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What the heck is UX Design?

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And what does a UX Designer actually do?

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These are difficult questions to answer,

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because if you ask 5 different people,

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you're going to get 5 different answers.

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In this talk, I'm not only going to explain

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what UX Design is, but also why I believe

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you should find out more about it, regardless

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of your job.

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UX, obviously, stands for

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User Experience. And when we say "user experience",

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we're referring to the what, when, where,

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why, and how someone uses a product, as well

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as who that person is. So: what, when,

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where, why, how, and who: these cover the

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user experience of a product, which is

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pretty much everything that affects a

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user's interaction with that product.

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So as you can imagine, a UX Designer,

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which is someone who designs these

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interactions, is constantly asking a ton

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of questions. If you're someone who

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naturally questions things, UX Design

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could be a great career for you, because

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it's the answers to these questions

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that shape a product's design.

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Of course it's not all about the

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user's needs. UX Designers need to take

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into account a business's needs as well.

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It's no use having a product that people

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love, if it doesn't help a business

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achieve its goals. That's not a product,

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that's a side project. A UX Designer aims

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for that sweet spot where user needs and

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business needs overlap. So how do they

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do this, other than by asking a lot of

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questions? Well, a UX Designer follows

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what's called a user-centred design

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process. We use a set of tools and

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techniques to take the user's needs

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into account at every stage of the

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product's lifecycle. I'm going to repeat that,

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because it's a bit of a mouthful when

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you hear it for the first time:

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a user-centred design process takes the

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user's needs into account at every stage

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of the product lifecycle.

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I say product, because these techniques apply

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to web apps, mobile apps, desktop apps, or

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even physical objects.

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OK. So that's all well and good, but

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why should you care? I'm going to give

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you four reasons why I believe this stuff

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matters so much, and this list doesn't

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include the one, which is the fact that

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paying attention to UX results in you

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building a product that's awesome, instead

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of one that people hate using. Hopefully

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that's a given. The reasons why I think you

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should learn more about UX are:

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1) You're probably doing some of this

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already. One thing I've learned is that when

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you understand how it is that you do what

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you do, you become infinitely better at it.

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Like the fable about the centipede who,

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when asked how it was that he walked,

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couldn't give an answer. But when he

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picked himself up, and examined and

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flexed each of his hundred legs, he

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danced the most beautiful dance in the world.

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Here's Number 2: user-centred design is a

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process, which means it's practically

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scientific! It's like taking the scientific

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method, using analysis and measurement, and

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applying it to humans and their behaviour.

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And that's fascinating to me - this notion

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that designers are artistic geniuses with[br]a

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penchant for cutting off their own ear ...

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it's nonsense! This is a science! Well, a

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quasi-science. Which leads me to the third

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reason that UX matters: it's not that hard.

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Especially for people who are already

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technically inclined. I don't want to go

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putting myself out of a job here, but you

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know what? This stuff is not rocket surgery,

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to borrow from Steve Krug. Anyone can learn

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the basics of user testing and card sorting

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and writing scenarios and creating wireframes.

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It's actually very straightforward.

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Which is a good segue to the fourth reason

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you should care about UX, and that's that[br]...

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it's fun! This stuff is fascinating! A career

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as a UX Designer is interesting, it's challenging,

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it's rewarding, it pays well, and there's[br]a very

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low barrier to entry.

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A lot of people feel uncomfortable calling

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themselves a "designer", because they're no

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good at choosing a typeface or a colour

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palette. Get over it! UX Design is the

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design behind the visuals. Visual design is

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just one small part of it. It's an important

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part, but some of the best UX Designers I[br]know

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actually aren't that great at visual design,

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but they're really good at those other areas

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that are so important.

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And that's pretty much it. So while you

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might hear terms like information architect,[br]user

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interface designer, interaction designer or

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usability specialist, these can all be considered

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UX professionals. Now they might specialise

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in marketing or technology, or maybe they[br]come

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from a user research, social media, or even

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customer support background. Either way,

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they're all asking a ton of questions, and

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following a quasi-scientific process to do

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the design behind the visuals.

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And they're having a blast doing it!

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So that's what I'd like to leave you with:

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that if this stuff interests you, you may

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very well be well placed to have a promising

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career as a UX designer.

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Thanks for listening. My name's Matt, and

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I've just launched a site called UXMastery.com,

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where I blog about UX. If you're interested,

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come and check it out!