You Know You Are a UXer When…
Looking back at 30 years in UX
It is my anniversary! I have officially been in the field of usability and design (now referred to as UX) for 30 years. It is hard to believe that when I took a summer internship at Apple to work in their User-Aided Design group, I would find a career that I would be lucky enough to love for 3 decades. And this is still an amazing field to be in — with more and more teams realizing the need for UX research and design.
I have had the pleasure of working with many teams who have very committed, passionate UX experts dedicated to understanding and documenting people’s goals before solutions are identified and implemented. And over the years I have seen some themes emerge that are common threads among the UX community. Here are a few traits and habits that I think most UXers will relate to.
1. You can spell “heuristic” and use it in a sentence.
A few years back we were hiring for a UX position, and the following word was on an applicant’s resume: “hirstic”. I thought, “what the heck is that word?” And based on some of the context, I realized he meant “heuristic.” My co-worker immediately commented, “I guess we will pass on that one!” Yep, we sure did. Let’s face it, some terms just are part and parcel of being in the UX field: heuristic, think-aloud protocol, affordance, persona, tree test, card sorting, information architecture, wireframes, journey map, F-pattern, zigzag pattern, eye tracking, just to name a few. But if you hear someone mention “heuristic” at a cocktail party, you can pretty much bet they are in UX.
2. You tend to talk about good and bad design features… All. The. Time.
How many times a week do you find yourself telling your spouse or child “Wow that is a terrible design! Did they ever hear of testing products?” You might be so ingrained with this kind of thinking that you do not even notice your comments any more. But your spouse or child probably notices (unless they are also in UX and, in that case, you really are doomed!). UXers are much less tolerant of bad design. Or even mediocre design. And it can be anything from products to services to the digital experience. All are fair game.
3. When someone asks you a question, you answer with “What would you expect?”
The art of UX research really is to listen at least 4 times as much as you talk. And when asked a question, you answer with a question. Because at the end of the day, understanding a person’s answer to their own question is the basis of what we do. But you know you need a day off when your friend asks you “how was your day?” and you answer “what would you expect?”
4. You have turtles named “Don” and “Norman”.
Remember the scene in Rocky when Sylvester Stallone says, “Yo, Adrian, these are the exotic animals I told you about. These are my friends, Cuff and Link.” Well, if you spent any time reading the basic tenets of UX, you are well versed in Don Norman’s writings and 40 years as a thought leader. But a real enthusiast would take it one step further and name pets (or even children) after the human-centered guru.
But in all seriousness, there are similarities people in the UX field share. We are the advocates for the end users. We put ourselves in their shoes and look at products and services through their eyes. We do expect products to support users’ goals and not the other way around. We know that every UX study uncovers some insights to inform better design. We believe we can do better when we know better.
I have been extremely lucky to have worked in this field for 30 years. It has been an honor to work among many, many talented researchers and designers who keep asking what the user would need, do, expect. Thank you all. Here’s to 30 more years.
