It all depends on the degree of pumping of the grandmother. If your grandmother is a UX / UI designer, then you probably won't need oversimplifying metaphors. For a less inquisitive grandmother, this might be an excuse: "I work with mobile and online applications." If we try to compose a definition from words that an average grandmother understands, as concisely and closely reflecting the meaning as possible, it will be: "I am improving the quality of digital services (UX), including the design of points, channels for receiving these services (UI)."
Tatiana Pchelintseva, in Graduate of the course "UX / UI Design" BHSAD
“To my grandmother ... It turned out that even my dad until recently did not understand what I was doing. There was a funny incident. Dad asked who I was studying for. I replied that we are making digital products, improving the user experience. (Pause) "Do you sell cheese over the Internet?" Why exactly cheese, I still do not understand, but it impressed me greatly. I had to tell that each of us is a UX designer.
Parents recently made repairs in the apartment, furnished it in accordance with their needs: wall shelves at the height at which it will be convenient for mom to place books, the sofa is located at such a distance from the TV so that its effect on the eyes is minimal, the coffee maker is always in a prominent place ... A UX designer is also engaged in design, but not so much his own experience as someone else's: identifies the goals of the user / business, identifies their pains and proposes solutions. "
Denis Ushakov, in BVShD graduate
“The hardest part of what I do was explaining to my grandmother, who perceives the phrase“ product design ”as something related to a grocery store, and constantly asks what kind of products I work with. :)
But in general, for both grandmother and parents, an explanation using the example of a car steering wheel is quite suitable: UX design explains the location of the steering wheel in the car, and the UI explains its appearance. "
An example is one of our students' graduation projects this year - a digital showcase for Tele2. This is a self-service kiosk in Tele2 salons, which allows you to get the necessary services yourself and save time. The students of the course were faced with the task of redesigning the UX and UI of the digital storefront so as to make this service convenient, increase conversion and “digitize” communications between subscribers and the mobile operator.
Project of students of the course "UX / UI Design" BHShD for Tele2: digital showcase for Tele2
The designers thought over both the list of showcase functions and their sequence, the location of the navigation on the screen, the steps for obtaining this service. To do this effectively, it is not enough to simply draw the screen, it is all developed based on research, testing and other product design tools that a UX / UI designer must own.
2. What competencies does an ideal UX / UI designer have?
At the time of the appearance of the term "user experience design" (UXD), the term "interface design" (UID) already existed and had a clear stable list of artifacts - those results of the work of the interface designer of digital products that made it possible to create an interface: icons, buttons, creating mockups, UI kit, working with fonts, grids, creating illustrations, and so on.
The introduction of UXD competencies into the field of digital solutions development has spawned a class of UX designers who have added new artifacts to this process associated with a more scientific and metric approach to service design: usability research, user research, information architecture development, user route analysis. It’s as if a furniture designer worked with ergonomics to create not only beautiful and sturdy, but more comfortable chairs.
With the advent of agility in software(Agile, Scrum), the number of highly specialized experts in teams begins to decrease due to the increase in the number of competencies of each participant. In agile product teams, it immediately becomes clear that the separation of UX and UI responsibilities increases development time due to the constantly changing and growing requirements for "acceptance" of work between designers. Eventually one of the designers gets sick, then the whole work gets up. Therefore, product teams prefer to recruit UX / UI designers who combine, albeit superficially, both UXD and UID competencies, rather than two deep experts.
Combination of UX / UI designer competencies
How much do these designers make? The most accurate answer to this question is hh.ru. According to the service, today companies are ready to offer UX / UI designers from 70,000 to 200,000 per month or more.
You can build your trajectory from different starting points, but, of course, if you start from a graphic designer, software developer, digital business analyst, social or psychological researcher, then this trajectory will be shorter and the path will be faster. There is an element of complementarity and mutual learning in design teams. For the effectiveness of this process, so-called "star maps" are drawn up, where the degree of possession of different competencies is marked. And, for example, if a designer does not own animation, then he is moved to a team where this skill is developed. This is what we do with our students, only rotation occurs at the end of each module.
