Popularity: Popular in (but not limited to) large multi-national organisations especially those new to building products that come into direct contact with actual human beings, design agencies with poor planning and do anything attitudes, and advertising, marketing and design agencies fast tracking ‘UX’ departments.

It has been said that at any given time in London, UK that up to 70% of those who title themselves ‘UX designers’ are working on or similar to Black Hole UX-style projects.

(A) conclusion: Maybe we are really all just designers but some of us are lucky enough to work with real people who really use the thing/s we are designing.

(B) conclusion: Remember – on a more positive note – “user experience is dynamic, because it changes over time as the circumstances change” which is also the same for project management and planning so black hole can quite easily and quickly change to sunny days.

Quotes from Wikipedia

//@solle
//London

Once upon a time there was (probably) a designer who started calling himself a User Experience Designer. Some colleagues overheard him and thought “I’ll have a bit of that” and a bit later they too started calling themselves User Experience Designers. Later that same day some of these User Experience Designers went to the pub and had a natter about their new titles. In the same pub there were some other designers who worked elsewhere and a gaggle of Information Architects and Front End Developers and they couldn’t help but overhear this talk of User Experience and later when they got home they also thought “I like the sound of that User Experience Title Thing” and the next day at work they too started bandying new titles and buzzwords about. Soon some of these newly-titled Designers and Information Architects started writing about it and others begun reading about it and many thought “Fab, this sounds like me, I too am going to call myself -User Experience Designer-”. Quickly others pitched in. All sorts. Everyone wanted a bit of the User Experience Job Title Action and it was clear everyone and anyone was welcome to it (some smart alec even thought to start calling themselves a UX Designer).

The months and weeks went by and everything seemed ok in this brave new world of job titling. Occasionally a Librarian or an Information Architect with their heads buried in Richard Saul Wurman would look up confused, but generally everyone just got on with things. A few of the early adopters started thinking about what it all meant but generally talk was local and anyway no one was really 100% sure what they were talking about.

Then one day an inquisitive mind from a marketing department strode into town. He too had heard all about this User Experience business and was keen to find out more. He put himself about and sure enough without too much difficulty found out all he thought he needed to know to be able to add this new plume to his cap. When he arrived back home many of his more strident friends asked him about this new colourful feather in his cap and they too liked the way “User Experience Design” rolled off the tongue. Again, it wasn’t long before they too were contentedly running their fingers through their new feathers.

Now it felt as though the gates were well and truly open and it wasn’t long before the town was bustling with an array of visitors, from advertising executives to design college professors. The streets thronged and the talk was cheap. Everyone wanted a bit of the User Experience dollar – and everyone took it. There did seem to be plenty to go around.

It was at about this time that a few of the designer types who were the first to re-title themselves started thinking that they might just have a handle on what the User Experience title actually meant. They wrote a few things down, so did some of the later adopters, and they all found plenty of time to discuss it but the truth was agreement was sketchy and conversations were awash with greyness. There was common sense but common ground was patchy. Discussions were healthy but inconclusive. Ownership was tenuous.

Meanwhile, more developers, marketeers, planners, advertising executives et al continued to stream into town to hear about this User Experience thing. They continued clamouring at the discussion hotspots, all excited about the opportunities this new elixir might deliver.

Now, some of those early adopters and pioneers who were busy trying to clarify what User Experience meant began getting a little sniffy about all these new arrivals. “What right do they have coming here and taking our job titles?” But there was little they could do apart from discuss more, write more, plan more and work out more. 

And to this day that little town of User Experience continues to fill and throng, packed with discussion and thrills, finger pointing and charlatanry. A town like any other, but one that is searching for the meaning and implication of adding User Experience to a job title, to skills and to business offerings.

And the moral of this little tale my dear readers? We are often as guilty of the very things we are so quick to criticise in others.

Any comments to @solle or below

Written on Writer OSX (beta)

There have already been a fistful of intelligent responses and engagements (Cennydd Bowles, Andy Budd, Mark Boulton, Scott Berkun) to and with Ryan Carson’s recent link bait, but what about fallout and questioning directed at UX Design folk by their colleagues in the workplace?

Where there are folk with the two letters UX or the words User Experience as part of their job titles there are normally to be found visual designers, developers, project managers, strategists and managers/directors.

There is no doubt that the impact of Carson’s strategically dropped comment has rippled beyond the boundaries of the design and UX communities. It seems that Carson Camp Designers are finding allies in business leaders and both are beginning to question the value of their ‘UX’ colleagues. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing as evolvement and progress never come without some form of a battle, but it’s fascinating how quickly, and from one comment, there are reports (albeit off record) of many bullish designers jumping up and making disgruntled noises about their talentless ‘UX’ colleagues: “you are surplus to requirement as I am fully capable of delivering the full design workflow”.

Is anyone experiencing this? Or heard of anyone experiencing it? I would be interested to hear.

