Иностранный язык в профессиональной деятельности (английский язык). Учебное пособие

made the Macintosh great was that the people working on it were musicians and poets and artists and zoologists and historians who also happened to be the best computer scientists in the world.’

Task 7. Read a blog of a UX designer to learn more about the job. Answer the following questions:

1)What is the first task for a UX designer when they start a new job?

2)What does UX design focus on?

3)What disciplines does UX design combine?

4)Who created the term UX design and when was it?

5)Why is UX design synonymous with good business?

6)Describe an example of a bad user experience.

7)Does UX design apply to websites?

8)How can you describe the role of a UX designer?

9)Give examples of general functions that a UX designer can be expected to perform.

10)What is the first stage in the UX design process?

11)What is the next stage?

12)What is information architecture?

13)What are user flows and what are they used for?

14)What is a prototype and what is it used for?

What is UX design, and what does a UX designer actually do?

It’s a question I’ve been asked frequently. Surprisingly, the question comes not only from friends and family, but also from employers and people who work in the tech industry.

There’s still a lot of confusion surrounding the field, which is why, as a UX designer, you’ll often find that your first task in a new job is to clearly explain the value you’ll be bringing to the company and how you’ll do so.

Before we explore what a UX designer does, it’s important to first establish what UX design actually is. UX design focuses on the interaction between real human users (like you and me) and everyday products and services, such as websites, apps, and even coffee machines. It’s an extremely varied discipline, combining aspects of psychology, business, market research, design, and technology. As you can see, UX designers are expected to wear many different hats! We’ll take a closer look at what a UX designer does in section two. First, let’s consider where the term UX design comes from and how it has evolved.

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UX is not new.

In fact, the term has been around since the early nineties, coined by Donald Norman when he worked for Apple as a cognitive scientist. Don Norman was interested in all aspects of a user’s experience with a product or service, including industrial design, graphics, the interface, and physical interaction. To encompass all of the different elements that determine how a user feels while interacting with a product, he came up with the term “user experience”.

Since the term came about, UX design has grown to be synonymous with good business; only those products and services that provide a seamless user experience will succeed on the market. With that, the demand for UX designers has radically increased—and, as the technology market continues to evolve, UX designers are more crucial than ever. The demand for UX designers is reflected in both the average UX designer salaries and the employment market for UX professionals.

So we know that UX designers are important, and we have a working definition of the term “UX”—but what does it actually look like in action?

Let’s imagine you’re shopping for a pair of shoes online. You find yourself in the “shoe” category, and there are over three hundred different pairs to browse—great! Then you realize there’s no way to filter the results, meaning you have to scroll through hundreds of unsuitable shoes before you find what you’re after. You get there in the end, and add them to your basket. You’re ready to make a purchase and, as a new customer, you have to create a new account. Ok, no problem—until you see that there are at least ten mandatory fields to be filled in! Buying your shoes on this website is starting to feel like more hassle than it’s worth, so you decide to abandon ship and look elsewhere.

That’s what you call a bad user experience. UX doesn’t only apply to websites, though; any kind of product or service you come into contact with evokes a certain type of experience. Is it easy to use? Does it enable you to complete your desired tasks with minimum effort? Is it logical and efficient? These are all indicators of a good or bad user experience.

Now we’ve established what UX design is, let’s return to our original question: What does a UX designer actually do?

If you’re considering a career as a UX designer, you’ll want to know how UX designers work on a day-to-day basis. What kinds of projects can you expect to work on? What is your role within a company? What does a UX designer actually do?

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“How do I explain what I do at a party? The short version is that I say I humanize technology.” — Fred Beecher, Director of UX, The Nerdery

Fred Beecher sums up the role of the UX designer rather nicely. As a UX designer, you’re there to make products and technology usable, enjoyable, and accessible for humans. UX designers tend to work as part of a wider product team, and will often find themselves bridging the gap between the user, the development team, and key business stakeholders. As a UX designer, it’s your job first and foremost to advocate for the end user or customer. Whether you’re designing a brand new product, coming up with a new feature, or making changes to an existing product or service—the UX designer must consider what’s best for the user and the overall user experience. At the same time, you are also responsible for making sure that the product or service meets the needs of the business. Does it align with the CEO’s vision? Will it help to increase revenue or retain loyal customers?