Daria Salnikova, UX / UI designer at Tele2
“Before studying in British, I worked as a graphic designer, there were projects on web services, but at some point I didn't like the fact that I connect to the product only at the last stage, when I can no longer affect its usability. That is, you draw buttons, icons, arrange them according to the technical assignment, even if you internally understand that it will be inconvenient or will not solve the problem.
Therefore, I decided to delve deeper into UX / UI design, to understand how a product is developed from scratch, research is carried out, the user is studied, his tasks and behavior? and how it all affects the interface. First, I took an introductory online course from AIC, then I went to practice in British. After several training projects for Golden Crown and Mail.Ru, I got a job as a UX / UI designer at Tele2. In addition to the portfolio, it was important how I can work in a team, what roles I occupied in these projects, what tasks, in addition to interfaces, I can solve other soft skills.
Now I am working on a loyalty system for Tele2 clients. And this is completely different: we work with analysts, and when it comes to UI, I can already argue the location, shape, color of each interface element. We had guys on the course who did not come from the field of design (marketers, managers, developers). On the course, they mastered prototyping tools, learned how to make some interface elements. It is clear that they do not have the same design background as graphic designers. But it's so great when even managers or developers understand design, can make a prototype, fix a banner, an icon and generally begin to understand that design is a big job. "
Dmitry Ershov, Head of Cloud Services, MegaLabs JSC
“MegaLabs has several teams, among which MegaFon products are distributed. For example, now we are looking for designers for the MegaFon.Bank and MegaFon.TV teams. When I have already looked at the portfolio and talked with a UX / UI specialist, I first check my knowledge of theory: composition, typography, color. For each of the topics I ask several questions, and if the designer answers “I see it this way” - immediately minus 1 point. But if, for example, he offers to choose a color using a triad scheme, it becomes clear that he is familiar with the basics of color.
When the theory is verified, I figure out which of the five UX levels according to the Jess Garrett model is the most "pumped" for the candidate, and depending on the level I give several problems. MegaFon's product designers are people who create interfaces based on the goals and needs of the company's customers. Preference is given to those who understand the problems and offer several solutions on the spot.
Development questions are always asked in interviews. I usually show several sites and ask how many columns are in the grid, or how JS differs from CSS. A designer must be able to explain all this in order to "package" his ideas in a language that developers can understand. "
3. Is it difficult to find a job?
On the one hand, the industry is experiencing a shortage of such specialists and is ready to pay a lot, on the other hand, now many designers are looking for work and cannot find a decent job for a long time. What is the problem with both?
First of all, you need to change your thinking. From "how to make beautiful portfolio screens" to "how to make people happier after interacting with a product." It may turn out that you don't have to draw screens at all, and people will thank you for that. To create these artifacts, actual design tools and methodologies are used: Design thinking, User story mapping, User Flow Mapping, Customer Journey Mapping, Split testing, Usability testing, quantitative research and many others. Although sometimes you can come to the right results in the wrong way. The situation on the market for new professions is unstable, now it is a rather demanded and profitable occupation, but demand creates supply.
Evgeniy Zasimenko, BHSAD graduate, product designer at Avito
“I started looking for a product designer job a few months before the end of the course. This is not to say that it is very active, but I liked Avito when we were there on an excursion from Britanka. The recruiting process was pretty standard in the design industry: portfolio review, test assignment, two interviews, and I got an offer.
Product development is, first of all, a team work, in which a designer should participate from the very beginning and be engaged in drawing interfaces based on metrics and research, be able to create prototypes for tests, work in conjunction with developers and, most importantly, should help achieve a common goal. "
The processes of companies that require a product designer raise the bar for entry: in addition to understanding design tools, it also requires practical experience in their use, as well as the ability to work in a team. Therefore, in addition to current tools and methodologies, we give our students real cases from large brands and combine them into cross-functional teams.
During this year, we managed to complete about 20 projects for various types of companies: from the expected fintech - Alfa-Bank, MTS, MegaFon - to start-ups in the field of agrotech. Many students were able to find work as a result of defending projects in those companies for which they did the project, because customers in the process see their competencies and practical experience.
