Comments on: Results for Most Preferred UX/UI Title Poll

By: russwilson

russwilson — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:55:26 +0000

Wendy – I completely agree. Very few people (other than us) have any idea what these titles really mean.

By: wendy

wendy — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:33:49 +0000

I am looking for a job now, and I throw all of those titles out there to recruiters and hiring managers..typically changing my title depending on the job description between the three…, UX designer, Information architect, user interface designer, and now it seems that in this job market, employers are looking for all of these, plus graphic designer, software engineer, flash developer….I think we really need to make an industry push for a common title. I prefer User Interface Designer because it should encompass experience and IA, because the interface is the thing that provides experience through design and good IA.

By: Kim Hiltz

Kim Hiltz — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:06:17 +0000

Interesting survey Russel – it seems that whatever title I use, I get a bemused look in response and end up qualifying it with something like "Essentially, I help people create products that are easy and enjoyable to use".

It would be interesting to survey people outside the field who have looked, or who may look in the near future, for people who provide user experience/interaction/usability services – what kind of titles do they go looking for when deciding who to approach?

By: Rob

Rob — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:22:19 +0000

I dislike the terms 'Interaction' & 'User Experience' because they've been largely co-opted by the web design community to mean essentially anyone who creates the front-end. I see lots of job adverts that call for an experienced 'Interaction Architect' or 'UX designer', but contain a list of technical skills such as 'visio/axure' 'ajax' 'javascript/PHP/etc' but never 'usability testing' 'user research' or even 'product innnovation'! I conclude many people who call themselves by these titles have never actually met an end-user!

By: russwilson

russwilson — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 06:01:11 +0000

Nick, does that mean that people in our field should just design and not build? Do we stop at specs but not deliver any HTML/CSS? And if we deliver HTML/CSS (and maybe even Javascript or Flash) aren't we building/engineering at that point?

By: russwilson

russwilson — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 05:55:00 +0000

I think "User Interface" is a good term. Interaction is also good but no one outside of our field gets it (yet). When I was promoted to a VP position I was given the choice to customize my title and I chose "Product Design" because "User Experience" was just too nebulous. Also the other terms just don't seem to fit at higher levels… VP of Usability? VP of Interaction Design?

By: Nick

Nick — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 05:29:46 +0000

This field needs to make a decision as to whether it is an engineering field, or a visual and human interface design field. As a design practitioner, I really have no interest in being an engineer, coding, or being confused with those who do. They are independent fields of training and when mixed together into one person are done poorly in almost all cases.

Just as I do not seek a doctor who does my accounting, I would not seek an engineer who does design or a designer who engineers.

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 21:31:35 +0000

hundreds of abandons possibly because people didn't like the options. personally I prefer product designer or software designer. next time it might be good to let people type in an "other" field.

By: Molly

Molly — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 20:05:33 +0000

So what is your preferred or recommended title?

By: Interesting what we would like to be called « Intriguing Finds

Interesting what we would like to be called « Intriguing Finds — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:37:30 +0000

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