What Has User Experience Design Got to Do with Zebras?
A brief introduction to user experience design, and why it matters at Zebra Technologies. Unfortunately this article doesn’t concern actual Zebras.
User experience can feel like a new concept, but it’s been around for some time now. At its core, it is the applied art and science of solving problems.
The term “User Experience” (often called “UX” for short) was originally popularised by Don Norman, who worked at Apple Computer Inc. in the early nineties. It was there in 1993 that he gave himself the job title “User Experience Architect”. He now writes some of the most influential books on the subject. According to Dirk Knemeyer and Eric Svoboda writing for the interaction design foundation, there is evidence of User Experience design happening from as early as the 1970’s.
The process of User Experience design is fluid, evolving and tweaking to suit the needs and settings of nearly everything we touch day to day, enhancing the way we acquire our goods, the way we use our goods and even affecting what we experience most of the seconds in between.
Zebra is a great example of a company working today with a focus on user experience. A key principle of user experience design is that in order to solve a problem, there needs to be a solution. That’s exactly what Zebra creates and supplies, solutions to problems encountered across Zebra’s main verticals (Hospitality, retail, transportation and Logistics, Manufacturing, Government Data, etc.).
As you can see Zebra Technologies solves a huge array of problems, from knowing the best and most efficient way to fill up a truck with goods, to identification of patients as quickly as possible, enabling precious time to be saved by medical professionals.
These problems vary hugely but they all have one thing in common, they all draw on the idea of improving the processes and experiences of real people doing real jobs.
Every solution is built, designed and provided by a large and diverse group of amazing people, most often utilising cutting-edge technology. However, every solution Zebra provides begins and ends by addressing the main components of the User Experience design process (Saadia Minhas, 2018).
The UX process varies hugely, and within each of these steps there are different tasks and roles available so that products can be researched and tested, and so that a variety of different technologies can be experimented with. This way new ground can be broken wherever possible.
The Zebra UX Team is made up of many roles, with many members of the team multitasking at any given time. If you’d like an introduction to some of the different roles you might find on any UX team, this short course is helpful.
Having been a part of the Zebra Technologies UX team, and working within the Design and Innovation team for the past six months, it’s clear that one of the central ingredients to great work is remaining accessible and visible to as many influences as possible
Our team works collaboratively alongside internal teams to spread knowledge of the principles of UX, enabling designers to have visibility to every stage in the production and delivery of all the solutions Zebra develops. We collaborate with partners and stakeholders to ensure no-one loses sight of overarching goals, keeping projects on track. Finally, and by no means less important, we work wherever possible alongside users. welcoming and seeking feedback in as many forms as possible. When everyone can learn from everyone else, the best output can be realised.
