Roles in UX Design
UX roles and responsibilities may vary depending on the company, where they might specialize in one area or be responsible for all parts of the UX process. Here are the major roles:
User Researchers learn about user needs and goals by conducting interviews, usability tests, competitive research, surveys and watching people work. Does watching people clean their kitchens sound like fun? The Swiffer, which people use to clean their kitchen floors, came about as a team of design anthropologists did exactly that! They visited 18 homes in Cincinnati and Boston, spending about an hour and a half in each, and took notes on each step of the process, eventually coming up with a fantastically successful product, a stick with a wipe that attracts dirt.
Information Architects build navigation or wayfinding for apps and web sites. They use tools like card sorts to see how people group tasks, and consult search logs and competitor products to determine what works well, what doesn’t, and to see the terminology commonly used in the particular field.
Interaction Designers design the page-by-page flow and the actual screens that users follow in a website or app. They are experts in using the right objects or widgets to help users best accomplish tasks. They also understand application and web standards, know how to prioritize information, how to direct attention properly on a screen and design the animations commonly used in mobile apps.
Visual or UI Designers understand the company’s branding needs and create the colors, graphics, and final page layouts to make an app or website look great. They emphasize the company’s brand while ensuring that users can still easily recognize the important screen objects.
Usability Engineer is a role that may be performed by researchers or designers to improve their designs. During a usability test, participants try to complete tasks while observers watch, listen and take notes. Usability tests seek to identify any usability problems, collect qualitative (how users feel) and quantitative (how fast or successful users are) data and determine the participant’s satisfaction with each step.
UI Developers are expert in coding HTML, CSS, Javascript, and other languages to actually create the code that brings an app or website to your phone, laptop, desktop, or any other digital medium. Some UI Designers may perform these tasks as well.
Together with other techniques and roles, these six skills make up the bulk of User Experience and UI. Other notable jobs are:
Product Designers generally combine the skills of interaction and visual design, and may need to perform information architecture and user research tasks.
Product Managers may supervise UX and UI personnel. They are responsible for overseeing and managing the production of a product from beginning to end, which can involve:
- Specifying and overseeing the research needed to determine the needs and desires of customers
- Using market research to get ideas for products that customers will want
- Helping to oversee the design and manufacture and planning how to market and promote the product to the public
- Comparing the company’s products to their competitors in order to assess market competition.