The User Experience Team of One. Leah Buley

and graduate level programs being developed to train future generations of professionals to design products for the people who use them.

Where UX Professionals Come From

      The field of user experience grew primarily out of human factors and usability—both fields with very strong ties to the world of software development. As a result, people often connect UX with user interface design. This isn’t completely inaccurate, but it’s just one part of the story. Increasingly, UX doesn’t even have to involve a technical product. Service designers, industrial designers, physical space designers, and those people who are designing for an increasingly networked world are all working on the same basic problem. How can they design flowing experiences that respect, empower, and delight real people?

      So does that mean that anyone can be a user experience team of one? Not necessarily. Certain backgrounds are better grooming for user experience than others. You’re a good candidate for user experience work if you have past experience in one or more of these areas:

      • Web or software design and development. This is a natural one. Many of the elder statesmen of the UX world started out as Web masters or Web designers. And indeed, a big focus of their work may still be Web-oriented, depending on what type of product they work on. People with this background make good UX practitioners because they’ve probably seen firsthand how users make sense of and interact with unfamiliar designs. The fact that they know a bit about Web technologies helps, too.

      • Editing, journalism, or copywriting. This field is also a common pathway into user experience because it is fundamentally about how people consume and make sense of content. That’s true whether it’s in print or digital. People with this background are naturals at thinking about the reader’s needs and perspectives, which translates directly into the user’s point of view. These folks also think a lot about how voice, tone, and structure influence a reader’s perceptions and experiences with a medium. That’s a good thing.

      • Graphic or print design. The user experience is impacted by decisions that are made at every level of the product. But when end users think of the product, they usually think of the parts that they can see and interact with—the visible, surface level. Graphic and print designers are trained to think about how people see and respond to layers of visual information. They have the ability to create designs that convey practical information, while also evoking a desired emotional reaction. People with this skill know how to design for understanding, as well as meaning, which is a very user-centered ethos.

      • Research, sociology, anthropology, and psychology. Understanding and empathizing with the user’s perspective is a vital foundation for user experience design. People with this background know how to conduct studies or experiments to uncover what people really do and why. That can be harder than it seems. It’s very easy for the observer to unconsciously change the behavior of the observed. But sociologists and anthropologists have rigorous methods and techniques for getting at what people really do. They also have the ability to turn a dizzying array of observations and data points into broader themes and ultimately meaning. These themes and their significance become the foundation upon which user experience design decisions are made.

      • Engineering. Engineers and developers write the code and build the systems that make the experience real. That moment when a flat concept on a page becomes a working, functioning, interactive thing is like making life. It’s incredibly rewarding. It also enables them to see and understand how it will feel and function for the end-user. And sometimes, it doesn’t feel or function like they thought it would. So they iterate and adjust. Engineers are skilled at jumping back and forth between the two mindsets that make this possible: the maker’s mindset and the tester’s mindset. This cycle of making and adjusting and making and adjusting is the fundamental flow of user experience design.

      • Product management and business analysis. People in these roles are often the bridge between many different parties who contribute to product design. Consequently, they have one of the broadest views of the ins and outs of the product. That holistic perspective often enables them to envision where the weak points are—not just from the perspective of the project plan or the business goals, but also the user experience.

      How about you? If you have one of the titles listed above, you may already be doing user experience work, whether you realize it or not. Or you may have come to user experience by a circuitous path. Possibly you started out in one of these fields and are now crossing over. Whatever your origin, you are here now, and you believe that user experience matters. You understand that it makes the difference between products and services that must be suffered through, and those that delight and inspire. Now, how do you start working as a UX team of one? In the next chapter, we’ll take a look and find out.

       NOTE A UX TEAM OF ONE CAN COME FROM ANYWHERE

      I know of one UX team of one who started out as a general contractor. Thinking about questions like how close to make the electrical outlet to the sink naturally got her thinking about user-centered problem solving more generally. And that led her straight to user experience design.

If You Only Do One Thing...

      This chapter establishes some basic information about the field of user experience. What is it, where does it come from, and what skills are required? We begin this way because understanding what user experience is and being able to explain its importance to other people is the first, and often the hardest, thing you need to do. As a UX team of one, you are pretty much guaranteed to find yourself in situations where you are asked to clarify what UX is and justify why it’s important.

      So the most important thing you should take away from this chapter is an understanding of how UX is defined. Even better, try to think in terms of examples—either the example given in this chapter or one of your own. Examples are effective at triggering memory and imagination. A well-chosen example will help you illustrate the complexity of user experience and what design elements must be executed well to create a distinct and positive user experience.

CHAPTER 2

       Getting Started

      Get to Know the UX Toolkit

      Establish a Point of View on the Work to Be Done

      Get to Know Your Users

      Start Designing

      If You Only Do One Thing...

      Many people make their way to user experience by crossing over from an adjacent field. These crossovers are the people who are carrying UX forward, taking it to new levels and new organizations.

      Learning about user experience can often feel like a discovery. For many, that moment of discovery might feel like a revelation, as if they’ve found a calling. Because it’s an experience that can ignite a lot of passion, crossovers are often enthusiastic ambassadors for user experience. Crossovers can come from engineering, visual design, technical writing, and project management. There are other areas, too; it’s a diverse community. The reality for many crossovers is that UX or usability is now and may remain just a part of what they do. Even so, there’s nothing stopping a new crossover from getting started. Many seasoned UX professionals started out by seeing an opportunity to improve something and seizing it. In this chapter, you’ll find a basic framework for diving in. In fact, framework may be overstating the case. It’s really just four simple steps:

      1. Get to know the UX toolkit.

      2. Establish a point of view on what can be improved.