research, design absorbs research by others
- UX tests the requirements, design tests the product
- UX applies usability standards for the target audience, design applies industry standards
- UX has mediators between the client and customer, design tells the client to trust them
- UX invents based upon the user research, design follows the crowd
- UX established new paradigms, design enforces existing paradigms
- UX has servants, design has divas
The right skill for the right client
There is a place for Design where the client is weak and does not know what they want to achieve, designers will tell them what to do.
Where clients have clear KPI's, UX refines them through customer research to establish a projects requirements (business desires plus user requirements) and reveals any quirks or new opportunities of the target customers.
I hope this helps business people to recognise what they are paying for and get a return on investment
Design Principal, The London Stock Exchange. Pirate, dinosaur, monster, cartography, typography and data viz enthusiast
10 年Hi Karl, Although I agree with this in principle, as I designer I think that a lot of this depends (as it always does) on several factors: 1. Does client understands what UX is and what it can actually achieve. 2. How much the designer understands about UX and can engage with with client in implementing this into the design via established or new interactive visual methods. 3. How much the client understands about their own business / product and then what they ultimately are trying to achieve with the project they are commissioning. 4. What the limitations and risks involved in the project are. Timing, content, planning, resource, budget etc. 5. How much time the designer / team have to work collaberatively with the client. As a designer, it is my job to understand the requirements of the client, and work with them to make sure that these requirements are acheivable (with the wider team) and sensible, to engage them in the process and work with them to build trust, ownership and to allow them to be part of the design process. This involves information flow, UX research, interaction design, content hierarchy, taxonomy, to name a few. I would also add that because of our new found understanding of responsive and adaptive, it is key that the ALL involved are given access to prototypes, html & CSS, reflow, macaw etc, and that design isn't done in isolation, and (completely) in a graphic program and handed over cold to a dev team. This way we can as a team, test user journeys, areas where previous data show confusion, drop off points etc, test interactions, make sure the content is working as it should and the user can find what they are looking for. With the best intentions and all the UX in the world, it is only when there is something tangible and usable, that you will know if it works. If this is part of the initial UX approach, the clients needs to understand and consider the investment in time, cost and effort involved in proof of concept. Which in turn can lead to a massive educational undertaking by, client, agency and user.