Denis Ushakov, BHShD graduate
“Our project was to develop AgroClick mobile application for Exact Farming. The agronomist scooter app helps him keep all plant data in one place, structure it and share it quickly. The essence of the solution is to speed up communication between a scooter agronomist, who is in the field all day and collects information about crops, and a specialist agronomist, who makes key decisions in the office, for example, on the purchase of pesticides.
Now I continue to work on the project as a product designer already on the staff of this company. The client himself offered me the position of a product designer, since they already saw what I was capable of, we had experience working together... It seems to me that almost all classmates by the end of their studies got a job related to UX / UI in companies such as Raiffeisenbank, Sberbank Technologies, Tele2, Mail.ru, IBM Russia and others. "
4. Will the demand for such specialists continue to grow in the next 5 years?
Due to the fact that the businesses of different companies - from banks to restaurants - are being digitized, one can expect an increase in in-house development and a transition to custom development product rails. Hence, the need for UX / UI designers will be high. I cannot promise mountains of gold, as the market for new professions is adapting faster and faster to demand, as it was with specialists in big data, machine learning, blockchain and other areas, but an educated product designer with a good portfolio and track record is now expensive and in demand all over the world.
“I think it’s not so much about the name“ UX / UI-design ”, but more about functionality and responsibility. The demand will not fall, of course, but for whom? Waves are observed: at first, everyone was looking for a versatile person - a designer, layout designer, copywriter. This was due to the fact that companies either did not have money for this, or they did not understand why they should spend it on designers. Then the UX hype began, in-house research and design departments appeared, the concept of not so much buttons as user experience became in use. We started playing testing, design thinking, eye trackers. They started thinking in processes, not screens.
I think the next wave will focus on awareness and implementation of core UX concepts and principles in all product creation professions. That is, specialists will be in demand who, at the DNA level, understand the principles of research, the basic methods of analyzing users and processes, and designing experiences. And this does not exclude high design skills. I believe in the growth of design competence, because a designer is good, but the feeling of beauty in the broad sense of the word has not been canceled. "
5. How is the work of a UX / UI designer reflected in everyday life?
If we accept that almost everything we use was invented by designers, then almost all mass digital services - mobile sites, web services, and others - are now being invented by Digital Product Designer. Banking applications, telecom operator services, e-commerce, dating services , geolocation and information services ... You can go on for a long time - it's easier to open the desktop mobile phone or a desktop laptop and flip through installed applications... All these are digital products, on the logical and visual component of which UX / UI designers work.
Project of students of the course "UX / UI design" BHSAD for MTS: a mobile guide for adaptation and development of MTS employees
The work can be either creating a completely new product or digitizing existing services. For example, our students made a case for MTS - a mobile guide for the adaptation of new employees and their development with the gamification system and other functions. There has always been an adaptation system: from a standard HR department to HR services and a mentoring system, but the digital solution is something new. It is more flexible, efficient and allows you to solve various problems of the company through a single service: networking, training, organization of the work of employees.
The lifespan of profitable business models is rapidly shrinking. To stay afloat, you need to constantly create new and develop existing digital products. Brands that can't adapt to speed go off the track. Therefore, modern companies are moving to fast adaptive cycles of constant change. This is just about the notorious Agile and Scrum. Design-Develop-Learn and circle again. Consequently, design expertise as part of this circle becomes fundamental.
Alina Ermakova, Head of the Analytical Research Department of User Interaction at Sberbank-Technologies
“A couple of weeks ago, I returned from the Enterprise UX conference in San Francisco. Large companies talked about how they design public services, or large fintech systems, or, for example, how Uber maintains consistency, being located in 77 countries of the world. UX / UI is already in their DNA. This is not a stage, not a method; this is a normal production process. There are no design thinking ceremonies, for example.
The whole process of creating products is design thinking. The team uses the right methods where they feel right. This is part of the job. And it wasn't young hipster designers who were hired to draw interfaces that came on the scene. There were uncles and aunts over 45, business owners, managing directors of corporations. Because this is already at the level of common sense. "
6. What methodologies are currently the most popular?
In Russia, the culture of product design is just emerging. The Design Thinking framework has already become an integral part of the internal corporate training program in our large companies and corporations: Rosatom, Sberbank, Alfa-Bank and others.
