U> X> I> P ... or “How the names of professions play leapfrog”
An almost artistic note based on documentary observations :)
A lot of interesting things can be noticed if you look at thematic posts and vacancies in the field of digital products interfaces (UI, UX, etc.). Life is in full swing, many conferences, new technologies and tools, speeches, trends for the next year ... but something does not fit ...
For example:
An amazing exception to this wordplay is the user / audience researchers (UX Research). They do exactly what is written on their business cards — explore user experience and impressions (UX).
By the way, all of the above specialists are diligently hostile to marketers - specialists in the audience and sales markets of the products they create. Hmm ... is it true that a specialist in the market can know about the needs of users?
The severity of the situation adds the word "design". In English, it has a ton of colors to reflect the decision-making process — from design to design or malicious intent (Is it by design? :)). "Design, pattern, designer" - its secondary value. In the Russian language, the word “design” is consistently associated with the artistic design and the visual component of the object being created.
Add to the listed words like “usability” or “experience”, which have specific dictionary meanings in English, but do not have direct analogues in Russian. We will take into account a certain isolation of professional communities and the formation of slang. What we get in the end?
For the Russian-speaking audience, words like “UX”, “UI-designer”, “UI / UX” become a kind of hieroglyphics. A person “not from a party” (read - team lead, HR or business owner) understands them with difficulty and only approximately. People, for whom English is their native language, experience harsh cognitive dissonance when they encounter such a hodgepodge. To such an extent that Don Norman, the author of the term “UX”, comes up with an interview in defense of his original meaning.
And so, the next team of designers, armed with a similar jumble of terms, goes to the leadership of “selling design” or “promoting UX”. He gives them an idea and gets a logical answer: “@% # @ $ # & * ?! o_O.
So the elephant does not sell. This is confirmed by numerous posts on the topic "What if the business does not accept the design?".
A general misunderstanding around user interfaces and associated terminology is not useful to everyone. Specialists, even if they want, can not communicate normally with the business. Business misses the benefits that could have been obtained if it had not been confused with vague terms. Users are daily tormented by strange products (to make sure enough to go to every second ATM).
Conclusion? Clear definitions of terms will be extremely good for all participants in the process.
PS Some may say: “But we have a small startup. We can not hire a lot of specialists, but to name that one is somehow necessary. Let's call him “UX”. ”. There is a logic in such words, but if instead of an abbreviation, which is divorced from meaning and vocabulary, to write “universal interface specialist” it will all be a bit easier for everyone at once.
In a larger company, clear words of benefit will be even greater. For example:
A lot of interesting things can be noticed if you look at thematic posts and vacancies in the field of digital products interfaces (UI, UX, etc.). Life is in full swing, many conferences, new technologies and tools, speeches, trends for the next year ... but something does not fit ...
For example:
- "Beauty" in the interfaces involved UI-designers;
- User Interface designing is done by ... UX-designers;
- User experience and impressions obtained by users (User eXperience) are in charge of ... service designers;
- Designing a service or service migrated to product managers, and product designers do everything at once, if they have time (the original meaning of the term Product designer is “industrial product designer”).
An amazing exception to this wordplay is the user / audience researchers (UX Research). They do exactly what is written on their business cards — explore user experience and impressions (UX).
By the way, all of the above specialists are diligently hostile to marketers - specialists in the audience and sales markets of the products they create. Hmm ... is it true that a specialist in the market can know about the needs of users?
The severity of the situation adds the word "design". In English, it has a ton of colors to reflect the decision-making process — from design to design or malicious intent (Is it by design? :)). "Design, pattern, designer" - its secondary value. In the Russian language, the word “design” is consistently associated with the artistic design and the visual component of the object being created.
Add to the listed words like “usability” or “experience”, which have specific dictionary meanings in English, but do not have direct analogues in Russian. We will take into account a certain isolation of professional communities and the formation of slang. What we get in the end?
For the Russian-speaking audience, words like “UX”, “UI-designer”, “UI / UX” become a kind of hieroglyphics. A person “not from a party” (read - team lead, HR or business owner) understands them with difficulty and only approximately. People, for whom English is their native language, experience harsh cognitive dissonance when they encounter such a hodgepodge. To such an extent that Don Norman, the author of the term “UX”, comes up with an interview in defense of his original meaning.
And so, the next team of designers, armed with a similar jumble of terms, goes to the leadership of “selling design” or “promoting UX”. He gives them an idea and gets a logical answer: “@% # @ $ # & * ?! o_O.
So the elephant does not sell. This is confirmed by numerous posts on the topic "What if the business does not accept the design?".
A general misunderstanding around user interfaces and associated terminology is not useful to everyone. Specialists, even if they want, can not communicate normally with the business. Business misses the benefits that could have been obtained if it had not been confused with vague terms. Users are daily tormented by strange products (to make sure enough to go to every second ATM).
Conclusion? Clear definitions of terms will be extremely good for all participants in the process.
PS Some may say: “But we have a small startup. We can not hire a lot of specialists, but to name that one is somehow necessary. Let's call him “UX”. ”. There is a logic in such words, but if instead of an abbreviation, which is divorced from meaning and vocabulary, to write “universal interface specialist” it will all be a bit easier for everyone at once.
In a larger company, clear words of benefit will be even greater. For example:
- HR will stop inviting illustrators for tasks that include collecting business requirements;
- Tim-lead programmers can exhale and stop thinking through the logic of the interface, it will make the interaction designer;
- And the illustrator will be inspired to draw in his favorite style instead of a boring recalculation of possible screen states.