The Problem with UI/UX, UX/UI design

In this video, I'll share some thoughts on my ongoing comments on UI/UX design and why that can be a risky career trajectory to follow. More specifically, I'll highlight some UX job market loopholes, and what focusing ongoing UI/UX could mean in the long run for any developing UX designer career.
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[@superscott597]

I struggled both with this video initially, as well as struggled with my own title for the longest time. As others have mentioned, a lot of companies only have the budget for one person in their UI/UX department. When I started out, I was doing anything from graphic design to user research to print layouts for brochures. I was all over the place, finding solutions for all kinds of problems using digital mediums, product and service recommendations, and print media campaigns. After mulling your point of view over, I think I agree with you - for the most part. I think it can be hurtful to someone who is able to see the bigger picture beyond just screen UI. I consider myself a product designer first and foremost, as I feel like that captures the essence of what the UI/UX role is. It's a role where you work with stakeholders and users to build the right thing - or build nothing and tap existing products and services if it makes sense for the business. However, I understand where you're coming from here as a hiring manager. You want to make sure that a person has a fundamental understanding of what the difference is between the two disciplines, because many people lean heavily in one direction or the other. I think the best thing that happened to me was when I was asked if I wanted the Lead UI or Lead UX Designer title a few jobs ago. It was a turning point for me where I had the opportunity to decide where I felt my focus was, where my passion was, and what I wanted to do in my day-to-day moving forward. I chose the UI path, because ultimately I didn't enjoy the numbers and research side of things. I liked dealing in the emotion and sharing in the joy of the user actually interacting with a digital interface, so I made the conscious choice to leave the majority of the UX role to my counterpart, who was much more passionate about the UX field. Ultimately, I think I benefitted a ton from having the freedom of the title of UI/UX designer, because it allowed me to stretch and explore which sector of the UX realm I actually wanted to live in. I didn't initially choose this path (I was kind of forced into UI/UX early on), but I did end up finding my way to what is now my preferred role. So in the end I think this video was right. But I would also say that if you have the role of UI/UX Designer, don't take that to mean you don't know what UX is, just take it to mean that you may want to have a heart to heart with yourself as to whether your duties are actually encompassing the larger UX process, or if you find yourself mostly making wireframes and mockups. Because if you are mostly focused on the latter, this video is spot on and you may want to consider a more focused and appropriate title, because it will lead you to opportunities better suited to your preferences and specialty. Just some random thoughts. Thanks for prompting this with the video!

[@Rabia_Burak]

your comment is really helpful and i like the Logo of your profile🙌🏻

[@Favoxhille]

I agree also it depends alot on the trends, eg in the 2000's it exploded the need for people to work on websites so "web designer" became the super popular job title that converted alot of people who used to do only print or graphic design before. Same with the apps that saw a surge since around 2010, but for some reason it never translated to "app designer" that I often use but it's not really a thing. In my country alot of people refer to Service Designer when referring to that role that does multiple things spacing through UX and UI. But ultimately I think the naming has very little importance.

[@jjj12384]

I applied for a job with a title of Product Design. They gave me a Design Challenge. I presented a DESIGN solution. The founder asked, "Where's the MARKETING solution?" -FACE PALM-

[@rick1901]

Maybe he was asking it as a general question and did not expect you to deliver a marketing solution lol. Most likely not tho.

[@tescheurich]

It was a wise, scab picking question on the founder's part. If design and marketing cannot reach a basketful of accords (more than one of them of the "unholy" variety), the design is wonderful and the business fails.

[@JaleelBeig]

What did you reply? I would have explained to them that for me to come up with a marketing inclusive solution, I'd have to collaborate with their team as I'm a designer and not a marketer.

[@ez3902]

UI/UX is a graphic designer/video editor/UX Writer/Unicorn/Santa's Little Helper/The entire design team.

[@somedude1324]

Sounds familiar.

[@artpass0s]

Isn't that the standard if there is only one designer in a startup?

[@ez3902]

@@artpass0s Buddy if you have applied to some global tech lately during the pandemic. Companies are expecting you to have everything due to the number of employees that already quit due to burnout. Nowadays they want specialized generalists.