Design Thinking derivatives are traditionally popular in digital companies - Google Ventures Design Sprints, IBM Design Thinking, as well as various Design Thinking tool parts - character modeling, ethnographic research, stakeholder maps, customer journey mapping and others. Relatively new, but noteworthy is the Jobs To Be Done framework, where the product is developed not so much based on the characteristics of the user as on the basis of the situation in which he finds himself. The relevance of the methodology depends both on the scope of the company and on internal processes. Implementing the same Scrum in a large company is longer and more difficult than in a startup, but everything is realistic, the main thing is the desire to make a great product for people.
Dmitry Ershov, Head of Cloud Services, MegaLabs JSC
“For products that will not change, we use the classic waterfall development model, and for constantly evolving ones, we choose SCRUM. We describe new products or functionality using use case diagrams, but we try on the Jobs To Be Done concept, in which such diagrams are not needed.
When planning new releases, we evaluate the functionality according to the importance for users, for the business and in terms of labor costs. The hardest part is assessing the importance to users. To achieve more objectivity, we use the HEART framework. It helps you look at new functionality through the lens of user goals.
Sometimes disputes arise, for example, the product owner disagrees with the designer. In such cases, we develop and launch different options at the same time in order to evaluate the effectiveness of each of them. The most effective solution is determined by the statistics of user behavior. "
7. What industries will UX / UI design techniques be integrated into in the future?
If we take global practice, the slowest developing areas are areas with low competition, for example, government services - there is where to put a hand. In our country, traditionally low financial and legal literacy, due to this, not as quickly as we would like, there are products aimed at wealth management and all kinds of legal services.
On the course, we do a lot of fintech, one of the recent cases is a mobile service that helps a person manage their finances and invest. To remove the barrier of communication between the bank and the user, the students came to the decision to make a tool in the chatbot format that can work in any user-friendly messenger.
The project of the students of the UX / UI design course of the BHSAD for the Ak Bars bank: a personal financial assistant, a tool for investments in any convenient messenger.
IDEO has been a recognized driving force in the application of design thinking for many years. From their recent cases, you can see that this methodology is actively beginning to be applied in the field of education, the development of wearable electronics, and the solution of global problems.
It is clear that the increased competition in various types of business has forced companies to go digital. Therefore, if today we see that agricultural technology, medicine, restaurant business and other offline spheres have begun to provide services online, then tomorrow they will need our methodologies to offer the market new functions and products, to come up with and update their digital solutions faster, to be more flexible. and make your customers happier.
“Most companies still perceive UX / UI research, design thinking and other creative techniques as a service, a separate service that can be ordered or hired. Thinking like a designer cannot be bought, you have to start. Everyone =) ", - says Alina Ermakova, head of the department of analytical research of user interaction at Sberbank-Technologies.
Working with user interaction helps to take a product or business to the next level, because the UX designer thinks through the logic of the product and helps clients achieve their goals.
To start learning UX design, you need to understand how work on any digital project is structured and what exactly such a designer is responsible for during development.
Who is a UX designer, what does he do
A UX designer is a designer who makes digital products understandable and logical. He studies the experience of user interaction with a product - site, application, program. The goal of a UX designer is to help the user achieve their goal. To do this, the project is divided into stages and each of them is worked out.
First, designers analyze the audience of the product, explore its goals and fears. Then they conduct interviews with real people, observe the sites and applications of competitors. After that, prototypes are created, shown to users, and the files are handed over to the developers.
Taking a closer look at each of these steps makes it easy to figure out where to start learning UX design.
Who can become a UX designer
Often times, web designers come to UX who have decided to delve deeper into the field of user interaction. They have already worked with users, know the basic principles and are able to visualize information.
However, you don't need to be a web designer to work in UX. All processes in this area are primarily based on logic, the ability to think critically, communication with people and the ability to analyze.
