You might be a Content Designer — not a UX Designer
and why that means UX Design is not an entry level job.
My first real “UX” job was at an agency, and my title was “UX Engineer”. My day to day work looked a lot like:
- reviewing research gathered by our research team
- Putting together sitemaps/content strategy
- putting together wireframes/prototypes
- worked with the copywriter to place their words into my wireframe/prototype
That sounds like a typical UX’ers day, right?
While I got to review the art director’s visual design and the developer’s demo and give input, I didn’t have the final word on anything (and that’s probably for the best) — my Creative Director for the project did. In reality, they were architecting the experience.
Recently I finished reading the book “Content Design” by Sarah Richards. I picked it up because I don’t have a copywriter, and I thought I should keep investing in learning to write for the web. The book isn’t really about writing though — it’s actually about layout and UI elements and how to use those with copy! What I did as a UX Designer, right?
As I read though, I had this thought that — you know, what? I’ve been a content designer all along. Most of my work is wireframes, prototypes and …working with content! I haven’t really had full responsibility for the entire user experience.
So what then is a UX Designer?
When I describe what UX design is, I describe it not as a venn diagram of disciplines, but as a grouping of several disciplines (See UX is not small pieces of other disciplines). If I believe that to be a good UX Designer it requires working knowledge of at least 5 disciplines (maybe even 6 if you include Business Analysis/Strategy), by its nature, UX Design has to be a leadership role that influences the work that each of the disciplines produces. In a rough pass at what a dream digital product team might be, this is what I came up with:
The UX Designer is an orchestrator, an architect, they keep everyone together, shepherding the project from discovery to deployment with a close eye on the end user.
This also solves a major “branding” problem UX has, primarily the “UX vs. [insert any discipline in here]” (UX vs. UI is the main one that comes to mind). We’ve tried to place UX alongside these disciplines, like content strategy, information architecture, etc, when really — all those disciplines are subsets of the whole experience.
Hmm…I’m not sure how I feel about UX Design not being an entry level job
It’s been said repeatedly that UX Design has an education problem but I don’t think it’s an education problem. It is mistakenly thinking that someone can have working knowledge in at least 5 disciplines right off the bat. Even after a 4 year Computer Science-Digital Media degree — I was only actually proficient in development and content design.
Am I a UX designer then? I don’t know! Existential crisis!
It’s ok — I had one too. It seems logical that if you have significant influence on all of the disciplines that make up the user’s experience, then yes you are! If you have good working knowledge of multiple disciplines, then you might even be a good UX Designer!
If you’re still working on learning about all the different disciplines that it’s important to have a working knowledge in, then keep on! (You can also Take the Quiz: What kind of designer are you? )
Did this help you?
You can contribute to my book fund so that I can keep learning & writing!
Ashley Crutcher is now the Director of Experience Strategy at InterVarsity located in Madison, WI. She tweets at @ashleyspixels and enjoys cuddling with her furkiddos, crocheting/knitting, ringing handbells, and thinking too much about everything.
Big thanks to Grant Baker for additional helpful thoughts