[@artpass0s]

​@@ez3902 Yeah, I didn't apply to anything during this pandemic but that makes total sense. The market seems pretty crazy at the moment. Also, I reckon that "Specialised Generalist" will be my next tattoo. Too good.

[@ez3902]

@@artpass0s Godspeed!😂😂

[@kjsdesignco]

Makes plenty of sense. As a Junior, I’m learning just how specialized the field is. Taking a bootcamp exposed me to all the aspects, but now in a company…I’m digging deeper into the research, journey mapping, service blueprints etc. I would love for my trajectory to be UI strictly because I am a visual-first designer, but I feel strengthening my weaknesses is better for my long-term growth. Thank you for this video!

[@denijeljarak3334]

This hit me hard. Exactly my situation right now.

[@aand_av1308]

Excellent video, as usual. I've struggled with this for some time. I have a graphic/visual design background where I was able to dive into different aspects such as branding, motion graphics, UI Design and even some front-end coding. Seeing the huge amount of job opportunities for UX Design I decided that it was time to become a UX/UI Designer (AKA a UI Designer who hopes to get away with not knowing enough UX). This led me to frustration into the marketplace and a sense that I was not doing what I'm really passionate about, which is visual and UI. After some soul searching, I decided to abandon this plan and started focusing on being a really good Visual/UI Designer and went back at studying things like motion, coding, 3D, UI, and so on. This not only saves time of companies interviewing me just to find that I'm not actually what they need but it also brought back the drive and the passion to study and create once again. Said that, I'm not throwing UX out of the window in the sense that I believe it is really important, even for a UI Designer, to know about all these things, but I'm focusing much more on what keeps the fire burning inside for me and it feels great.

[@piotrnalepa3444]

I'd say in most cases when company's looking for UI/UX person their expectations is an individual who will do the whole process from the first meeting with the "business" to handing over final UI to DEVs. Which is crasiness - just think about it - one person supposed to work with stakeholders, organise workshops - run those workshops, conduct research, work with users, create personas, brainstorm and create solutions, do prototypes, test those prototypes, and many, many more activieties .... how is really ending up is one persone doing "some" of UX, taking care about usability, and do UI for devs...

[@realAamirShahzad]

Exactly!!!

[@moonbear9035]

I’m currently doing this with a small team and i’m ready to quit already. They don’t even have design researchers

[@foodiusmaximus]

This was my life for many years until the start of 2023. Not only was I end to end, but I was holding down 5 to 7 projects a year.

[@deathtyrantart]

I really think the title UI/UX Designer is good for those first 2-3 years of experience. Let's say if you're just getting into the design field. You can just straight into UX research and product/market research but you certainly need to work towards that knowingly. I think having a UI/UX role your first few years allows you to be exposed to a lot of different types of design. I believe this is why most companies ask for Agency experience.

[@bellecaramella]

this is the video we all needed. thanks for breaking down the complexity and difficulty of this topic. I would love to see a part II to better understand a pure form those bigger circles.

[@mmikael281]

Most companies need UI designers that use some UX tools. Purely UX design roles only exist in big companies.

[@_ap__]

Very high quality talk, really appreciate this. Even paid courses out there don't tell such nuanced perspectives. Brilliant.

[@The_AOP]

I’m seriously considering starting a new career in UX design and was confused about the roles UX and UI have in this field. Very clear explanation thank you!

[@mickfreeman2335]

The problem with the whole area of "this" is the label-mania. It's all about creating the optics making it more special than it is. Basically all labels is already included in the word design. For long long times all stuff UX-geeks thinks are so special have always been included i general serious design process. Labeling is about POWER. Nothing else.

[@michaelcawcutt5980]

Design is design. Solving a problem or providing an outcome for an audience within a certain context. UX is just another form of design hyper focused on a users outcome within a context.

[@alexdromero13]

Power to the designers.

[@charliedowd3285]

It's about more than power (although I agree that it's a minefield and can be very annoying). Job titles tell you a lot about a company's design maturity...

