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Why Everyone’s Wrong About UX Design “Dying” (And What’s Really Happening)
The eternal cycle of UX evolution that every designer needs to understand
The UX design industry is in full panic mode. “UX is dead!” I hear people cry on my LinkedIn and elsewhere. “AI will replace us all!” Don’t buy into the fear-mongering panic mode that has swept your online newsfeeds. It’s the oldest engagement trick in the world. Take something dear to you and kill it with words. But this is missing the point. UX isn’t really dying. It’s having a bit of a Jesus moment. Blasphemy, I know. But it’s being reborn. And frankly, it’s about time.
As a UX professor, I’ve graduated hundreds of UX designers from our programs into industry. So, after watching this cycle repeat for over a decade, I’ve come to the simple conclusion that every few years, the industry declares UX dead, only to discover it was just evolving. So, bear with me when I declare that the current crisis isn’t a wholesale death but a much-needed purge of imposters who never understood what UX actually meant in the first place. Cleanse your souls, my friends. It’s about to get dark.
The great UX identity crisis
Let’s be brutally honest about what happened to UX design. Somewhere along the way, it became the…
