THINK, SPEAK AND CREATE
A career that highlights the experiential, affective and valuable aspects of a product through creativity, zeal and enthusiasm
Acareer in User Experience ( UX) involves software interface and hardware design. The role of a person in this career zone basically aims to define user experience and bring together a product that is efficient, user friendly and designed to suit the consumer. There are two aspects of User Experience: research and design.
The person involved in research is called a User Experience Researcher, commonly known as UXR. Their job is to interact with the users of the product and know their explicit and implicit needs and expectations from a particular product. On the other hand, a person who is involved in the design aspect of UX is known as a User Experience Designer, commonly known as UXD. A UXD’S day- to- day tasks involve understanding the requirement of the product and solving the purpose by designing such a product that meets the requirements of the consumers. The process is quite simple and begins from the researcher who digs out details from the consumers and passes those results to the designer, who then prepares with a team a product that specialises and helps the consumer experience a better use of the product.
User Experience has become a core discipline in every company that aims to grow not just in monetary terms but also increase its equity. It is a specialised field and is not constrained to a technology firm. Firms with different kinds of nature and characteristics may adopt the use of including a discipline of UX professionals for improving a product in terms of its perceived value. Ankur Jhawar, a UX researcher at Microsoft Development Centre,
Hyderabad says, “Even a shopping mall may use the attributes of a UX professional to gain feedback from its customers regarding things like what is the mall lacking and how their customers think they can improvise.” The basic aim is to improvise and help the consumer attain a remarkable experience while using a particular product, he adds. Microsoft is the pioneer for this department which started the use of UX professionals. Mitushi Jain, a UX designer at Microsoft Development centre, Hyderabad says, “This discipline is becoming a core part of the product development team, as doing so ensures that the product is not only engineered perfectly but is also a joy to use.” A UX researcher needs to work closely with the designer to create the right experience for the consumer. Mitushi adds, “While the UX researcher engages with the end customer and gives insight to what the consumer’s needs are, a designer uses the insights provided by the researcher to come up with designs that will help produce an interactive and visually enhanced product.” A UX researcher’s job profile is more analytical and statistical while a UX designer’s profile is creative in nature. The researcher summarises end results through data while a designer works with storyboarding and visual design tools to come up with design deliverables.
A UX researcher should be a keen observer and listener, who is able to understand the implicit needs of a potential user. One should have knowledge of various research tools and their applicability and attain excellent communication skills that will help in delivering effective research outputs. A UX researcher may study design with a combination of psychology that will help him understand the needs of the customers easily. “The field has a wide range of opportunities open for freshers and young professionals who have a few years of experience,” says Ankur. Therefore, the trending emphasis on user- centred design describes and justifies the importance of UX professionals. Thus, design is an important field because it deals with the user’s needs. A UX designer studies and evaluates a user’s feelings towards a product by making sure a product is easy to use; a user is perceptive to the value of the product, its utility and products efficiency in performing tasks. Mitushi says, “A UX designer needs to understand a user’s needs, goals and hopes. It is the essence of their job.” A designer should understand and contribute towards business priorities of the development team which includes technology, planning and resource. “It is also important that one collaborates with a UX researchers and designers within the organisation to keep the team synchronised with constantly evolving design philosophies,” she adds.