Flag

We stand with Ukraine and our team members from Ukraine. Here are ways you can help

Get exclusive access to thought-provoking articles, bonus podcast content, and cutting-edge whitepapers. Become a member of the UX Magazine community today!

Home ›› Artificial Intelligence ›› Why This UX Role Will Grow Fastest In 2020

Why This UX Role Will Grow Fastest In 2020

by UX Magazine Staff
5 min read
Share this post on
Tweet
Share
Post
Share
Email
Print

Save

“The rise in hiring conversational designers seems to be happening at a much faster clip than when companies started hiring internal UXers 10 years ago”

IDC predicts that 500 million new software applications will be created in the next 3 years, equal to the number built over the past 40 years.

This suggests UXer’s won’t be short of opportunity anytime soon. One particular set of experience design skills is primed to be the fastest-growing UX role in 2020.

Conversational applications aren’t a new technology, but they make up a rapidly growing portion of all the applications being built today. Conversational design is showing up more and more in business, technology and design discussions.

In 2017 TD Ameritrade deployed voice-and text-based conversational applications for clients and hasn’t needed to hire new human agents since. Progressive Corp. projected about $5 million in savings in 2019 from just their customer-facing conversational applications, not including their internal and operational applications.

Capgemini surveyed over 1,000 executives and 12,000 consumers. Many of the top 100 companies in each sector have implemented conversational voice applications:  48% of companies in the automotive sector, 23% of consumer products and retail companies, and 17% of retail banking and insurance companies.

To put things in perspective, today you’ll find at least 40 website builder tools, more than 35 helpdesk platforms, and over 350 CRM options. Meanwhile, Gartner identified at least 1,000 conversational platforms in the market. That’s just platforms for building conversational applications; the number of actual conversational applications is exponentially greater.

By 2018 there were over 300,000 conversational applications just on Facebook Messenger. Alexa now has over 100,000 skills. Slack’s app directory lists over 1,500 apps (not including all the private conversational applications companies built). That’s not including the massive and growing number of conversational applications operating over phone systems and IVR’s, on websites (webchat), and internal/intranet messaging systems, WhatApp, email, others. Gartner Research predicts that 50% of businesses will spend more on conversational applications than mobile apps by 2021.

Like with the mainstream adoption of websites, mobile applications, and most front-end applications, the success of any conversational application is defined by the experience it offers.

Most of UI history is defined by people having to learn and adapt to how machines and UI’s work. Experience design (in particular, conversational design) is being elevated even further today as more and more software experiences embody the technological shift toward machines understanding and operating on human terms (and in our language; conversation).

Sound editors for feature films have commented that great sound design goes unnoticed – it gets out of the way. Similarly, great conversational design seems to get out of the way, helping the users of conversational applications to get what we need from it with ease – almost as if there was no application; just a positive, helpful experience that leaves the end user satisfied.

All to say, most of us don’t struggle to understand why companies are creating conversational applications and it shouldn’t be surprising that companies are hiring UX people with conversational design skills. There are plenty of good reasons.

In a way, we’ve all seen this episode before. Remember when businesses began clueing into the importance of UX and experience design? Conversational Design is a new function for most companies and overnight is becoming one of the most important UX jobs today.

“Stop and think about the conversation the two of us are having right now…Having a conversation is much easier than sitting down to design and write it.”

“The rise in hiring conversational designers seems to be happening at a much faster clip than when companies started hiring internal UXers 10 years ago”, says Lance Christmann, former head of UX research and design at Ogilvy (formerly Effective).

“Classic reads on UX research and design all translate to conversational design,” says Christmann. Folks like Christmann and Hans Van Dam from the Conversational Academy don’t seem surprised by the uptick in companies acquiring conversational design skills.

“Everyone thinks they can write [conversational experiences] because they can type”, says Van Dam, “but this is about design, not writing. Just like anything else, there’s good design and there’s bad design.”

Christmann seems to have a similar perspective, noting that “it’s not just copy – you’re designing experiences…Conversational applications might be one of the most naked examples of why design principles matter.”

“Stop and think about the conversation the two of us are having right now”, Christmann stressed. “Having a conversation is much easier than sitting down to design and write it.”

