UX & Research
The design field is full of abbreviations like UX, UI, etc. Much of it relates to design, some to user-friendliness. But what is what, and what distinguishes UX designers from UI designers, for example?
Reading Time:
min
14.10.2014
Let's start with the basics – UX. UX is short for "User Experience," meaning the experiences a user has with a product. The DIN EN ISO 9241-210 defines User Experience as "a person's perceptions and responses that result from the use and/or anticipated use of a product, system or service". It encompasses "all the emotions, beliefs, preferences, perceptions, physical and psychological responses, behaviors and accomplishments that occur before, during and after use".
The goal in product development is naturally to create as positive a user experience as possible. This process is called UXD – User Experience Design. Someone who designs the user experience is accordingly called a UX designer.
To design a good UX, you first need to know who the users are, what goals, motivations and knowledge they have, in order to derive requirements from this. Someone who primarily deals with and researches these questions is called a UX researcher.
An important role for good UX is played by, among other things, the usability of the product. This is where the usability engineer comes into play, primarily dealing with the product's interface – the connection between human and machine. The interface is referred to in the "scene" as UI – User Interface. UID is accordingly User Interface Design, and a UI designer has the task of designing a product's control elements. However, they should always keep usability in mind, as well as IA – Information Architecture. For the latter, there are also specialists, the "information architects". They deal with the product's content, more specifically with the structuring, arrangement and labeling of information units.
Of course, there are many overlaps between the areas: UX designers also deal with usability, usability engineers also design interface elements like buttons, information architects also conduct UX research ...
Where responsibilities begin and end is not firmly defined. Therefore, it should be noted that this article reflects a personal understanding of UX professions. In practice, misunderstandings often occur due to different conceptions of certain roles. One can only hope that this will change in the coming years.
