So you want to hire a UX Designer.
(Or maybe you self-identify as one)
First things first: There is no such thing as a UX Designer.
(User) Experience Design is a design discipline on the same level as e.g. Industrial Design, Architecture and Communication Design/Advertising. What connects them is the goal to solve (discipline-specific) problems.
For me, the main problem (User) Experience Design tries to solve is to path the way for seamlessly wandering between the digital and physical space.
Also, design in general is a process that spans (very roughly) over five phases: Research, Plan, Create, Deliver, Maintain — which need different thought processes to get the best results.
Let’s map this out, quickly:
When adding the exemplary design disciplines and how they operate, you get a broader understanding of the specific profiles involved in each design process.
Note: Of course, this is very rough. As a rule of thumb: The bigger a company, the more specialized you can be. The smaller a company, the broader your responsibilities are.
Oh, the confusion and frustration.
Only, when it comes to hiring UX Designers (or applying for a job), no one knows anymore where to start and what to look for. Leading to frustrations on talent and confusion on recruiting side.
Applying for a “UX Designer” job could reveal itself as a strategist profile. Looking for a researcher could lead to receiving applications from UI designers who call themselves “UX Designer”.
Cut the “coulds” — it’s happening every day.
How did we get here?
Long story short: When the internet became faster and more reliable, the digital design process became less page-by-page and more flow-driven. This led to the rise of the UX designer who — by adding prototyping to the design process — became a more interactive Information Architect and more conceptual Visual Designer. Unfortunately, the Information Architecture job kind-of died in the process and merged into the blob that now is the know-it-all-UX-Designer.
The UX field missed the point to intentionally branch out from a merged job profile to a new, standalone design discipline on the intersection of product and digital design.
(Well, efficiency-driven startup/venture culture and the rapid growth of the field might have played a role in this as well.)
No one can do it all.
Especially, since throughout the design process so different ways of thinking are needed, it’s almost delusional to expect one single person to be excellent at all.
When it comes to skills, try to see it as a limited resource — restricted by our talent, life and attention spans. There’s only so much you can learn, improve and expand to in a lifetime.
(Yes, of course, there are exceptionally talented people. But as it says: they are exceptions. Let’s go for the average Joe&Jane here.)
Defining Profiles in the (U)X discipline
Let’s map the design process and add levels of understanding to it.
rough = being able to make it work … somehow
good enough = being able to reproduce best practices
good = being able to build things on your own
great = being able to come up with truly original ideas
excellent = being almost nerdishly specialized
5 level * 5 process steps = a matrix of 25 fields. But only very, very few people could fill them all.
What if you only had 10 skills blocks?
Imagine you were only allowed to have 10 blocks to describe your (needed) skill set. Here are some(!) of the profiles emerging.
1) UX Designer aka the UX Team of One
This is probably the most demanded profile: Finding someone who can do it all, end-to-end, in highest quality.
People who are a “UX Team of One” have a comprehensive understanding of the UX Design process as a whole and can deliver good enough results. This has its downside, because the more senior they grow, the stronger their urge for focus and specialization will become since there are few people to spar with.
They can shine in small but growing teams with a time-restricted project approach like Design Sprints or MVP projects.
2) UX Designer aka Design(!) Researcher
By today, there aren’t many researchers in UX design around. They are still mostly found in the context of industrial design innovation, but slowly expand to the digital space.
They are quick thinkers and silent listeners. They se tup and conduct research, can comprehend a huge amount of information and use their visual design skills to translate it into something tangible.
Design Researchers shine in VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) projects to build knowledge and find strong insights to kick-off a project.
3) UX Designer aka Strategist
also: UX Strategist, Strategic Designer, Customer Experience Designer
The better the groundwork, the more confident an experience can be created. A Strategist brings in a strong understanding of research, planning, mapping and even can translate their thoughts into first scribbles or structural deliverables.
They see the bigger picture and understand the context of a problem on a higher level than the researcher. In addition to user research and benchmarking, they also apply analytics and business case thinking.
Strategists shine in longterm projects within a somewhat pre-defined context that can be explored and transformed.
4) UX Designer aka Architect
also: Product Designer/UX, UX Designer/Concept, Conceptioner, Information Architect, Experience Designer
They are the closest to the formerly known Information Architect. They can synthesize research (or at least write an interview guideline) but are strong in making the connections between insights and interfaces.
Great Architects can come up with original concepts and describe in detail how they work to all stakeholders such from client to developer. They stay on the greyscale and focus on function.
They shine the brightest when they can come up with new structural fundaments rather than working on top of existing design systems.
5) UX Designer aka Product Designer
also: Product Designer/UI, UX/UI Designer, UI Designer, Visual Designer, Graphic Designer, Interaction Designer, Experience Designer
There are more “UX is not UI” infographics than I could count in a lifetime. But, as some people would say, product designers are the ones who actually create those beautiful layouts. And no, this is not a professional description.
Product Designers bring all the thoughts to life and shape them into an intuitive-feeling experience, from mood board to prototype. They also set up design systems and accompany a project from ideation to release.
They shine the brightest in projects where start-to-end experiences need to be visually designed.
6) UI(!) Designer aka Art Director
In contrast to the Product Designer, the Art Director has a more conceptual approach and understanding of a brand to the visual design.
They understand the brand well and can translate it into different looks&feels for different target groups and devices. They have a very conceptual or identity-driven approach to design and care for the bigger picture.
They shine the brightest in product launch or rebranding projects.
7) UX Designer aka Concept Developer
also: Concept Delivery, Specs Writer
This is a rare one. Concept Developers often work in engineering-specialized companies that build complex products that need thoroughly specified and thought-through and optimized solutions.
They are very dedicated to the craft, strong in processual design and identifying the most abstract edge cases. They produce functionally high-fidelity prototypes and supervise thorough usability testings.
They shine in very complex interface products like configurators, dashboards, etc and when it comes to showing patience during the (post)production phases.
8) UX Designer aka Production Designer
also: Marketing Designer, Delivery Designer
Production Designers are the visual counterpart to the Concept Developers. They are also very strong throughout (post)production phases and preparing the UX Design for growth.
They can break down the “beautiful” layout into their structural parts, prepare them for all kinds of scaling tasks (amount of content, different languages) and care to prepare all kinds of necessary variations for the development team.
They shine in large-scale products with hefty nested dependencies.
Wrap it up, please.
In the end, for you as a recruiter or team lead, it’s a question of the tasks ahead and how to balance strengths and weaknesses in a team when looking for your kind of “UX Designer”. Chances are high that the “UX Team of One” won’t be enough for you.
There are great pairings such as
- Strategist and Product Designer
- Architect and Production Designer
- Concept Developer and Art Director
and some who overlap a little too much
- Researcher and Strategist
- Concept Developer and Production Designer
But this only applies to full-service companies. In highly specialized design research or engineering companies, they make a great pair.
I’m sorry that you can’t have it all. But I hope, this piece gives a better understanding of “UX Designers” and the profiles you probably need to look for.