As for the kinds of projects you’ll work on, this will vary dramatically from company to company, as will the size of your team, and your priorities. You may find yourself designing websites, mobile apps, and software, or even designing for voice, AR and VR devices! Some UX designers focus on service design rather than tangible products, such as designing the overall experience of using public transport or staying in a hotel. Within the UX designer job title, there are lots of specialist roles.

When it comes to everyday tasks, these will also vary depending on your role and the company you work for. My experience of working in UX has involved elements of research, testing, business analysis, project management and psychology, as well as the more hands-on design tasks such as wireframing and prototyping. Despite the variety the role offers, there are some general functions that a UX designer can be expected to perform, including:

• Conducting user research • Creating user personas

• Determining the information architecture of a digital product • Designing user flows and wireframes

• Creating prototypes • Conducting user testing

It is important to be aware that UX designers are not typically responsible for the visual design of a product. Rather, they focus on the journey that the user takes and how the product is structured to facilitate this journey.

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What are the typical tasks and processes of a UX designer?

As a UX designer, you’ll go through each step in the UX design process to make sure that any and all products are designed with the user in mind. So what kinds of tasks can you expect to carry out on a day to day basis? Now let’s take a closer look at the kinds of tasks that typically fall into the UX designer role.

Conducting user research

Personas and information architecture User flows and wireframes Prototyping and user testing

Visual design

Conducting user research

The initial stage in the UX design process is where the research (magic) happens. Generally, a UX designer will get a brief from the client or their manager asking them to do some project research.

Let’s use the fictitious fast food chain “Foodies” as an example. Imagine Foodies approach you because they want to design a new app. Firstly, it would be the UX designer’s role to combine desk-based and field research to get a full picture of who they are designing for. This might include reviewing what the current website has to offer, interviewing existing users to identify opportunities and pain-points, and doing competitor research to see what else is out there.

These tasks enable the UX designer to pinpoint the core features needed for the Minimum Viable Product (in other words, the first iteration of a product that you’ll release) and to start creating some initial user personas. For Foodies, the core features might be a menu, the ability to make online reservations, and a local branch finder.

In a nutshell, the user research phase is when you scope out the project, identifying exactly who you’re designing for and what the users’ goals and challenges are in relation to the product.

Personas and information architecture

Based on extensive user research, UX designers might then create user personas. This is where you delve deeper into what tasks each persona wants to perform and why. A typical persona for Foodies might be Samantha, a gogetting 20-something who likes eating artisan salads on her lunch break. An example task for her persona might be:

“Samantha likes to pre-order the Moroccan Lamb Salad via the mobile app as it saves her time between meetings.”

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Next, you’ll start thinking about the kind of content needed and how it will be structured across the website or app. This is what’s known as information architecture; working out the most logical layout and organization of the content. A good information architecture makes sure that the user can easily find what they’re looking for and intuitively navigate from one page to the next without too much thought.

User flows and wireframes

UX designers use a range of tools to map out the user’s journey through a product, including user flows and wireframes. User flows are basic flowcharts which visualize the complete path a user takes when using a product, from entry point right through to the final interaction. While user flows map out the entire user journey, wireframes provide a two-dimensional outline of a single screen or page.

Prototyping and user testing

With the product layout mapped out, the UX designer will then create prototypes and run some user tests. A prototype is simply a scaled-down version of your product; a simulation which enables you to test your designs before they get developed. Prototypes range from the simplest of paper models to the more realistic, high-fidelity interactive prototypes which closely mimic the final product.

Testing your prototypes on real users helps to highlight any design flaws before you create the final product. Several rounds of testing could take place before the design is completely right. Once it is, the new product is finally ready to go into development. UX designers also attend sprint meetings, overseeing product development to make sure there aren’t any feature creeps and helping to make small refinements to the design as and when necessary.

Visual design

You’ll notice that none of the above tasks are concerned with the visual design of the product. While some UX designers will also specialize in visual design, it tends to fall under user interface (UI) design. So, the final imagery, color schemes, icons, and typography will usually be taken care of by a UI designer.

