Thanks for adding some clarification. I can't speak for JJG, only what
I took away from his talk. More below...
On Mar 27, 2009, at 4:17 PM, Nasir Barday wrote:
-) He alluded to some sort of war between the IA and IxD
communities, and that interaction designers were eating IA's lunch.
Is this really a zero-sum game? Talk like this only serves to drive
our peeps further apart. I expected better from a respected thought
leader and someone that's been around a while.
I think that was his point: it's not a zero sum game. What I took away
from what JJG said was that all this bickering is non-sense. That
rather than trying to divide the groups into IAs and IxDs, really,
we're all UXDs. Each of us does both, just in different percentages.
-) Instead of defining User Experience Design as a term to umbrella
our *practices*, he focused on umbrella-ing the *people*. A step
backard if we're trying to get away from defining job titles!
I didn't take it that way. I took it first and foremost, as a call for
unification and to move forward. I took it as a call to leave all the
old baggage behind and band together in the practice of UX.
Incidentally, if you're practicing IA or IxD, then I don't see it as a
stretch to call yourself one of those. Personally, I refer to myself
as a Designer. But many of the people in our field refer to themselves
as IAs or IxDs. I don't see how referring to yourself as a UX Designer
is a bad thing.
I do think that trying to get away from defining job titles is a
meaningless and never ending cycle. People will always have titles.
That's just life.
-) Even further, he proposed that UX is and always will be the only
umbrella for what each of us does, when in fact there are other ways
IA and IxD intersect with the rest of the design world; we're more
than web, desktop, and mobile designers. It's what we do now, but
there are so many non-computing problems coming down the pike that
we'll be involved with that won't fit the UX mold.
I didn't see this at all. I never once heard him say that UX is and
always will be the ONLY umbrella for what each of us does. And UX
stretches far greater than web, mobile and desktop. It reaches into
physical spaces, theme parks (just ask Disney), motor vehicles. It
really is all encompassing. How is that a negative?
-) I LOVED the fact that he said that our practices will make the
next leap when a someone creates a truly design-led company that
"makes stuff," that kicks everyone's asses and leaves them playing
catch up. By the way, that person will not wear ANY of our titles,
which made his focus on the "User Experience Designer" title even
more disappointing to me.
You're right. They'll probably be the Chief of UX.
Incidentally, I asked a few people who were first timers at the
conference what they thought of JJGs talk. They didn't have a clue
what 90% of what he was saying meant, which was refreshing to me,
because the part they didn't get nor understand what all the bad
blooded history he was referring to early on. I applaud his candor and
frankness with that.
Thanks again for sharing your perspectives, Nasir. While you and I may
have taken different things away from JJGs message, at the end of the
day I know we're on the same path: designing great stuff!
Cheers!
Todd Zaki Warfel
Principal Design Researcher
Messagefirst | Designing Information. Beautifully.
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Voice: (215) 825-7423
Email: [email protected]
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Blog: http://toddwarfel.com
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In theory, theory and practice are the same.
In practice, they are not.
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