The document discusses how the field of UX (user experience) design risks becoming obsolete if practitioners do not adapt to changing times. Specifically, it notes that developers, designers, marketers, and business analysts are starting to take on UX work. It argues UX professionals need to widen their perspectives, embrace new disciplines like service design, and focus on timely delivery. The document also questions what UX practitioners should call themselves and proposes they specialize in certain areas like experience strategy, interaction design, or information architecture to stay relevant in a dynamic landscape.

1. UX must die
UX Camp London April 2010
Jason Mesut
Experience Director
The Team

2. Why run a session called UX Must Die?
10 mins before the first UX Camp London session of the day and
only three sessions up on the wall

3. Why run a session called UX Must Die?
We get caught up in our own echo chamber, and I believe we are
at risk of becoming redundant if we don’t wise up soon

4. What do you think this is about?
‣ UX is just common sense
‣ You don’t need UX people, just developers
‣ Our own echochamber

5. Potential threats

6. Potential threats
‣ Some developers are becoming better interaction designers than we are
‣ Designers are doing more IA and Interaction Design as well
‣ Marketing professionals are learning about the strategic ends of what we do as UX professionals
‣ Project managers have always been a major source of UX people
‣ Business analysts do requirements, strategy, wireframes, process flows, business logic
‣ There is often a rush to get to market at low cost
‣ We are a threat to ourselves when we lack pragmatism
‣ Academia is breeding more purists
‣ Others still see us as just wireframe monkeys
‣ The service design industry is growing
‣ Analytics are getting better

7. The holy trinity is great, but not necessarily
efficient
Pro
er
Form
nag
jec
tm
ma Visual design
ana
nt
Make it look right
cou
ger
Ac
The best user
experience
Fit Function
Architecture Development
Make it feel right Make it work right
Business analyst

8. Some opportunities

9. Some opportunities
‣ Be the experts
‣ Widen our perspectives: new platforms (iPad etc.), brands/orgnaisations, servbices
‣ Facilitate the processes
‣ Embrace and help service designers
‣ Build on our rich knowledge and expertise
‣ Focus our efforts - Deliver on time and on budget
‣ Move upstream
‣ Work with improving analytics
‣ Educate ourselves around other disciplines - know your enemy

10. ...but what do we call ourselves?

11. ...but what do we call ourselves?
‣ UX designer
‣ UX consultant
‣ UX architect
‣ Service designer
‣ See more at http://london-ia.ning.com/forum/topics/do-you-call-yourself-an
But ultimately it doesn’t really matter - we are not defined by what we
call ourselves, but the way we operate and the outcomes we support

12. It comes down to our make-up
Ensuring the right products
and services Designing in the dynamic
Design strategy Visual design of affordances
Business strategy Storyboarding
Brand strategy Prototyping
Marketing strategy Designing for flow
Service design Experience Interaction
Change management
Strategy Design
User Information
Research Architecture
Understanding audiences Structuring information
Traditional market research spaces
Contextual research Information design
Statistics Classification
Analytics Analysis

13. We’re all different
Experience Interaction
Strategy Design
Mapping of different UX
professionals against the
different modes
User Information
Research Architecture

14. But we need to plan which we are going to
grow
Experience Interaction
Strategy Design
User Information
Research Architecture

15. And acknowledge that we are both designers
and consultants
UCD is just good design
Designers
Experience Strategy is
Consultants just good consulting

16. As the more established disciplines will soon
be doing UX as well as, if not better than, us
Industrial Management Project
Marketing Developers
designers consultants managers
UX prize