One final point to make is that a UX designer’s work is rarely finished after the product launch. There will be refinements, small changes, new releases, feedback to gather and analytics to discuss with the team. The UX design

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process is highly iterative, and a career in UX is as much about collaboration and coordination as it is about design.

(abridged from https://careerfoundry.com/en/blog/ux-design/what-does-a- ux-designer-actually-do/)

Task 8. Match the terms with the definitions.

1 AR

2 VR

3 Minimum Viable Product

4 Iteration

5 Flowchart

6 Feature creeps

7 Revenue

A a diagram that shows the stages of a process

B the process of doing something again and again, usually to improve it, or one of the times you do it

C a set of images and sounds, produced by a computer, that seem to represent a place or a situation that a person can take part in

D excessive ongoing expansion or addition of new features in a product, especially in computer software, videogames and consumer and business electronics

E images produced by a computer and used together with a view of a real world

F the income that a company receives regularly

G a version of a product with just enough features to be usable by early customers who can then provide feedback for future product development

Task 9. Put in the following phrases into the sentences: on a day-to-day basis, first and foremost, to bridge the gap, in a nutshell, to wear many different hats.

1 They are trying ___________ between education and employment. 2 Well, to put it __________, we are lost.

3 Patients are the ____________ of the healthcare system. 4 As business owners we are at times expected __________. 5 I deal with all sorts of people _____________ .

Task 10. Match the adjectives with nouns to make collocations. Translate them into Russian.

1 mandatory

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2 tangible

3 fictitious

4 artisan

5 hands-on

6 go-getting A capital

B benefits C food D courses

E experience F women

Task 11. Decide if the following statements are true or false:

1)A UX designer often has to explain what their job is not only to friends and family, but also to the people who work in the tech industry.

2)UX design focuses on interpersonal communication.

3)Don Norman was interested in one particular aspect of a user’s experience with a product.

4)UX designers work as a part of a wider product team.

5)UX designers are usually responsible for the visual design of a product.

6)Wireframes provide a three-dimensional outline of a single screen or

page.

7)Prototypes are never tested on real users.

8)A UX designer’s work is finished when the product is launched.

Task 12. Use the questions in Task 7 as a plan to retell the text.

Task 13. Read the text about the day in the life of a UX designer. Make a plan of the things he does during the day.

If you’re interested in becoming a UX designer, you’ll be curious to know what it’s like on a day-to-day basis. What kinds of tasks can you expect? Who will you work alongside, and what kinds of challenges will you face?

To shed some light, we caught up with recently qualified UX designer Ryan Wu. Prior to becoming a UX designer, Ryan worked as a content specialist at Booking.com. He now works at Intive, a design agency (digital agency) with offices around the world.

Here, he talks us through his day as a UX designer. Over to you, Ryan!

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AM: To-dos, sprint planning, meetings and Sketch!

9am: I usually get to the office around 9am. When I get in, I consult my todo list, as I normally have a couple of to-dos that I wrote down the day before.

In terms of my workflow, it really depends on the sprint that we’re doing. We work according to an agile scrum system, so one sprint lasts two weeks. Every two weeks, we’ll dedicate the entire morning to a sprint planning session. We split these into sprint review, demo, planning, and retro. These sessions can take up the whole morning, depending on how much we’ve got to talk about.

Basically we go through the current sprint and talk about what’s happening in the next sprint. As a designer, I need to have everything prepared for the week ahead so that the developers can do their job. That’s my challenge at the moment — it’s hectic, trying to get designs approved! Once the designs are approved, I then need to adapt them to two different platforms, as we’re designing for Android and iOS simultaneously.

11am: At 11am, I have a daily meeting with the development team. This consists of a short Skype call with about twenty people who are mostly located in Szczecin, Poland. Most of them are iOS developers, Android developers, quality assurance and test managers.

11.30am: So, after the daily meeting, I look at what I need to do. At the moment, I’m working in Sketch, iterating on designs and pushing pixels. I’m a product designer, so my role combines both UX and UI design. I wasn’t aware of this before I took the role, but it’s really cool because I get to practice a bit of everything. The same goes for collaborating with the developers; you don’t get that in every job, and I think this is such valuable experience.

