UX: Not to be Confused with Everything Else
I’m currently three days into my Lambda School journey in UX Design. We’re focusing a lot on UX fundamentals and different areas to specialize within UX. Today we uncovered a few common UX misconceptions.
User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI)
User Experience is the entire interaction a user has with a product. UX is everything from how a product is used to what triggered that person to initially use that product. It’s even the psychology of how the product makes a user feel. The user interface is the way a user and computer can interact. These two things get mixed up because User Interface is a subset of User Experience. UI is used within the Design Cycle for creating high-fidelity prototypes that are used for user testing. It should only consume about a fifth of a UX Designer’s time.
User Experience (UX) and Customer Experience (CX)
Customer Experience is any possible interaction a customer can have with a company or brand. User Experience is a subset of Customer Experience. CX refers to how a user can perceive customer service, reputation, and even an individual product’s UX. There are different ways that UX can enhance the overall CX. One way is providing easy ways to exchange feedback between the company and the customer. Another is to involve customer service in the product design process since they work with the customers first-hand.
User Experience (UX) and Product Management
The confusion between UX and product management exists because they share a lot of responsibilities. It’s actually common for UX Designers to transition into product managers. They’re both responsible for understanding the user’s needs, solving those needs, and bringing new features and products to market. However, they too have some differences. UX Planet clarifies, “Product management is to organizing as UX is to executing.” Product managers have a business mindset, can set strategic goals, and guide a development team through a product’s roadmap. They work with a lot of internal teams such as marketing, sales, and even C-level employees.
Personally, I’m very interested in learning the ins and outs of UX Design. Long-term, possibly transitioning into a product management role down the road. I like the idea of being able to create a product that satisfies a user’s need based off of direct research conducted with users. If you have any feedback or recommendations about this article, UX, CX, or product management, please leave a comment below! Also, feel free to contact me on social media:
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