I don’t care about UX

When I wrote about designing for the street I tossed out this glib remark:

The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces was filled with lessons that can be applied to web design (or as it is more fashionably known now, UX design).

Or, as Mark put it:

Since when did good web design suddenly get called ‘UX’? Everywhere I look now, good UI design is called ‘UX’, good type = ‘UX’, Colour? UX.

My point in equating UX design with plain ol’ fashioned web design is similar to what Jeff was getting at when he wrote I don’t care about accessibility five years ago. It was a controversial thing to say but he explained it eloquently:

When you design for the Web — that is, when you design exclusively and specifically for this medium — when you do that natively, so many of the things we consider problems just start to fall away. … Because when Web design is practiced as a craft, and not a consolation, accessibility comes for free.

…and that’s the way I feel about what is often labelled as UX design. If someone claims to be a web designer but isn’t considering the user experience, they are deluding themselves. UX, like accessibility, should be a given, not a differentiating factor.

And that’s why I don’t care about UX.

Have you published a response to this? :

Previously on this day

14 years ago I wrote One day training in DOM Scripting

I’m going to spend Wednesday, July 20th delivering some hands-on training in DOM Scripting. If you’ve got the time and the means, please do come along to The Leathermarket in London.

17 years ago I wrote Errorwear: embrace your computer problems

This is very geeky but I love these T-shirts by Errorwear.

17 years ago I wrote Miscellanous Jokes

From a page of 145 jokes translated from Russian, I found my new favourite at number 58: