Establishing User Experience by adapting to defined standards for today’s society.
The topic arose on the basis of problems that I personally have noticed. This encloses issues for UX-Designers in the work context and which that play a current role in societal life. The idea is to connect these subjects to establish UX comprehensively and holistically.
1) Reputation of UX in general
It is hard-pressed to find any product with a user interface that is not subject to UX principles. However, there seems to be a certain contradiction between the recognized importance of UX for the product and the actual influence or relevance granted to the UX team in companies.
UX has existed in the high-tech industry for several decades, however for a long period it has not had a unified name while also not having been marked by high relevance. This has changed to a certain extent over the years, but still to less to make a general difference.
So it is part of the problem’s statement to find a way to further establish UX f.e. in companies context.
Questions for further research:
++ In which professional fields is UX already established?
++ What are the benefits of UX for a company?
++ Is UX measurable?
2) Sustainability in digital technologies
Currently, a highly politicized issue is that of sustainability. There are various guidelines on how a website and digital design can be made more sustainable and thus more accessible in order to reduce energy consumption. And there are as well a lot of concepts to use ICT to develop sustainable output. Although a community has formed around the topic of ‚Green Web’ and sustainability during the last decade, it is still too little of a controversial topic within interaction design and it is lacking in general awareness and power.
So I asked myself if it is possible to integrate meaningfully the issue of sustainability into the field of UX to further strengthen its significance and reputation.
Questions for further research:
++ What is the current value of sustainability in Interaction Design?
++ What does sustainable Design/UX/ICT mean?
++ Is there an existing connection between sustainability and UX?
3) UX and gender equity
As I mentioned before UX is not as established as it could or even should be. One question that arise to me is: Does UX need a redesign not only in terms of sustainability but in terms of gender equity. A lot of (digital) products are designed on the standards of male persons. Furthermore designs are often built on stereotypes. Likewise the topic of sustainability, to establish UX usefully the standards have to change, which is why I also want to have a look on the aspects of integrating gender equity in UX for its establishment.
Questions for further research:
++ What is the role of gender equity in the field of interaction design?
++ How can we design gender sensitive?
++ Why is gender equity in design significant?
In the following blog entries, I will discuss the results of my research from each of the areas listed above (1, 2, and 3).
