My spouse is a developer and we have this discussion quite often actually. He can recite the deepest details of coding and architecting software as if it’s a mysterious, ancient language (I like to compare it to Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics myself). I have no problem saying he is a genius. He understands details I can’t possibly hope to grasp, and he has no interest in interface design. While I’ve tried to explain to him how form improves function, and how flow makes people more creative and allows them to actually enjoy software, thereby making the software more functional for the user, he’s just not interested. Now we’ve had the discussion long enough that I can mouth the words “form AND function” across a crowded room just to see the face he makes.

Here’s my radical idea, which has lead to a lot less argument in my house, I must add – let developers develop. And hey, let’s leave the marketers to do the marketing too. Let’s just accept that these team members are geniuses at what they do, and in fact, should not have to worry about interface design. Do you think my husband cares whether his menu is easy to use? I can tell you, he has no time nor interest in deciding how to effectively list menu items or label form elements. He has his head so far up the code that drives functionality, he does not and cannot be concerned with how it looks too.

No, Really, I Like Geeks

Don’t get me wrong here. Many of my friends are developers, and I admire them quite a bit. I actually started as one myself, back in college, and some of my best and longest friends are programming geniuses. As I said too, my husband is a programmer. So, I am not in any way trying to knock them when I say they don’t and shouldn’t be concerned with interface design.

Let the developers write the code. They make software functional.

Let the marketing team balance ROI and marketing. They sell the software to customers.

UX designers are the guys who stand in between. They talk to the developers, they talk to the marketing team, and most importantly, they talk to users.

Whereas developers focus on function, and marketing focuses on actually marketing the products, UX designers focus on user needs. This is becoming vitally important as competition arises and becomes so easily accessible through the internet. “Google” has become a verb for people, and they will “just Google it” if your product doesn’t give them a solution that is not just usable but nice to use.

There’s That Doctor Example Again

Carrying on the doctor example from the previous entry, user experience designers diagnose symptoms. When John Smith complains of stomach pains, your UX designer is the doctor.  The good doctor asks, “Well, John, can you tell me when the pain starts”, and does two things.

First, the doctor observes John’s behaviour and draws out exactly what John is doing when the problem arises, and how the pain prevents John from doing it. How often does John experience this pain, and does it prevent him from completing tasks? Rather than expecting John to spit out exactly the solution he needs (an appendectomy, at least according to John), the doctor makes notes and investigates how John actually behaves. He learns what John wants to do, and how exactly the pain prevents that from happening.

Second, the doctor knows John is not aware of the specific pain characteristics that suggest appendicitis. John can tell him it hurts, but the doctor finds out where in the body, when, and how. The doctor ideally has the good communication skills to make John feel comfortable and help him explain exactly how and when the pain hits. And the doctor also knows the pattern that these pain symptoms would match if it was appendicitis, along with different solutions to end John’s pain. The doctor is silently comparing the pain characteristics to the appendicitis pattern, and considering other illness patterns that would match as well. Then he can later consider from his library of prescription and surgery options which meet the needs.

Why are medications offered by prescription? Because people know that doctors have a better understanding of symptoms and access to a wider repository of information as to when symptoms match illnesses, and which prescription or surgery could solve the problem.

But We Don’t Close The Office To Go Golfing

Accordingly, UX designers are trained to observe users, draw out their needs and tasks, and match them against existing understanding of interface designs and usable components. Users are not expected to know whether pyramid navigation, breadcrumbs, or modal panels will allow them to get the job done, just as they are not expected to take their own appendix out.

UX designers do have a broad familiarity with various subjects – they may be more like your general practitioner or family doctor then a specialist. They don’t perform brain surgery, nor do they write code. They may not develop and test medications, nor do they dive deep into marketing metrics. But they have a broad understanding of graphics design principles, information architecture, human-computer interaction, how the brain works and how people figure things out. They understand the need for return on investment (ROI), and probably have a basic idea what functions are possible with the company’s favourite programming environment.

UX designers often have a library of different interface patterns – navigation types, methods to help people find their way in software – and a deep understanding of how people actually DO find their way or navigate. They’re good communicators, and good at quickly plugging symptoms to design pattern. General doctors can prescribe medications, whereas UX designers can often actually bring the design patterns to life using CSS, HTML, JavaScript, Ajax, and Dojo, or .Net, Java, JSP, and so forth. They may not be coding geniuses, but they have to be aware of what’s out there and what it can do, just like your general doctor needs to know about surgical options and prescriptions, even if they don’t actually spend their day in surgery or the lab.

So let’s allow the developers/surgeons to focus on their work, and the marketers/scientists do their job too. They are geniuses, and their work is invaluable. That said, don’t expect John Smith to go directly to the surgeon when he has stomach pains. Instead, allow your UX designer to help John find the perfect solution.

I don’t know how or where yet I could use some of the design elements, techniques, and frameworks, but man, do I ever want to find out.

Each time I use my Treo to surf the ‘net while away from a computer I am shocked by how few companies have designed mobile-friendly websites. For example, I deal with two banks – one has a mobile interface for online banking, and yet the other does not. It would be really handy to be able to check my accounts while out and about. Hopefully standards such as these will help nudge companies to get their mobile sites up.