One of Google's designers, Fiona Yong, said that there are only a few specialists with a designer education on her team. The rest used to work in related fields or in other industries. Some were engaged in cognitive sciences, and some in psychobiology.
Therefore, architects, engineers and programmers can all be good designers. The main thing is to understand the basics of interactive design and understand how the logic of work in UX is built. This can be done on your own or in special UI / UX design courses.
Where to begin
You can start learning UX design with courses, books, and articles. The main thing is to draw up the correct training plan, formulate goals and move from general to specific.
The process of working on a product consists of several stages. In each of them, the UX designer does different things. To understand what knowledge is necessary for work, you need to consider each of the stages in detail:
- study,
- data analysis,
- design,
- design,
- analysis of metrics.
Study
A UX designer makes sure that the future site or application performs a useful action - sell, advertise, help users.
But it’s difficult to create a good project if you don’t understand the problem. Therefore, the designer first collects data about the future product. Researches competitors, plans functions, thinks over the logic of work.
A good research method is talking to real users. When creating a service for buying tickets, it is better to go to the train station and conduct interviews with passengers. Find out whether it will be easier for them to purchase tickets via the Internet, whether it is convenient to pay with a card, how they want to choose seats in the carriage.
During the research phase, the UX designer should actively talk to potential users and ask what they need.
Data analysis
When the objectives of the product are clear, the designer thinks over the logic of interaction.
The most prominent representatives are chosen from the target audience and told about them. They try to imagine what is important for this person in the product. What tasks he will solve, in what way. This stage, creating personas, helps the designer introduce and work for specific people.
Satisfying the requirements of the entire target audience will not work, but you can work on the desires of the brightest representatives. Then the chance increases that others will also be comfortable using the product.
The designer creates scenarios for each person. It is important here to imagine how a specific person might interact with the product. What functionality is needed and what can be discarded at the first stage.
Scripting helps you think through the structure of your application or site, as well as the basic elements.
Design
At this stage, all the collected data is visualized. They build the structure of the application, arrange elements for each screen.
Design is not about creating a finished design. These are quick sketches that are shown to users. They conduct testing and find out if the product will solve the problem in this form.
Layouts at this stage can be completely different - low detail and black and white or bright and interactive. Someone works with paper and pen, someone uses special programs. Some designers immediately work in graphic editors.
The design phase can save you a lot of time. It is faster to show a sketch to the user and ask their opinion than to draw and program a product from scratch and then fix the bugs.
Design
The final version is created by the UI designer. But often you have to draw the final version yourself. Therefore, it is useful to gain basic skills and learn UI design.
At the stage, they create visualizations from prototypes and wireframes, work with color, composition and typography, and design content.
Suitable for this graphic editor where designers work:
- Adobe Photoshop,
- Adobe XD,
- Sketch,
- Figma.
The task for a UX designer is to monitor the usability of individual elements and pages as a whole. Make sure that when adding visual effects, the main meaning of the product is not lost.
Analysis of metrics
After the first working version of the product is published, the UX designer monitors the actual user behavior. For this, analytics systems and various metrics are used.
Working on a product - conducting usability and A / B tests. Improve user experience, add new features.
How to learn UX design
UX design is made up of different directions and disciplines. This is visual design, and working with users, and testing the results. Some UX professionals work in one direction, some in all.
To learn UX design, you need to imagine the entire product development path and improve the skills required for each stage. "
When learning theory, keep practical skills in mind. Create a website layout or come up with mobile app... Divide the project into parts and work on each one carefully: do research and analysis, then do design and design. Only practice helps a designer to become a good specialist.
How to become a designer.
A friend of mine once admitted that she always wanted to become a designer, but missed the opportunity to become one. I quickly assured her that it was never too late to start and I was the best confirmation of that. In fact, many designers have been able to learn UX design without any formal training.
Here's how it all happened for me, step by step:
1. Understand all directions of Design
There are visual designers, interaction designers, user experience (UX) designers, interface (UI) designers, product designers, graphic designers, and so on. There are generalists who know a little of everything. Start by figuring out what specialization you are interested in.