1pm: Lunchtime! I usually meal prep in the evenings so for lunch I’ll head to the common area and enjoy my meal there. It’s important to give my eyes a bit of a rest from the screen time, even if it’s just 30 minutes.

PM: Concepting, presentations, feedback and iteration!

2pm: I spend a lot of time in and out of the telephone booth speaking with the client. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I have a concepts and alignment meeting with the client. We show them new designs that we’ve come up with, walking them through it via screen sharing. We also have to come prepared to talk about why we made certain design decisions. The client will either say “Hey, I don’t like it” or “Oh, I love this!” Then they’ll most likely ask if we can change this or that — the design is never final! So we continuously iterate based on client and user feedback. Keeping a user centric mindset while designing here is key.

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4pm: Once a week we have a roundtable where we (remotely) join the design team in Regensburg. We give a short presentation to show what’s happening, what we’ve worked on in the past week, what challenges we came across, what we learned, any articles we’ve read — it’s all about sharing our designs, getting feedback and avoiding that lapse in communication. It’s important that we stay connected to the design team in Regensburg despite being in different locations.

6pm – Wrapping up: By 6pm, I’m ready to start winding down. At the end of the day, I’ll look at what’s happening tomorrow and write down my to-do list for the next day. I know lots of people write their to-do list first thing in the morning, but I don’t like that. I’ve learned that it’s much less stressful if you just offload your list before you leave work. When I get in the next day, I know exactly what I need to do.

The day in review

A typical day in the life of a UX designer is… varied!

I work at a digital agency, which means a wide range of clients — from automotive to insurance, fashion, and retail. At the moment I’m working on an app for housing appliances. I’m one of two designers working on this project, and I’m responsible for developing the product; i.e. research, concepting, design, prototyping and testing.

A typical day in the life of a UX designer is… creative but systematic!

A large part of my role is about developing new concepts. To come up with a new concept, we discuss together as a team. We look at the insights we’ve gathered from user research to find possible solutions for the product, while keeping business goals and user needs in our minds. Since we’re designing something that isn’t the only product for the company, we have to look at existing products to see what kind of styles they use. We have to adapt to that, so while it’s creative, we do have a system that we need to follow.

A typical day in the life of a UX designer is… collaborative!

Clients and Product Owners

I collaborate with the product owners, as well as with the client. We have a proxy product owner here on our side, and we have a product owner on the client side. It’s all about communicating and getting my designs approved, getting user stories from the product owners and designing in line with their requirements.

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Developers

In my role as UX designer, I also work closely with the developers. This was very intimidating at first, but I really value this experience. When I look at different jobs on the market right now, many require this collaboration with developers. I’m responsible for designing something that the developers can build, based on a ticket system. Each ticket has a user story and each user story describes what the developers have to do, and this includes providing visual guidance to show them what the screen should look like and how the elements on the screen should behave. The developers use Zeplin to export all designs and download assets. This is a super important tool for collaboration and documentation! Sometimes, as a designer, you miss something and it’s only brought to your attention during the QA phase. I learn new things every day!

Senior UX Designers

When I need feedback or opinions on my designs, I turn to the senior UX designer on the same project, who works in another office. I also have a senior UX designer in the same office as me; he’s my official tutor, and he also supports me on various questions I have about design in general, as well as non-project-related questions.

A typical day in the life of a UX designer is… challenging!

A Global Team

Working with a large team which is spread out across different locations can be challenging. Of course it would be easier if I had everyone in-house, but the reality is, we’re all located in different parts of the world, so it’s all about communication. We use Microsoft Teams for internal communication, and GoToMeeting for clients.

Client Expectations

One of the biggest challenges in my work as a UX designer is both the product restraints and client expectations. Clients also have stakeholders who they need to make happy, and ultimately we have to listen to what the client wants. We have to focus on the user, sure, but if the client really insists on something, we have to deliver it. That’s the biggest challenge: having to design something even if you think it might not work from a user perspective. That’s where user testing comes in handy. Rapid user testing can help us validate or invalidate design decisions we make without wasting time and development efforts.

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