[@frogman86]

I think a lot of it falls down to the size of the company. I'm very much a UI designer first and foremost but we don't have a dedicated UX Designer so I do both to which I'm more than competent in but my passion is UI for sure

[@scrooge-mcduck]

Vy, you are absolutely correct, as usual. We, the designers, we know this. But the 99% recruiters and businesses do not, so we're just following how the market leads us. In most companies I work for, I am seen as a Voodo shaman/crippled no-code developer. Oh, I'll call myself that :)

[@alexdromero13]

Exactly

[@rick1901]

So you do frontend or just design? I swear that every standard software/backend/fullstack developer looks at frontend developers with disgust and thinks we are lazy for doing 'less complicated' work/coding.

[@scrooge-mcduck]

@@rick1901 Just design. No frontend. You need 2 lives to do both well. They leave design to an expert. I leave frontend to experts. In my case every "software/backend/fullstack" does not know where to kiss me out of gratitude as my work makes their work so easy and quick.

[@rick1901]

@@scrooge-mcduck oh okay guess it's just my personal experience then. I agree that an employee should focus on a certain job/expertise and not combine everything (ideally speaking) but for small companies that's not always affordable sadly.

[@scrooge-mcduck]

@@rick1901 Unfortunately this is a common experience also propagated by poor understanding of roles/expertise definitions and/or being cheap. If people have to do design/development then usually they end up being neither good nor efficient at either, and we end up having services shabby as they are. Smaller companies have to compete thus have to "try harder". To stay within the budget I'd suggest having more experts part-time than an overworked (and usually underpaid) single Leonardo wannabe.

[@kaelihamrick8622]

This was really informative. Thank you.

[@cyko.design]

Totally agree with your views. Great video! I can share this with people now, cos it's not just me saying it. Its an industry expert saying it too. Thanks!

[@dariabondar203]

It might be true of some countries but in many others, few companies need a pure UX designer. Companies look for "jack of all trades" who can research, create UI/logos/branding/banners, develop IA, motion, 3D, illustrations - all this stuff is required from a designer in Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, etc. Even though I do like UX and aspire to become one at some point, it's really difficult to land a UX job. But overall, I agree with you

[@Paco1337]

Same in my country, I live in Balkan area and here UI/UX designer is pretty much doing mostly graphics design work for clients than UI/UX designer work.

[@waikit828]

I totally agree! My title is a UI/UX Designer, my boss identifies me more like a UI expect but my mentality and approach is more like a UX Designer. It is so difficult to find the balance those as I have to give up UX approach due to my boss's expectation. I don't know how long I can stay with this company but I know my next job has to be nothing but UX.

[@normanvalenzuela3055]

My situation precisely, any updates on how you managed?

[@waikit828]

@@normanvalenzuela3055 I moved on and moved forward to another company… while you can’t change others, change yourself…

[@MaxSoe]

Hey @vaexperienc where can I find that UX venn diagram you used in the video? The one at 3:30.

[@fasinaayo4483]

Great content like always. Thank you. I am more interested in UX design. It's the kind of designer I want to be. Ps: I had an issue with purchasing your book (both pre-launch and after) I already sent a message on discord but I guess you've had your hands full too

[@StuartGrahamV]

At first I was called UX/UI until I entered a Google course and found about it. Now I'm just UX designer. Still, I think that in small businesses, you must do almost everything by yourself, as it's my case. The only thing I don't do is graphic design for the mockups.

[@mrajax_0101]

So you means that we have to learn everything which comes in ui and also in ux? Then we can call us a ux designer?

[@seannytjh]

Thanks @vaexperience for breaking this down! This phenomenon is what's happening in Singapore right now as we're having a tech boom. But now we're seeing a slow increase in the trend of the UI/UX jobs morphing into product design roles. I started out as a Mechanical Engineer and got into UX Design. Did the General Assembly 3 month bootcamp and had my first job as a UI/UX designer in a startup 🤦‍♂️. I realised that the role was UI focused too late, but I guess that it was a good start to break into an industry. After that first job I realised that I needed to detach myself from the UI/UX combinations.

[@ocubex]

Been saying this for a while... love the interior designer / architect analogy, makes it much clearer.

[@ryanschmidt8468]

It's a great analogy, and I agree. But, it is possible that an architect is skilled in interior design, or vice versa. It's likely not common, but it is possible. My title is product designer, and past titles have included product designer, ux designer, visual designer, and ui/ux designer. I go by whatever my employer calls me, and I don't get bent out of shape over it. When people ask what I do for a living, I just say I do UX design. Nobody probes me further to see if I _really_ do UX design or if I _really_ do something visual or whatever. Nobody other than designers think these designer title differences are a big deal.

[@superscott597]

@@ryanschmidt8468 This was my experience, and I think you hit the nail on the head. Nobody even knows what "UI/UX Designer" means when they ask what I do, including recruiters and most teammates. The title boogaloo is definitely a designer-specific thing, and the only time I really have to be specific and clarify is when I'm interviewing with the hiring manager that understands the difference and can help me understand if the role is right for me or not.

[@andrebarahona5033]

I want to specialize in "User research" should I show myself as a UX/UR designer or just UR designer? Is the book going to be available on kindle?

[@BrunoAlves-uy3sl]

Such great explanation of a problem I see daily in the industry.

[@-grey]

This is helpful to know. Can I be cheeky and ask for advice? I am interested in Interaction Design primarily, and I didn't want to label myself as UI/UX but more of a UX Designer specifically. It's the problem solving and empathy parts that I like the most, along with the information architecture and usability testing. Am I at least on the right track to apply for those roles and also product designer roles too depending on availability?

[@LifeinGlow]

Thank you! As a beginner who is deciding if UX/UI can be a good fit for me as a supplementary profession, it makes sense to me. That green inforgraphic was really good.

[@extraMangoBoy]

as someone who started my transition to UX career by courses this past year, this video really helped me and reassured me. Mainly because I empathize with where you're coming from, as someone who was drawn to the UX/CX elements and only view the UI as secondary faction. The further i talked with people, dug into courses, and into content, the more time it had me spending on UI, and sometimes research but nothing else. It made me feel like I maybe made the wrong decision. Luckily i do have some experience in sales, marketing, IA and systems design for both b2c and b2b systems through my ventures as an entrepreneur, so you've given me the confidence to apply for "real UX" jobs and perhaps maybe tailor my portfolio to more mid-level experience jobs and not get derailed by the UI baby hurdle. subbed and will look through more of your vids as i have not resonated with another message quite as strongly as yours, thanks again for the clarity.

[@dripcaraybbx]

I feel like companies want design generalists (UX + UI) but the UX Machine wants UX generalists (design + research). We act like handling UI is such a burden but how's this any different than bootcamps and content creators telling me I need to be a researcher when I'm a designer

[@tescheurich]

No designer should have no involvement in research. It just shouldn't take up too high a percentage of their hours. You gotta be down there and seeeeee it

[@chakibbrikcisid5474]

Nice video ! ( +1 sub) I go from meeting with clients, ideation, discuss solutions, research what's best direction to go for as a solution, help in studying the market, decide which style of UIs would suit most the project, create the UIs using a software like Adobe XD, look for the best practices & best ways to design a certain feature to make the user experience as fluent, as smooth & as easy to use as poasible. After that I help in implementing the solution (front side) using flutter for mobile apps. Got a master degree in computer science but got interested in design world while being at university. And till now can't really decide if I should go FULL IN design side or dev side. What kind of title should I use? I don't really know. In general I say I'm a UI/ UX designer & a (flutter) mobile developer. Any advice?

[@ZahhibbDev]

I have a question that someone may be able to shine some light on? I do some personal projects on the side of my studies and most of those projects are reinventions or interpretations of how a UI for a upcoming game may look like. I do main menus, settings menus, and superimpose HUD elements over gameplay footage of said games. I also do breakdowns of typography, iconography and colors. In my projects I usually title them with UI/UX, and I understood from earlier and now even more clearer from this video that its kind of frowned upon to use "UI/UX", but with how I do things I feel it is appropriate, but i'd love to hear some thoughts on if im doing it right or should just stick do 'UI' or 'UX' plainly?

[@jamsteracton]

Could yo make a video of why you left Denmark for England? I'm from London but studied a for a semester in Aarhus so id be interested to know.