2. Read articles on UX / UI design on your way to work
4. Take a break when you run into difficulties.
sooner or later you will be confused, defeated and overwhelmed - buy yourself a latte please! Reward yourself for the hard work you put into your passion. Stay positive.
I remember with a smile the day when I embarrassedly confessed to my friend that I had no idea how to use the pen tool (you will be amused in a few months). My friend and I got a job at the same company a year later and we still smile as we remember the day we literally spent 8 hours painting shapes in Photoshop.
5. Read good books.
6. Find a designer who knows how to do it and ask him sometimes
I am not saying "find a mentor." I don't believe in mentors because I think people are too busy working on their own dreams. I never expected anyone else to put a lot of energy into my career, but I have found some excellent friends to whom I can quickly ask a question or buy coffee when I need advice.
7. Get inspired
Listen to Mathias Duarte, VP of Android Design, and his material design stories.
See work at Dribbble, The Best Designs, and Awwwards. Make inspiration a priority. It will help you understand UX patterns, visual design and empower you.
8. Work on non-existent projects
If your goal is an intern or entry-level position in UI / UX design, then you need to show something to the employer. This is the hardest step, it's like jumping off a cliff. You are unlikely to be ready to start working on a project, but do it one way or another. Try creating a portfolio in Sketch or Illustrator, start with custom flows, wireframes, interactions, and finally a full mockup. After that, redo the site, which just needs it. Create your own to-do list app. Create a delivery app. Keep creating what excites you.
The term UX originated in 1993 in the bowels of the Apple Corporation, the transcript sounds like User eXperience. With increasing popularity mobile devices this concept came into vogue and began to be used everywhere. But even now, not everyone can answer with certainty what UX design is, how it differs from UI design, and why these things are often mentioned in conjunction. We will help you figure it out.
What is UX design
In Russian, UX design is user experience design. It is one of the first steps in creating a product and serves to make the application logical, convenient and useful. and sites determines what impressions a person will get from using them, how exactly he will use these products.
Where is the best place to place the entrance to Personal Area? How many steps does a user need to go through to subscribe to a newsletter or place an order? How will he know that the operation was successful? These are the kinds of questions a UX designer decides.
UX design includes different components:
- information architecture;
- interactive design;
- usability (an indicator of the simplicity, convenience and effectiveness of a product in the eyes of users).
A UX designer understands the psychology and emotions of users, analyzes their expectations from the product and sets a goal to be achieved. Next, he chooses the appropriate tools and comes up with an application or site structure that meets all the necessary parameters.
A crude idea of a website or app is like a disassembled puzzle in our office. By the will of the UX designer, a clear structure is formed from these pieces.
As a UX designer, there are no monotonous tasks, so different projects often require people with skills from different fields. There are entire laboratories with powerful technical equipment, in which a team of several people is working on research. In such laboratories, there are devices that record the psychophysical reactions of users (for example, gaze movements and heartbeats), they conduct surveys, observe users using the included and non-included method, etc.
It is important for UX designers to be able to:
- conduct user research;
- create wireframes and prototypes of sites and applications. This will help to assess in which direction to develop the application or site. Moreover, the ability to draw is not at all a mandatory skill for a modern UX designer. There are many prototyping tools where you can use ready-made elements to create a competent visualization of the interface (for example, Axure, Balsamiq or UXPin);
- design interaction, that is, imagine how exactly a person will use the product. To do this, maps of user routes along the application screens, interactive wireframes of sites and applications with different design options are created;
- test the product;
- do analytics. Using various metrics (such as Webvisor, Hotjar, Mixpanel, UXcam, or Appsee) can help you understand how effective the design is and refine your product based on real data.
You can read more about the principles and fundamentals of UX interface design in.
What is UI design
User interface design or UI design is the visual embodiment of UX design. Its task is to make an application, website or other product intuitive, attractive and as easy to use as possible using certain graphical solutions.
The UI designer is responsible for how each individual screen or page will look. He is responsible for graphical controls such as buttons and checkboxes, fonts, color schemes and various visuals.
