The blog post I wrote about six weeks ago titled, You’re not a user experience designer if…, got way more attention than I ever could have predicted — in fact, I think it got the most traffic of any post I’ve ever written.
Sure, it’s an antagonistic title and that always gets people riled up. But I spend so much time talking and writing about what user experience design IS, I felt it was about time I wrote about what it ISN’T. I’m confronted with so many misconceptions on a daily basis that make our work all the more difficult.
A few notable comments
A lot of people agree with me, a lot of people don’t. I enjoy hearing both perspectives.
A few notable posts
As a result of the post, several other folks published their own perspectives. I swell with pride that I was able to jump-start this conversation, as I believe that conversation and debate and analysis is what propels our industry forward and makes us all better practitioners.
Being a Designer by Uday Gajendar
Getting Into User Experience by Karl Smith
Un designer d’intérieur d’estomac by Benoît Meunier
Humble Design by Rian van der Merwe
You might be a user experience designer… by Jack Moffett
You’re not a software craftsman if… by David Adsit
Translations
Having my writing translated into another language is one of the most thrilling experiences, not only because it means someone found my thoughts valuable enough to take the time to painstakingly translate, but moreover because it then reaches a whole other audience I wouldn’t have been able to connect with on my own. Thank you so much!
Você não é um User Experience Designer by Fabricio Teixeira
Vous n’êtes pas un UX designer si… by Julien Hillion
Ongoing
If you have additional thoughts on my post, please feel free to comment there or here. If you’ve written a post of your own about this topic, please let us know about it in the comments.
I hope this is a conversation that can continue as long as it takes for us to reach clarity around our roles and evangelize the value of the user experience practice worldwide.
It’s a pleasure to share your stories in another language. Thanks again :)
Actually all the comments here and the comments on the previous article, as well as the article itself, are just… opinions.
No matter what you design: graphics, web sites or user experience, rules don’t apply every where and to anything.
Your set of rules might work if it’s a mean not a target; that said, your next article should be: Following rules won’t make you a better UX designer.
UX designers are creative people. Creativity is shared, copied or duplicated but is never inherited or tough.
taught* (auto-correct knows better :)
Surprised at the response it generated here. Left my comment over there – I hadn’t before. You must’ve hit a nerve! :)
I THINK,I AM IN LOVE WITH YOU.IS THAT POSSIBLE?
@MARS, ditto. :D
What’s in a name? | 8 Gram Gorilla // Jul 8, 2011 at 5:03 pm
[...] is a response to an article I came across on Whitney Hess’ blog Pleasure & Pain called “You’re not a user experience designer if…”. It is a very interesting article – Ms Hess produces a great list of suggestions to improve [...]
Princípios de uma boa experiência do usuário | Arquitetura de Informação // Aug 2, 2011 at 9:33 am
[...] Quem lê este blog com frequência sabe que acompanho sempre o blog de Whitney Hess. [...]