It should be remembered that whatever slur or slight that may get levelled at the words User Experience no one can have any doubt that within the support networks it covers and touches upon (and they are wide and diverse and often without barrier), the people involved are kind, supportive and rich in knowledge, and don’t tend to make a habit of criticising their colleagues and neighbouring disciplines (apart from, maybe, Agile), but are just fully committed to making the world a better and more usable place.

The idea is to meet and talk with friends, colleagues and other inspirational characters who are linked to the London IA, UX, interaction design community at one of London’s excellent coffee shops – whether it be Cafe Brera, Taylor Street Baristas or Look mum no hands!. I want to share as much of the conversation as possible so I’m aiming to keep the editing to the lightest touch (but keeping focus on the most relevant bits).

I’m still finding my way with the structure and tone – so as I conduct more it hopefully will improve. Any suggestions welcome.

My first chat was with Nic Price (he tweets @nicprice) during a busy lunchtime in Cafe Brera at Cabot Square in Canary Wharf.

Nic Price – digital dust, writing and the South Bank Centre

Our chat obviously began with coffee and the explosion of boutique coffee shops – something we both agreed was fantastic news both for coffee culture – which in recent times has been corporatised by Pret, Starbucks et al – and quality. (There is a rumour that Starbucks are working on creating sub brand coffee shops to compete – if anyone has more detail on this please let me know – UPDATE thanks @byekick here’s a link.)

Brown sugar

What’s your earliest memories of coffee?

My first paid job was in 1986 when I was 16 building a database for DeLoitte’s in Lisbon. Our family lived in a place called Monte Estoril, West of Lisbon. My dad was working at Shell at the time and we would get up around 6am (sometimes I’d only have just got back from being out the night before) and drive up to Lisbon and prop up a bar and drink ‘uma bica’ espresso-style black coffee and eat pastries.

My earliest memory of coffee (and possibly my first coffee experience) was when I was 6 years old and my grandmother would give me strong black coffee with loads of brown sugar. I think I liked the taste of the sugar over the coffee. From that day my preference has been for espressos, though not always the ‘rule’ of single espressos. Occasionally I will have a cappuccino as a dessert.

When working in a corporate tower is it better to drink free machine coffee than pay money for marginally better muck from Starbucks?

Today someone bought me an espresso from Starbucks and I would have to say “might as well have got it from a machine”.

Conversation and writing

How do you approach writing?

I am much more comfortable in conversation than when I’m trying to write. I prefer the way conversation is structured. The freedom it affords. I enjoy the visual cues and mannerisms. This is why I like Twitter. Apart from the 140 characters, the non-structured sense of it (though it would be great if there were visual cues).

I also think more clearly in free flow conversation. Like millions of others, I think “oh, that would be great to write down and publish as a blog post”, but when i come to sit down to try and write it up, I dry up. I’m blocked. I cannot do it. I think of recording it, but I’m too self conscious. I just love talking but struggle to mould it to something to write down. My main concern with writing stuff down is that I don’t get my point and message across clearly. I immediately feel I’ve failed – and on so many levels. Communication is my game and my ability to communicate everything I say clearly to everyone is paramount. My job is about being understood fully by other people (and myself understanding too). It’s about sharing and learning. Understanding enough about the context of a product so everyone knows how to use it without having to think too much. When I’m talking I don’t want to be constricted by any formality, apart from grammar and syntax. I love stream of consciousness conversations.

South Bank Centre

Let’s talk about your time at the BBC working on its intranet

When I worked on the BBC intranet I needed to understand the problems associated with the digital workspace. So I decided to take the team I was working with on a day trip to the South Bank Centre to help explain an analogy for a physical digital space. To me the transformation of the South Bank Centre was very much like transforming the BBC’s intranet. by doing this exercise it felt that i didn’t have to explain myself too much. The action of the visit felt like the explanation itself. What we were trying to do at the BBC was exactly what was happening at the South Bank Centre. The secret was understanding that they were both eco systems.

The South Bank Centre is my favourite part of London. Everything about my life in London is somehow connected to it. All of them very personal and passionate, which greatly helped when explaining how it could help the BBC transform its intranet. The idea was to try and get the team away from thinking about an intranet as a digital workspace and get them thinking about a physical space with the movement of people going about their daily tasks, to find an analogy that we could use to tell the story of what we were trying to achieve. (By the way, the word intranet fills me with dread – intra this, intra that – nasty connotations, I prefer digital workspace.) I was undoubtedly motivated by the IDEO story of taking surgeons/operating theatre personnel to visit a NASCAR pit crew to assist in coming up with a more effective design for operating theaters.

When you visit the South Bank Centre you go there with a purpose. When it was being transformed, they didn’t just close it down, they worked on it bit by bit. They opened restaurants and shops at the front as welcoming windows to engage with visitors. Not to mask the renovation, but to engage at a time of upheaval and change. It worked. Footfall and engagement increased (and continued throughout the transformation and as far as I’m aware has continued to this day).