[@vaexperience]

The reasons were very simple really. At that point (decade or so ago) the UX work market was not very established in Denmark (Jutland area, nor Copenhagen) I remember counting just a handful of companies that seemed to be supportive of proper UX work, not digital/web design or UI/UX that had little user research besides user testing. UK, in particular London was a sizeable tech hub in EU, so decided to move exactly for those reasons.

[@souljaunt3291]

Brilliant, thanks a lot.

[@collinsenahoro3927]

@soul Jaunt you're here too lol

[@kiranpoojary4505]

Is UI/UX design field is getting saturated with many people seeking job in this field or will the demand for designers is only going to increase from here on since more and more businesses are going online and they want their users to have best experience?

[@user-vu9gd8ed1h]

I want to know too

[@oficado58]

I forsee it staying relatively in need for a while. Not like technology is going away anytime soon, and where tech is theres usually a need for clean UI and good UX to back it up.

[@platinumdynamite]

Yes, thank you for this

[@ceasarvsnepolion7789]

Drunk me after F1 and seeing the thumbnail. "why is Bottas teaching me about Ui/Ux?" Useful video anyway, thank you.

[@vaexperience]

😂

[@n_mckean]

Is that skills diagram publicly available somewhere?

[@vaexperience]

Hey, many versions of it - search for ux disciplines

[@HiddenExp]

Excellent!

[@MrLeverashvili]

hello, In Georgia (in my country) it is a serious problem to find a job in only 1 direction, no one wants to just hire a UX designer, everyone wants to include UI design. I also do not like this data and I prefer to devote all my time to UX design but employers create this environment for us and we have to do both. No one should hire 2 people and pay more when they can hire 1 person and do everything while spending less. What do you advise us to do in such a situation?

[@vaexperience]

Yes it's very common across the globe but the key tech hubs. That's why as mentioned in the video you should still go for it but keep growing your holistic UX arsenal. It might be the battle you want to take on where you prove a value of having dedicated UX person or user research person alongside UI designer, it's all depended on what you can achieve and what's truly in your control.

[@renatagibson445]

I’m curious: what do you think about the “product designer” title?

[@renatagibson445]

Needless to say, I’m brand new in the field!

[@xinyucui5567]

That is exactuly what I told mutiple times for job headhunter. What's more, it is also have very vague boundaries through the disciplines like HMI/UI/UE/ID......from my experiences, the position for User-experience design is truly highly relevant for industry, which makes UE designer required several years of experience in this industry, and it is should be a senior level position for the employee motivated from his rule. The entry level and junior level position may use User research/analyst for good.

[@snaakie]

I am the person you talk about from @ 06:30. My work consists of all things a designer could do, from deep research throughout the project to making all of the wireframes, design system and hi-fi designs for the developers and interactions. I do a wide range of UX methods for example a 'Day in the life' where I visit the factory of a client and map all of the processes and roles. Or just interviews with all stakeholders. Currently I am working on a Design Thinking process for all of the new projects. However I do still call myself UI/UX designer because I want to show that I am currently doing all parts of the process from research to design, like a full stack developer. Might change the title to just UX designer in the future, my company let's me choose my own jobtitle.

[@vaexperience]

Let not the companies to label what sort of designer you are. You are a proper UXer who can do UI - but putting UI/UX waters down your capability more than adds to it imo. As recommended someone else in comments, I'd explain aptitude with UI in the role descriptions rather than put a stamp on your skills that it's focused on UI.

[@snaakie]

@@vaexperience Thank you! I'll definitely bring it up soon at the end of year talks!

[@andremourasilva8815]

I'm sad now. I just started a transition to UX design but got my first job as a product designer... now I feel I'm supposed to quit and keep seeking that UX role... I'm lost again

[@superscott597]

Please don't. Follow the thread of the work you enjoy doing, and you'll end up with the title that fits you best. Don't worry about too much about the perception of what your title says about what you do - that's what your portfolio and interviewing presence is for. Network with others in the industry to gain respect and awareness of your skill set, push your work to be of a high quality, and the title will naturally fall into place. The title of Product designer is a wonderful start, because you can go in literally any direction you want. If you like the management side and more stakeholder-y aspects of the role, you can go the route of a Product Manager. If you enjoy the hunt for matching the right product to the right person and finding out what to build and how to research, then move into UX-specialty roles. If you find you really enjoy the design/prototyping/implementation stuff, go into UI. The problem he's describing here is so hyper specific and only meant to clear the air around what the specific title of UI/UX Designer means at it's core, and to bring awareness to the fact that some people don't know what they want to be, so they just use the title that everybody else uses until they realize it wasn't the right one. Personally I would advise you to formulate your own plan for what you want to do and gradually discover your specialty within the field.

