The material value of UX/UI

On the way to work today, I was thinking about something my wife said last night. That software engineers make more than UX/UI designers and have more job opportunities and security.

That statement made me think, it lead me to work out a priori if the assumptions that employers make about the relative value difference between engineers and designers hold up logically.

In the tech world, designers design and build the UX/UI interfaces that end users use. A key function of UX/UI then, is that UX/UI builds confidence and comfort of the end user or audience.

This has a profound impact on the odds that a startup would have in the market. Yes, the underlying technology has to work, the other pieces and functions in a tech company has to function, such as sales and marketing. But the ability to create confidence in the product has a certain amount of economic value and in no way should it be categorized as fluff.

This then lead me to determine the areas in which confidence in the product is paramount and has real material impact. This lead me to think of the digitization of banks and banking services, and the challenges they face migrating non-digital natives onto the more cost efficient platform of apps and websites.

Which then reminded me of a story a buddy told me about old timey banks in the Old West. Banks in the Old West were made of stone/bricks/mortar and were imposing in stature and design. This was done purposefully to contrast them against the ramshackle plywood buildings surrounding them in the town square, and to also create a sense of security/confidence/comfort.

UX/UI designers are the new architects of the new Old West, that is the Internet. More specifically they are the people, along with branding and marketing who are going to be responsible for manufacturing security/confidence/comfort.

At this point in history, it would make most sense for fintech and financial services to create very attractive remuneration packages for designers in order to attract the best designers, and to also bear in mind that this is the key role of UX/UI designers in their organization, not to make nice web/app forms that follow the branding guidelines.