FTA: “Yesterday’s graphic designers are today’s UX designers.”

No, sorry this is completely off-the-mark.

Yesterday’s graphic designers were trained to think about flat, static surfaces, not dynamic, responsive screens, and certainly not abstract information spaces. Today’s graphic designers call themselves “UX Designers” because that’s where most of the jobs in tech demand.

The UX discipline has deep roots in what used to be called Human Computer Interaction (HCI), a largely academic pursuit centered on scientific methods — not engineering nor design. Out of those practices grew the role of Information Architect (which is what my resume said up until about a decade ago).

UX sits at the nexus of three very different domains that must work together to achieve a common goal: business, engineering, and design. Each domain is driven by unique needs and frames problems according to their respective concerns: “How do I make more money for my shareholders?”, “How do I build the thing that will make the money?”, “How do I make the thing appealing?”

A good UX practitioner will balance the needs of these three domains by, first, deeply understanding the needs, behaviors, and preferences of those who will be using or buying the thing. And, secondly, translating those users’ needs into a form that the business, engineers, and designers will understand and can implement (with the constraints of time and budget).

As far as I can tell, the capabilities I’ve listed are not taught in any graphic design nor developer schools.