During the process the South Bank Centre consulted everyone in its audience – nearby residents, high frequency visitors, low frequency visitors, occasional – to find out what they thought and to ensure everyone was included and involved in the process. One of the most important things they did was retain the heart and the soul of the area: the skateboarders and second hand booksellers. They transformed with attention to feedback and a concern for the physical space.

Wayfinding

At the South Bank Centre it is much easier to build a relationship in regard to why you are there (the arts, library, coffee, rendezvous, concert, events etc). When you are at say somewhere like Canary Wharf it is more difficult. Apart from going to work in a corporate tower, it doesn’t seem to mean anything. Yes, there is shopping and restaurants but there only seems to be a sense of servitude. Think about the difference between these type of spaces where people live above (Barbican) and the spaces where people work above (Canary Wharf).

The signage in these places leaves a lot to be desired – also think about that John Lewis in Kingston

Yeah, wow that John Lewis is something else. I get a physical sensation just thinking about it. Really confusing space. I can’t believe that they (John Lewis) let it continue like that. Surely that level of non-signage in a building with a confusing layout can’t pay dividends. It’s the same at Canary Wharf. They haven’t managed to provide clear signage and a method of movement and flow for the occasional visitor. There is still too much focus on the corporate commuter who knows where he is going. The space is changing and requires a better balance. Next time you arrive at Canary Wharf DLR take a moment and think how you would react if you had arrived there for the first time. It is such an entry point, it needs to do better.

I’ve been there many times but I still have to take a moment to get my bearings

In terms of corporate work environments, the digital infrastructure invariably mirrors the physical infrastructure. The massive buildings clearly state “don’t come in” and that’s how they treat their digits too. The message is “this is the way it works for us” and investment (usually huge) in untested and unknown directions is very difficult to put in motion. And no, Sharepoint 2010 will not help you move forward. At some point corporations have to stop being backwards compatible (like Apple did) and move on. You’ll piss some people off but you don’t necessarily want to be like Microsoft who have always been backwards compatible – and look what’s happened to them (though it is evident they are making amends in some areas).

Why on earth do so many employers provide such crap digital workspace as well as crap physical workspaces for their employees – one can fix the other. There is no excuse – considering the amount of time they spend in them. Give users a positive reaction to spaces and take into account what’s already there.

Guerilla signage

I’m really bothered by how my local park (Peckham Rye) puts up the most confusing signs for the times the gates close (Nick shows me a photo of a quite confusing sign). I don’t want to create chart junk but it can be done better. You don’t need all the dates just the dates when it changes.

Education

What type of education serves someone in UX best?

I’ve got a communcation and design degree but I think curiosity is the best skill. The term ux designer fills me wiith dread. It’s used and abused and thrown around. Some people use the term correctly but many don’t. Sometimes I call myself an interaction designer but when I am working in e-learning I call myself an instructional designer (a training and development term). I find the whole job title thing a minefield and a bit of a nightmare. Web design as a term is not enough. If my grandmother asks me what i do I’m stumped. I find the best thing to do is to avoid too much focus on the job title but focus on the activities and services you as a UX designer will provide. The job description UX designer is still being professionalised, yet whatever you call yourself in the present climate you still need to associate yourself with the term UX design otherwise you do yourself a disservice.

Digital dust

This is the hype around technology, the excitement around technology, the stuff that gets in the way of people’s basic needs. When the digital dust settles we all have a basic set of needs and the desire to get things done. There is still a lot of digital dust floating about (to me it feels like the dust that surrounds Linus in Snoopy). For us to move on, a lot of it needs to settle. What I’m not sure about is whether this is my frustration with the world or what is actually going on. Maybe when the internet of things fully integrates with our daily lives – and the internet becomes a utlity – more of the dust will settle. Paradoxically, digital dust is where innovation occurs – but that is another conversation..

I’m increasingly coming into contact with people who refer (with the nonchalant ease of those that rarely question their convictions) to interaction designers, information architects, experience architects &etc (there is plenty of froth already here) with the word/abbreviation/label (delete as you think appropriate) “UX”

What on earth do they mean?

UX isn’t a designer, it isn’t even an interaction designer, it isn’t an information architect or an experience architect or a usability consultant – it is none of these job titles.

It isn’t a job.

The simplest description is that it is the perception of a product, a service, a brand and the experience of interacting physically with any interface of said product, service, brand. It is not a vocation.

We have always been designers, we haven’t suddenly become the experience of the user.

Where has this come from?

Is it the propensity for (particularly) non-designers to brushstroke areas of expertise they struggle to comprehend in business areas where UX Design is new or being introduced and is often misunderstood. There seems to be a habit to sell in, particularly on Agile projects, this magic “UX” with the believe that somehow it will fix up poor design.

UX doesn’t fix anything, designers do.

As Milton Glaser said: “Can you imagine calling someone a creative?”