Lead or UX Designer?

Many try to recruit a "UX/UI Designer" - as if they are the same. They are not.

UX design is the totality of the experience. In some way it's closer to brand management than user interface. Your idea of a brand is the sum of all your experiences with it - from advertising, word of mouth, reviews, customer support to actually using the product.

Norman coined the term User Experience when he was working at Apple. He once wrote in an email:

“I invented the term because I thought human interface and usability were too narrow. I wanted to cover all aspects of the person’s experience with the system including industrial design graphics, the interface, the physical interaction and the manual.”

Interface design is a part of UX. As is the design of the physical thing, the manual, the packaging - EVERYTHING related to a users experience with the system. So if you take this to an extreme, the marketing influences your expectations and therefore your experience when you use the product.

It's all woven together.

I'm currently working for a company where the totality of the user experience design is coined Lead Designer.

But the name really doesn't matter. The important factor is that someone is considering the totality of the user experience, not just a single aspect of it.

Your users will experience the micro copy, the responsiveness (speed) of the interface, the font, the graphics and so forth. And they will experience all the symbols and artifacts of the product based on cultural connotations and personal experiences.

So, no. UX is not a matter of drop shadows on buttons.

At this company, people from different fields can hold the position as Lead Designer for a team or project. You can be an industrial designer, a graphical designer or a copywriter. It doesn't matter. But you have to recognize the importance of all the things that come together to shape the users experience. And I think this is a very healthy perspective.

01.01.2019