What should the button look like to make it easy to click on? What font size should I choose to make the text readable? How do I format the error message so that it grabs attention, but not annoying? UI-interface design helps to find answers to these questions.
The UI designer uses various graphic editors in his work: Photoshop, Illustrator, Sketch, Fireworks, Adobe XD, Gravit Designer, Affinity Designer, Figma
While working on how the application will look on the gadget's screen, the UI designer focuses on the mobile platform guidelines - sets of recommendations from Apple and Google, thanks to which third-party applications look consistent and fit seamlessly into the overall concept.
If we draw a very simple analogy from life, then UX design is the layout of an apartment and communications, and UI is the choice of wallpaper and flooring. However, in practice, UX and UI design are closely interrelated, the second logically follows the first, and often the same person is engaged in both. Therefore, the line between the two concepts is blurred, and they are indicated together.
When asked what is the difference between a UX designer and a UI designer, people like to answer through denial. You know, such a literary device. Like "UX is not about the interface, not about graphic design, it is not usability, not analytics, not a prototype." Today we briefly show the difference, tell the history of the appearance of the terms and explain why two concepts, even after so many years, are merged into one with such eagerness - UX / UI.
Briefly about the difference
A UI designer (user interface) is an interface designer in an ideal environment who draws buttons, icons, shapes, selects fonts and makes a harmonious and beautiful layout out of everything. A website, an application, anything, what the user will interact with - even a station terminal screen. And he doesn't think about anything else.
A UX designer (user experience) is not a designer, but a designer (just in English the word designer has just the second meaning). He studies the needs of users, builds logical diagrams of the interface, tests prototypes on living people, writes technical specifications for design. In other words, this is such a marketing engineer: the analyst is the input, the output is the principles of creating an interface, the logic of work, layout, content. It does not concern drawing as such.
That's all.
Why it was necessary to complicate everything
As it was before: the designer received the task "to draw the site". All sites were more or less the same: home, about the company, catalog, further down the list. The designer asked: "when will the content be given to us?" Never, comrade spirit, this is an army.
And the designer was simply called "designer". No overseas prefixes.
How it became later: agencies wanted to get more money, and the world gradually began to move from “simple sites” to complex web services. And a service is not only a unique interface, it is also a special business process behind it. For example, remember the Airbnb website - without a deep study of the subject, no graphic designer could immediately make an interface.
Since there was more work, the need arose to divide one profession into several. Now the UX specialist (let's call him so that there is no confusion) researched and designed the information architecture, the prototypist did the functional part, and the graphic (UI) designer created the final product: modern and pleasing to the eye.
The same has already happened in the industry. For example, simply "programmers" were divided into "front-end" and "back-end". And front-endrs for true front-endrs and “just layout designers”. By the way, .
The reason is always the same: one person is not enough for a large process. Let's go further.
Who is a UX / UI designer
What's fun: job vacancies often feature UX / UI designer positions, just like that, through a slash. Even Tinkoff is looking for such a combo specialist:
On the other side of the barricades, designers all over the world began to call themselves exactly as UX / UI. Because being just a designer is fucking unfashionable.
What is UX / UI in an ideal world? A superhuman who conducts the entire cycle of UX work, and then still manages to draw everything with several iterations of the right (make the UI).
Who is UX / UI Really? Just a good designer. For those who consider it their duty not just to "figure out the layouts", but to approach each project individually, start with analysis, questions, clarifications, sketches, diagrams, etc. This is not a full-fledged UX-expertise, but, as a rule, it is enough to support a ready-made service or develop a “simple website”.
So if you see an amazing UX / UI mutant, know that:
- This is a designer who approaches the project with his head, and not just clicks the mouse and beak.
- This is a whip that has read a lot of buzzwords and now calls itself UX / UI.
It is simple to check: ask the designer to tell why he chose exactly this arrangement of elements, such a sequence of screens, etc. A good designer doesn't make a single interface solution just like that - everything has a logical rationale.
by the way
This article is already the second in the series "How does one web specialist differ from another." What prompted us to make a directory of all professions from the web, with different variants of their names. To make life clearer for the client (and for all of us, what really).
