How the Field of UX is Evolving
UX is user experience design. Daniel Holtzman informs us that it’s a big field and it encompasses a lot of things. It comes from a few older practices, some of which form part of what UX is and some of which have been more or less replaced by it. Back in the day, it was more commonly referred to as HCI, or human-computer interface.
There are elements of it which touch UI. There are elements of it which touch technology. There are elements of it which touch business. But really, it’s about understanding how a product or an experience is going to affect a user’s life. How can you create the product or experience in a way that allows someone to use it better, get more out of it, find more delight in it and ultimately engage with it more successfully?
UX design has grown from a lot of things, and it’s at a point now where it’s really exploding. There is a lot going on as interfaces and technologies evolve.
We’re seeing voice interfaces. We’re seeing VR, AR, all of these emergent technologies, all of which are going to require that people not only understand how to bring those experiences to life but also do it in new ways. We’ll have to take all the things we traditionally do in a more digital format and bring them to these other types of formats.
We’re finding that people are specializing, but more people are also becoming generalists. The industry is at a point where it’s diverging. Before, we had a convergence of a bunch of different practices coming together under the helm of UX. Now, what we’re seeing is people specializing and diverging into these different areas.
As these areas become richer and more complex, we’re going to need people who are paying more and more attention to these specific things and are able to specialize in them.
If you have interest in learning more about both UX design and UI design, an excellent place to start would be online UX design education. It’s a convenient and accessible way to gain a much deeper and more complete understanding of these topics and many others.
