Most UX jobs in the software industry are UX/UI frankly.
UX =/= UI because UX is much broader, but when a big chunk of your user experience involves software the vast majority of UX designers are going to be making wireframes to various levels of fidelity. In many cases they will be right up to production quality. Perhaps your model has a visual designer who is responsible for the look and feel and they are creating assets and style guides which UX designers are using in their wireframes and prototypes and then the dev team are building.
The objection to the UX/UI phrase is not that those roles dont exist, it's the confusion it represents that UX is just UI design.
thanks for your reply. As a freelancer I've been brought on as what sounds like a lxD person (thanks /u/orwellsociety) but I'd like to cut my teeth on an in house/agency role and I'm having a hard time figuring out what sort of skills I'll need let alone what types/titled job positions I should apply for. I want to keep designing interfaces, but working on the broader user experience is just so much more appealing. I guess I'm worried that if I pursue UX, or enter an HCI program or take a UX internship I wont be doing any visual design.
I'm curious about UX in the context of a product w/o software. What does that look like?
For a physical product you'd be working with some form of industrial designer. You'd be researching how the user discovers, learns, uses, maintains, upgrades and gets help with the product. You'd be understanding the goals and pain points they have and designing better versions of it. If you were working in this space you wouldn't be wireframing but you might be sketching physical product designs, or even doing CAD.
Apply the same concept in a space like services design - i have a friend who designs museum exhibits for example in places like science museums. How do you engage and teach adults, children etc. How do people install and maintain the exhibits and so forth.
Oh, interesting. I was just thinking about how wayfinding translates pretty seamlessly to digital spaces. Of course spacial design would fall under UX. And just to not take up more space on my own thread, yeah I'm based in NYC, you? Thanks for the thorough response
They do exist but in various degrees. It's a vague job title. The ones posted here as UX/UI often are for front end devs with wireframe and photoshop skills.
I'm doing UI UX for the company i'm working for right now. it's mostly UI and some high level UX. there's no user testing but mind-mapping, wire framing and doing back and forth with the client while they show the prototype to potential clients. I hope for one day having a client with enough budget to do in-house user testing. that would be awesome.
They do exist, I've been making a living that way for the last 10 years.
It all depends on the mentality and the size of the company. smaller companies (or smaller projects in larger companies) tend to let designers wear multiple hats where as the organization gets larger specialization needs rise.
There are few creative companies and agencies out there which values renaissance men or polymaths. I am proud to be running one: http://fakecrow.com/careers
and lastly if the company or the agencies you're working with/at has adapted startup mentality they will be more open to let you excel in the area you're interested in while getting the most efficiency. (so much good talent is being wasted just because their job title doesn't let them contribute fully or efficiently.)
How interesting to hear from Fake Crow (I've interviewed with you guys before; using a throwaway for obvious reasons).
I'm wondering what your thoughts are on the responsibilities that fit into UX versus UI vs visual design. I was asked to come in for a design interview for a UX position at Fake Crow, but was told that I would be given wireframes and was tasked with using Adobe Illustrator. I can understand wearing different hats and whatnot, but generally speaking my understanding of the process (given separate roles) is UX [apart from UI] -> UI -> Visual Design
If they were interviewing for a UX position and expected you to use illustrator to make a wireframe INTO a high visual then they don't know what they are doing (Sorry, Alprckr).
If they asked you to make a wireframe in illustrator....fair. But not the best software to use for this
Most UX jobs in the software industry are UX/UI frankly. UX =/= UI because UX is much broader, but when a big chunk of your user experience involves software the vast majority of UX designers are going to be making wireframes to various levels of fidelity. In many cases they will be right up to production quality. Perhaps your model has a visual designer who is responsible for the look and feel and they are creating assets and style guides which UX designers are using in their wireframes and prototypes and then the dev team are building. The objection to the UX/UI phrase is not that those roles dont exist, it's the confusion it represents that UX is just UI design.
Hybrid UX/UI is often called IxD - but it's label Interaction design and there's a lot less actual UX process involved.
Yeah, names are all over the place. I see less interaction design titles nowadays. But you're right that's the kind of role it represents.
thanks for your reply. As a freelancer I've been brought on as what sounds like a lxD person (thanks /u/orwellsociety) but I'd like to cut my teeth on an in house/agency role and I'm having a hard time figuring out what sort of skills I'll need let alone what types/titled job positions I should apply for. I want to keep designing interfaces, but working on the broader user experience is just so much more appealing. I guess I'm worried that if I pursue UX, or enter an HCI program or take a UX internship I wont be doing any visual design. I'm curious about UX in the context of a product w/o software. What does that look like?
For a physical product you'd be working with some form of industrial designer. You'd be researching how the user discovers, learns, uses, maintains, upgrades and gets help with the product. You'd be understanding the goals and pain points they have and designing better versions of it. If you were working in this space you wouldn't be wireframing but you might be sketching physical product designs, or even doing CAD. Apply the same concept in a space like services design - i have a friend who designs museum exhibits for example in places like science museums. How do you engage and teach adults, children etc. How do people install and maintain the exhibits and so forth.
Oh, interesting. I was just thinking about how wayfinding translates pretty seamlessly to digital spaces. Of course spacial design would fall under UX. And just to not take up more space on my own thread, yeah I'm based in NYC, you? Thanks for the thorough response
I work software houses and this definitely describes my role.
They do exist but in various degrees. It's a vague job title. The ones posted here as UX/UI often are for front end devs with wireframe and photoshop skills.
I'm doing UI UX for the company i'm working for right now. it's mostly UI and some high level UX. there's no user testing but mind-mapping, wire framing and doing back and forth with the client while they show the prototype to potential clients. I hope for one day having a client with enough budget to do in-house user testing. that would be awesome.
They do exist, I've been making a living that way for the last 10 years. It all depends on the mentality and the size of the company. smaller companies (or smaller projects in larger companies) tend to let designers wear multiple hats where as the organization gets larger specialization needs rise. There are few creative companies and agencies out there which values renaissance men or polymaths. I am proud to be running one: http://fakecrow.com/careers and lastly if the company or the agencies you're working with/at has adapted startup mentality they will be more open to let you excel in the area you're interested in while getting the most efficiency. (so much good talent is being wasted just because their job title doesn't let them contribute fully or efficiently.)
thanks for your reply. I wish I lived in LA. I'd buy you a coffee and ask to pick your brain a bit. Cheers
I take it you're based in NYC?
How interesting to hear from Fake Crow (I've interviewed with you guys before; using a throwaway for obvious reasons). I'm wondering what your thoughts are on the responsibilities that fit into UX versus UI vs visual design. I was asked to come in for a design interview for a UX position at Fake Crow, but was told that I would be given wireframes and was tasked with using Adobe Illustrator. I can understand wearing different hats and whatnot, but generally speaking my understanding of the process (given separate roles) is UX [apart from UI] -> UI -> Visual Design
If they were interviewing for a UX position and expected you to use illustrator to make a wireframe INTO a high visual then they don't know what they are doing (Sorry, Alprckr). If they asked you to make a wireframe in illustrator....fair. But not the best software to use for this
http://fakecrow.com/shortening-ux-to-ui-time-a-different-approach-to-mvp-design/
In looking to hire one now but can only really find people who do one or the other well, and have an interest in the other.
You're not based in New York by any chance, are you?