What is User Experience

 

You may have heard of User Experience regarding User Design, User Interface Design, User Research, and how it is relevant to designing products, services, and positions in the tech industry and other industries such as physical product design, for example, cars.

 

What can be understood by reading this article is a description of the User Experience and other information on the sector to see whether or not this interests the reader in pursuing a career in User Experience, the tech industry, or whether or not a company would be worthwhile investing money in User Experience/UX design professional.

 

Definitions of User Experience

 

User Experience is a sector of work that has been around from the earliest the 1970s. Still, there is a lot of overlap between User Experience and market research User Experience.

 

This article will focus on the tech industry with the user experience maturing under the leadership of entrepreneurs and the founder of Apple, Steve Jobs, who pioneered the use experience.

 

To put it simply, the User Experience is all about understanding the people that use a product or service, in this particular case, a website, by understanding the majority of users to tailor the service of the website and its functionality so that the users use the website in a manner that leads to a successful outcome for the users.

 

The User Experience is paramount because there can be massive financial losses when companies get it wrong.

 

For example, Walmart lost over $1 billion when it redesigned its customers’ experience using its stores.

 

They made a mistake by asking customers whether or not they were like Walmart supermarkets to be less cluttered.

 

They did not understand that customers or users do not honestly care whether or not the store is clean.

 

The user cares about whether they get the most out of this product or service; with the stores being slightly messy, the customers had more choices when it came to buying products and greater spontaneity when it came to on the spot.

 

A case in the tech industry where they also got the user experience wrong is the BlackBerry company that no longer produces physical products because the BlackBerry 10 user experience was a disaster because the customers could not successfully navigate the screen.

 

The mistake in the UX design process for the BlackBerry 10 was because the designers went against convention unless you are Apple or Google that can afford to experiment and create new conventions.

 

A good UX designer does look for new solutions; however, unless you are a company with a design philosophy is best to stick to conventions.

 

The way we navigate mobile phones, tablets, and other computer devices comes from the conventions created by the legacy companies of the tech revolution in the late 20^th century and early 21^st century.

 

We navigate our smartphones using the same journey map and conventions that were created and that everybody understands.

 

Why hire a user experience professional? And office politics

 

You may think it would be a great idea to hire a UX professional; having read the paragraphs above, UX professionals are best hired for design environments.

 

If a stakeholder that manages the marketing and development of a product does not understand the relevance of a User Researcher/UX Designer, it would be a waste of time and financial resources to hire those kinds of professionals with salaries ranging from £30,000 to over a £100,000.

 

Also, during the creation process of the software, there is a lot of politics in the background of its creation.

 

Office politics can be a great thing when using a creative environment where people can experiment and develop software.

 

But unfortunately, if an office culture doesn’t support this kind of development and this kind of discourse, then the User Experience and all the development and research will go unused. The product will fail because of a successful outcome with online or physical products.

 

 

 

There must be an environment that allows disagreements.

 

Creating a piece of software requires a great deal of team management and stakeholder communications because there is the digital marketing team, copywriter or content writer, software developers, user experience, and a host of other professionals developing and designing this physical product or website.

 

This means that successful user experience research and creating an end product that generates the company revenue or leads generations requires the successful management of the diverse and intelligent team mentioned above.

 

With this stated that a lot of people responsible for its success this means that professionals may but heads or argue over team funding the costs all members are equally important when it comes to the launching, designing, and prototyping of the product.

 

With the nature of the modern office environment and the tremendous pressure placed on stakeholders by shareholders, the competitive marketplace with companies just trying to survive after Covid-19, the war in Ukraine, and rising living costs.

 

The possibility of a recession in 2022 puts pressure on companies’ teams, which could mean job losses, pay cuts, or even greater outsourcing.

 

All these pressures could lead to an environment where the stakeholders I just trying to hold onto their positions.

 

Which could lead to a less effective design process because the teams are not truly working together but are afraid to cooperate due to the fear of job losses and possible negative company culture.

 

User experience job opportunities

 

UX design/user experience is an excellent opportunity to enter the tech industry without having no coding experience or professional diploma.

 

The User Experience, as we understand it comes from the 1990s; this means that the field of work is just over 30 years old.

 

This means an excellent opportunity if seized quickly to become a user experience professional by joining a boot camp with the prices varying between £2500 or over $4000.

 

This is more beneficial than getting over £40,000 in debt to go to university or over $100,000 in the United States.

 

With UX design being a new field of work, it provides a unique opportunity for people to get lucrative careers before the industry becomes commercialized by the large academic communities that will inflate the price of education when it comes to developing the skills of a UX design professional.

 

UX design professionals could be expected to earn at a junior level between £25,000-£35,000 a year, with the senior UX professional, could potentially be earning £35,000 a year or over a £100,0000 a year.

 

Conclusion

 

by reading this article, you should hopefully have understood how user experience functions in the workplace and why it is essential when designing software or physical products.

 

Before hiring a User, Researcher, or embarking on a career in the user experience, it is strongly recommended that you get some practical experience or do some research to see whether or not it is worthwhile to pursue this career path.

 

It may sound simple, but something like User Experience requires time and dedication; it takes five years for an individual to master a skill set truly.

 

And if you are working a full-time job between 35 hours or 45 hours a week, it would take you over 10 years to have the skills of a senior UX design professional. It is possible that you could become a user experience professional within three months. Still, you will be at a junior level.

 

To truly make the correct decision for yourself, your organization, or your families, you must first weigh all your options to see whether or not it is worth the opportunity and the risks involved.