[@stanley2681]

man, ive been battling this shit since its inception. i hate this merger.

[@paritejdan]

This is great video! Totally agree! UX is about research and problem solving and critical thinking vs UI is more of visual work! Based on my experience most of the high level manager positions or senior design positions require someone with deep strategic view and strong problem solving skills rather than visual design skills

[@bromide01]

That map makes my head hurt.

[@ghost482]

I understand where you are coming from, but i have mixed feelings about this. To design a proper UI, you definitely need to have some knowledge of UX - otherwise the interaction with the UI, or the translation of requirements and processes to a UI, will be bad. Given this, you should be capable of listing UX design and UI design as skills and/or job description. You can of course specialize in one of them, but that will come with time, and if you are at that point in your career, there will definitely be other job descriptions that you can go for that are more accurate and you should know them. I do agree that the main problem lies with the label itself - many companies see UI/UX designer and the first thing that comes to their mind is making nice interfaces - many companies will probably not care about or understand what user research is and why its needed. SMEs probably dont want to (or cant) hire dedicated UI and UX designers when they can get someone who can design the interfaces while keeping the user in the loop. Bottom line is, if you know you dont want to do UI design (or UX design), then yes, you shouldn't include it in your job description.

[@AlexMoschopoulos]

I totally understand the sentiment, which is why I am happy things are sliding into a more generalized term, "product"...."product designer", "product analyst", "product researcher. Still, when one says "use this" or "use that" or tries to be specific about which to say (UI or UX), I tend to think they come from a world where it's companies or jobs that have the resources to separate those paths. Too many more companies either do not have the resources or do not have the desire to separate. These are companies who need a designer, but they need a designer who is willing to research, or think about the user journey or the architecture. They don't want to hire a "true UX" person because they need this person to design the UI, and they don't want to pay for a second body. Likewise, many professionals are trapped in a conundrum where maybe the Manager of the UX team will think "UI Designer is not a UX Person", but too many companies have job ads written by HR or recruiting departments, and they'll ask for a UX/UI person, and those who only pick one or the other, no matter how experienced they are, end up in the rejection pile...often by Applicant Tracking Systems that read the resume as opposed to an actual human with real knowledge of UX or UI looking it all over. So many have to put both just so the uninformed or the algorithm will mark them as "yes". Too many companies are simply in a "get it done" ideology. I attend online seminars and discussions in UX and they always seem to turn into people complaining endlessly on how they have to fight for the user and executives who decided to ignore UX and do what they think is ideal, and people quitting one job after the next because it seems like no job will be exactly what they felt it was, or lament on how companies want people who do it all as opposed to specialization. It's so clear there is still a massive disconnect in what the industry thinks the terms and roles should be, and yet what the market dictates these people to be. I think the best advice in this video is on how a junior can grow into senior by thinking beyond UI. However, until we see the job market, recruiters, HR, and hiring managers understand the differences between UI, UX, and even "art director", we're stuck doing what we can to game the broken hiring systems to get the job.

[@formulaone07]

Is there a future in specializing as a purely UI Designer?

[@vaexperience]

No, but... the future UI automation will need UI producers and design system managers/owners

[@jeanb.3493]

The UX/UI predicament seems to me as a consequence of the inflation of terms like "designer" and "architect".

[@skrobotov]

I guess another reason to say that you are UX/UI Designer is because you've been in the "Web design" industry for long enough to see terms like UX and UI being born. In this situation you have your front end experience for a decade, and another decade of UX experience. I don't see it is bad to reflect on both of them in your resume or an interview. I can see myself that hirerers want either UX or UI, so I basically have to lie on the UX interview that I actually can code in a few languages, and I have 10 years of UI Design experience. And I did have refusals because of this reason.

