From the perspective of a non-ux-designer person
We can do anything. That seems to be the theme of the year as humanity rockets past hurdles that were once incomprehensibly out of our reach. Pictures of Pluto, water on Mars, an India free of Tetanus just a year after eliminating polio, Stephan Colbert hosting the Late Show, the list could go on. So why is User Experience becoming more important, in a world where our imaginations are coming to life all around us?
When people first took to the internet, webpages were a labyrinth of incomprehensible personal website, confusing business sites, low resolution news sites and who could forget the dulcet tones of your local bands Myspace page?
The fact that people could share in a new and unique way masked the frustration of the experience. Excitement and novelty will greatly increase a user’s patience with any product.
As our technological base grows, more successful products will not be based on novelty but rather on elegance. It may initially seem like the new generation of “Digital Natives” are cynical or even entitled when it comes to clunky interfaces. The old mantra of “If it works, it works” is anathema to these users. The fact that something works in the digital sphere is no longer impressive. You can order a pizza using a website? Nobody cares! Is it easy? Is it fun? Can I do it while doing something else? These are questions that are becoming more relevant, and these questions are answered by the UX team.
The age of the UX team is upon us. The work of developers can be automated to a higher degree than ever before, but UX professionals sit in a complex tangle of technology, culture, language, story and art. Creators who can untangle the UX for increasingly complex and paradoxically simple systems will be the workplace rockstars of the next decade.
