We Need to Talk: UX Magazine is interested in starting bigger conversations

hmmm.... i just stumbled upon this discussion/invitation after reading 'The Expanding Role of User Experience Design'. To be honest, I'm a walking testimony of the "immaturity" of the industry, since I had never really payed attention to the 'UX field' before this week. If not for the fact that I'm scheduled to interview for a new job with a UX design team next week, I'm sure I would still be in the dark. I am a web designer however, as well as a budding programmer, and although i am certainly adventurous, i am also a bit of a hobbit. It's been 5 years since I got my Associate degree in Multimedia Design and it's incredible how much has already changed. Some basics however are clearly just as important, if not more so, than they were then. My web design teacher at Platt College was excellent, and he impressed upon me the importance of the USER. So for me, a beautiful design is no real sustenance if it does not address the needs and wants of the end user. The real beauty is in how well your design satisfies that basic requirement. That lesson resonates and stays with me for every site I build. So, I was sort of surprised when I discovered UX Magazine. My first thought was, "Isn't the user experience the main purpose of most design?" And then I almost laughed out of my chair. How often have I seen that most sublime of goals get pushed aside in the name of everything from self-indulgent over-design to simple commerce/capitalistic goals? Touché, UX Magazine... and godspeed! I'm just a solo designer about to make a jump to an actual design team, so I guess I'm about to find out just how important UX is... As with all things 'billable', the more subjective a thing is, the harder it is to accept and budget, so UX certainly has a high bar to achieve. I can see the growing importance of UX in the future, but will others? Unfortunately, because I've seen the nature of production, and because UX designers already wear so many hats, I get the feeling that the significance of hiring UX specialists will get lost, except in the situation of larger projects and enterprises. Hell, most companies still never take network security seriously until they experience a major business disruption caused by something that could have been easily prevented. Not trying to be negative; just stating the nature of the beast. So given the nature of the beast, taxonomy does loom large on the UX horizon. Like I said, I'm very new to this, so forgive me if this sounds harsh, but for me the real question is: how important is distinguishing the field of UX/UE in the industry as compared to making it a pillar of Design Education? Of course, this is not an absolute A or B proposition; UX as an industry field and UE as an educational foundation are certainly intertwined, but the effect of simply having more designers and programmers who put more emphasis on the user experience would be enormous. If our schools gave as much weight to presenting UE principles as they did SDLC, UML, OOA, OOD & OOP, then that WOULD be something. I hope UXD can be seriously developed... but what are the guiding principles? It seems more like a basic philosophy at this point. Please point me in a good direction for resource material - I've asked "the oracle", aka Google, but I'm finding more questions than answers. UX/UE is so subjective that it's almost like defining 'art'; people are gonna think you're just charging money for exercising common sense! Which is certainly worth it of course, as 'common sense' appears to be relatively uncommon. I wish you the best of luck...!

I'm really concerned about some UX/UI practices that became a standard due to a copy/paste mechanism and that screams all over: get stupid. don't think. here it is the only way you can do this or that. But there are many types of users out there, and i think we should somehow try to address user behavior in different ways. I'm not so experienced as a UX professional (although my common sense never deceived me) but i think too much simplicity can be as bad for some as it is good for others. What do you think about this? Maybe some articles in here that can help? Thanks, I'm also trying to understand more about it.

I come from an SEO background. I agree there is a lot of excitement around UX. Personally I think its easy to see the value of it. To prove the value and execute the ideas are were struggles are found. The real need for UX as a profession is in large scale web businesses with tons of content. With big sites there is a lot at stake with UX enhancements and solving user needs. Enhancements will spread across design, programing and marketing business units. You have to understand the IA iceberg below the interface and design layers. You also have to work well in a cross functional teams. I believe that a mature UX leader is one with a deep understanding of information architecture and political savvy. People with these skill sets will rock their career.

As a college student hoping to break into this field, the barriers to entry seem pretty high. One needs a strong portfolio to get a serious look for a job, but it is hard to get the type of internship experience that would allow for a portfolio to be built. I think this is because UX is a young industry and the hierarchies that allow for training etc. have not yet been established. All you UX professionals, hire interns to work for you over summers or part time during the years, the pay will be relatively low and they will work extremely hard as they are young and trying to get experience/hired!

To follow up with what I think @SOMAdan was getting at... IMO one of the biggest issues/ concerns is the differentiation between visual design and what we do. Now I don't say this to start some sort of flame war, but sites like dribbble and forrst are visual showcases that are often confused for UX/UI, just look at their job boards... they are filled with UX/UI positions, as if an amazing looking psd is UX. I have many friends on these sites that do amazingly beautiful work. You can't use it to save your life, but it's nice looking and they are consistently approached for UX/UI work. Perhaps, a more concentrated effort to differentiate UX from visual design.

Hm.. well I think there is a temporary cultural snafu where visual design is prominent within 'the conversation' while UX is still not well understood. This may not be big enough or too media-centric, but voila.