Conversation Designing

Conversational design so naturally fits into the UX cadre, and hiring conversational designers starts to really make sense once you see the types of things companies are accomplishing for their employees and customers. For Christmann, it’s hard to imagine a professional community that’s better equipped than UXers for applying design principles to conversational design.

Combine that with the fact that tools for developing applications without coding are drastically ahead of what they were 10 years ago, and it gets clear really fast why teams are equipping themselves with conversational designers.

Some of today’s platforms allow conversational experiences to be mapped out in design tools that simultaneously write code on the backend, essentially boiling deployment down to a ‘deploy’ button.

We asked Christmann about the impact this is having on conversational design as a UX role.

“Companies are catching on to the fact that putting a great no code conversational AI platform in the hands of capable conversational designers kinda gives you an unfair advantage,” says Christmann. “Imagine what it would have been like in 2013 if your wireframing automagically coded and deployed the experiences you mapped…That’s essentially where we’re at now with designing conversational experiences.”

Designing experiences for the very human, innate interface that is conversation is a task that is regularly underestimated by newcomers. User-centered design and research methodologies still apply to conversational design, but the manifestation of solutions have shifted from wireframes to dialogue mapping.

Understanding your users is as critical as ever, and designing the experiences people have with conversational applications is no different in this way. Reflecting empathy can be the difference between a person feeling disposable and like they’re relationship was offloaded to a robot, instead of thanking you for creating something that makes their life easier.

Many companies already seem to get the importance of understanding their user’s needs on practical and emotional levels. Companies are hiring for conversational design skills in UX roles because it’s clear as day that the success of their conversational applications will be defined by the experiences they offer.

All of this positions conversational design to be an especially important and fast growing UX role in 2020.

post authorUX Magazine Staff

UX Magazine Staff
UX Magazine was created to be a central, one-stop resource for everything related to user experience. Our primary goal is to provide a steady stream of current, informative, and credible information about UX and related fields to enhance the professional and creative lives of UX practitioners and those exploring the field. Our content is driven and created by an impressive roster of experienced professionals who work in all areas of UX and cover the field from diverse angles and perspectives.

Tweet
Share
Post
Share
Email
Print

Related Articles

Discover how AI-first design principles let you build beautiful, functional UIs in minutes — without ever opening Figma or writing any code.

Article by Adam Judelson, Ryan Brotman
Making Designs Without a Designer
  • AI-first design turns simple text prompts into fully functional, production-ready UIs — no coding or Figma required.
  • Learn how to develop structured AI prototyping workflows to eliminate bottlenecks, and ensure fast, scalable, and consistent UX across projects.
  • This isn’t just faster design — it’s the future of product design, making high-quality UI creation accessible to everyone.
Share:Making Designs Without a Designer
10 min read

Discover how UX designers can go beyond interfaces with agent-centered design. Learn to define agent roles, foster collaboration, and build trust for smarter, more adaptable AI systems.

Article by Ishaani M
Demystifying Designing an Agent
  • The article introduces a framework for designing AI agents with agent-centered design, focusing on agent roles, communication, and user engagement.
  • It highlights setting clear human-AI collaboration and building trust through transparency.
  • The piece urges UX designers to think beyond interfaces to create adaptable, intelligent systems.
Share:Demystifying Designing an Agent
7 min read

The era of hype-driven AI products is over. It’s time for a smarter approach: building reliable, tailored tools that focus on real value for domain experts, streamline workflows, and enhance AI-human collaboration. Discover the principles guiding the next generation of AI innovation.

Article by Varun Aggarwal, Kuldeep Yadav
It Is Time to Build the 2nd Generation of AI Products
  • The article critiques first-generation AI products, highlighting the need for AI solutions to address real problems.
  • It advocates building for domain experts, ensuring AI reliability, and using tailored models for specific tasks.
  • The piece stresses creating AI-first workflows and improving AI-human collaboration for better productivity.
Share:It Is Time to Build the 2nd Generation of AI Products
6 min read

Join the UX Magazine community!

Stay informed with exclusive content on the intersection of UX, AI agents, and agentic automation—essential reading for future-focused professionals.

Hello!

You're officially a member of the UX Magazine Community.
We're excited to have you with us!

Thank you!

To begin viewing member content, please verify your email.

Tell us about you. Enroll in the course.

    This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Check our privacy policy and