[@jon8236]

The thing is most companies outside the larger tech companies want and need UI designers who can use a UX process to arrive at something deliverable. I think job titles are driven by the market.

[@vaexperience]

yes, the wants vs needs is always the biggest issue in any market. But as with everything the companies don't know what they don't know - designers need to shape the design maturity and show what good UX actually looks like.

[@jonathancaspari8722]

What about "Interaction Design"? I mean the job of an Interaction Designer is the merging field of UX and UI design. And in my studies I learn both. Of course you will always have a "stronger skill" or one that you prefer the most, but I think that there has to be an overlap and it is not wrong, if you use the right term.

[@rohithkrishnanandam8634]

Did anyone say you look like Joss Whedon?

[@uxuidesigner1048]

Well I mean, the video editor can call them, sound organization, visual digital executive, Color ... etc, etc but they just label themself video editors, it much more clear for their co-worker to work with

[@vaexperience]

Yeah and video editor will never get a film director job unless they did film direction. Great analogy thanks

[@Bostich]

The only point I would make is that discipline progression can be a bit messier than the 'Target' graphic implies. A person may start anywhere and work their way more like squiggle through the disciplines. I know you know this, the 'Target' is a better KZbin visualization.

[@hellboy6167]

Become good UI designer takes lots of patience, so most of bad ui designers turn table and start throwing jargons and act they are UX researcher and when it comes to real delivery of project start leaning on UI designer.

[@s559tja]

I've been an interaction designer for around 12 years working at lots of clients in the UK and USA, and most of the time when these clients say UX they actually mean UI. Very few clients actually want to invest time and effort into proper research or understanding problems from a users perspective. All stakeholders want to see is glossy visuals or transition effects. Virtually every senior role I apply for now asks for Figma, Xd or Sketch. These aren't UX design software programs imo and are responsible for some of the style before substance designs you see on dribbble or behance. My current role is working for a medical company creating enterprise software with lots of data and interactions. How on earth would one do that using Sketch or Figma? Yet somehow these have become industry standard tools and most "UXers" scoff when I tell them I use Axure for prototyping.

[@ocubex]

Don't give up, I just joined a huge bank and I have brought up the issue of Axure/Figma a few times. My plan is to keep using Figma but build a prototype with Axure in my spare time. Hopefully when we get to user testing, they will see the difference for themselves.

[@fabianramirez3222]

AFAIK. Figma allows to design interactions and animations. I'm not sure what you mean with the last paragraph.

[@s559tja]

@@fabianramirez3222 It's very, very limited in that respect though. If you're showing the flow of pages or a simple journey the prototyping aspect in Figma/Xd/Sketch is sufficient, especially for mobile. But if you want to create a realistic product representation of a dynamic tool with form elements and data it falls down quickly, unless you're willing to create variants or components for every single UI element there are far better tools. Case in point, last week I interviewed for a Lead UX position for a global company who were creating a complex data extraction tool using AI and search and the previous designer had attempted to create a prototype in Figma. While it looked nice it was barely functional, how can one accurately test with users if the functionality is only 10 or 20% present? I showed them some Axure prototypes I had built and they couldn't believe the difference, so much so that they made me an offer on the basis of that. This was for a role which explicitly stated expert level Figma knowledge and that they ONLY wanted Figma design files. This was a bit of a long and rambling post haha, but my point is UX is being bastardised by the prevalence of graphic design software within companies, who don't really know any better and people who call themselves UX/UI designers taking advantage of that fact.

[@kristaw206]

It would be so much easier if companies and hiring managers didn’t consider the two the same job 😑

[@Achilles_of_Troy]

It's just a fancy name for design. It involves different aspects of design. Thus the confusion comes to what is UI design and what is UX design.

[@t20sgrunt36]

Miss the old days of less BS job titles, miss days where I was just an Art Director. Newest job title is UX specialist- I design in any medium, do front end, some video, branding, SEO, PPC, audience research, metric studies, site optimization, automation, and more Edit- 15 yrs agency experience

[@darkobogojevic7448]

UX specialist is an old title in this industry, and his role is to coordinate the design team, influence in decision making, and develop a solid UX strategy; but it's really not suitable for medium or small agencies

[@702Tech]

Another issue I see when it comes to jobs & "UI/UX" is the jobs want a person with experience.......but never wanna hire you to get the experience hahaha

[@KarimMaassen]

UX relates to UI like the Architect does to the Developer.

[@vaexperience]

And both are essential in making experiences or sound buildings!

[@antonchernyshev4746]

You can call it whatever you want, but the outcome of their job is an interface for users. Working as a designer I’ve noticed that other designers overcomplicate things for some reason. Maybe that’s because they want others to see design as something very complex to feed self esteem. Basically, everything that could be designed is already designed and what designers do is pretty much copying common practices that spread on the web. Figma is super easy these days, spend a day learning autolayouts and that’s it.

[@vaexperience]

Have you heard of service design? User experience design? Customer experience design? Ui could be part of it, but is not essential. Also if you have watched the video fully you should have seen the ux disciplines map - the UI is there, but isn't focal point. Time to look deeper.

[@jeremygarcia2964]

Interesting take. Can't say I think of UX designers as having all of the skills you listed. Most UX designers I've worked with took a bootcamp or have only been in the design field for a couple of years and have sub-par visual design skills.

[@djblast101]

As once being and architect for five years and working with interior designers we do very different work specializing in different part of the space. I am A hybrid Sr. Product Designer / developer and i agree ux while you need to understand it to a degree i think the expectations for product is to know about about ux and not pay for dedicated ux Designer. We did hire a Ux researcher dedicated just to research which I feel is fitting to Ux.

[@tescheurich]

Just one problem? You've found a really nice job, haven't you.

[@thebrunoserge]

Oh OK so you're cool with a title like "Director of UX", right? Just not "UX/UI Designer"? I agree that UI/UX is suspicious and meaningless. Are you arguing that UX professionals should re-market ourselves as Product Design professionals though?...

[@phpn99]

Most self-professed UI/UX designers I meet today, who are less than 35 yo, know very little outside of the tool they use. They should call themselves "Figma User", or something to that effect. Most don't even know how to write a single line of code or anything about information architecture, cognitive psychology, industrial design and graphic design. It's pathetic.

[@mic9check]

The only problem with it is putting "UI" before "UX" (UI/UX), which implies that the UI is handled before the UX. A practitioner with great grounding in UX, together with excellent visual design skills could and should title themselves as a UX/UI designer, and call it a day.

[@SamSquids]

Is it just me or is making a functional UI considered a no-no in current year? Like what the fuck?!?! Modern UI is garbage and modern UI/UX designers are talentless hacks.

[@aloha2713]

New year, new roletitels. I don’t like it, whit your new terms and all that you are building an ivory tower telling other wehre they role is a and that they are not doing real “professional” UX Design (and that they are no UX Designer) until they are not doing it in the way you define it. This is so arrogant.

[@vaexperience]

OK. There's nothing new here though, on the contrary - the new flavours of what traditional UX work is about is the issue. Also, since you made this comment personal instead of keeping things to healthy objective debate - if next time you struggle to get a reputable UX job your attitude and inexperience might be the reason why.

[@aloha2713]

​@@vaexperience Ups. first 👎 You (this time I really mean YOU) should tray to not take things too personal. Don't act like someone who is speaking up for a group, please always speak for yourself and about your personal opinion. For me it seams you are still trying to finde your role communicating you are an "expert" still struggling whit that ("... UX research and design team manager, experience design lead, strategist, and among other things accidentally UX design educator...") blablabla ... Maybe you should fix this and your own website first before judging others. Are you really working on real projects? Hard to believe.

[@AlissonBirck]

I do agree with you, but in many developing countries, doing UX by the book would be so expensive for the client that it becomes unfeasible. That's why in a lot of these countries, companies focus a lot more in the UI part. This is exactly what happens here in Brazil. Another factor is that most of clients, here at least, are very "old minded". They want a project with a final price tag to start building, which makes it more difficult for UX to be done in the right way.