User Experience Assignment Analyzing A Career Pathway In UX
Question
Task: Students will individually produce a 2000-wordreport on user experience assignment that investigates and analyses a career pathwayin UX. Students must choose at least 3 of the topics discussed in the module. Students must include appendicesandmustusetheHarvardcitationsystemforreferencing.
Answer
Introduction/Abstract
The term User experience or UX explored within this user experience assignment can be referred to an individual’s attitudes and emotions about using a service, product, or system. In addition, it encompasses the valuable, practical, meaningful, experiential, and affective aspects of human-computer interaction as well as product ownership. It further emphasizes the deep understanding of users including what they value, what they need, their limitations, and their abilities as they directly related to a given technology, product, or website. Hence, it is essential for creating a positive user experience by encompassing all the components, (Refer to Appendix A). These aspects have increased the demand for UX professionals specifically for talented analytics, designers and researchers. Based on such context, this report aims to highlight three important and potential career pathways in UX by conducting in-depth research, investigations, and analysis with significant justification.
Research and investigations
Market trends in terms of the career pathways in the UX field
As put forward by Linde (2021), the designers working in the UX space obtain the highest median salary of $89,000 as accounted in the business year 2017. This driving demand of incredibly talented analytics, designers, and researchers in the UX space is highly influenced by the massive increase in interactive technology in everyday lives specifically in the context of websites, social media, smartphones, and apps within the past ten years. On the other hand, the increasing demand for UX professionals on web-based projects such as landing pages, e-commerce sites, and websites, client-side applications like mobile apps, as well as advertising campaigns like social networks, banners, surveys, email campaigns, and video game is at an all-time high. This means that personnel at this present economic crisis due to the covid-19 pandemic can capitaliseon such an opportunity by making a shift in their career towards UX as it has plenty of opportunities and tons of great training availableon both offline and online platforms. As per Clark (2021), 98,000 employees in the UK are employed in the graphic design occupations as accounted in the year 2020. This indicates the rising trend for designers in the UX space as well.Based on the below figure, it has been comprehended that the major projects that drive demand for UX professionals are web-based, advertising driving engagement, and client-side applications project.
Fig 1: (Career pathways in the UX job field)
Source: (Linde, 2021)
User Research job role
On the other hand, Ananjevaet al. (2020) further stated that the major job opportunity for UX professionals is in the job role of User Research. The primary role of a user researcher is to comprehend user motivations, behaviours, and needs through task analysis, observation, and other feedback methodologies. For instance, Mike Kuniaysky, the head of UX design for PARC suggested that User research is the process of comprehending the effect of design on an audience. In addition, in this job role, professionals can conduct task and user analysis for analysing areas of improvement for the overall user experience as well as to deliver actionable and meaningful recommendations to the development or design team. The salary ranges from $80k - $117k in this job role and has potential opportunities for graduates or professionals to build their careerson this platform.
Usability Analyst job role
As put forward by Watkinset al. (2020), Usability Analyst is an emerging and trending job role in several industries for comprehending what the customer experiences while interacting with a website, software, app, or other services/ product. At present, in various industries, the significance of increasing sales and ensuring customer satisfaction has been primitive for growth and success which makes this job role highly promising for individuals. In this job role, the need for professionals to interact and evaluate what can be done for enhancing user experience and the abilities and limitations of a website or other product/ service is significant. In addition, such information needs to be shared with other team members of the UX for backing up design decisions. Hence, this job position in the UX field has growth prospects for individuals with salaries ranging from $66k - $127k.
Information Architect job role
As suggested by Slade and Downer (2020), the Information Architect is a significant job role in the UX field which requires professionals to organise and create structure in terms of the content of an application or website so that the user feels comfortable navigating as well as identifying what they require. In this role, the responsibility of the professional is not only on the target audience of the application or website but also on the kind of service or product being provided while generating sitemaps and wireframes to ensure a positive user experience. As a result, the UX designer can use the mappings to plan and build a navigation system for the application or website platform. This job also has the potential to offer growth and success to an individual in their career aspects by offering salaries ranging from $80k - $126k.
Skills required for the above job roles
On the other hand, Younget al. (2020) indicated that in order to become a successful UX professional, the below mentioned attributes are the most common skill set that UX professionals must possess. It is highly valid that each job in the UX field is different in a certain context but these following skill sets are essential to possess by a UX professional.
• Accessibility testing
• Markup (XML, HTML, XHTML)
• Search Engine Marketing/ Findability/ Search Engine Optimisation
• CSS Coding
• Editing/ Writing
• Interface Design/ Page Layout
• Project Management
• Image Editing and Production
• Back-end Development
• Front-end Programming
• Graphic Design
• Information Architecture/ Site Mapping/ Wireframing
• Usability Testing
Fig 2: (Common skill set required by a UX professional)
Source: (Linde, 2021)
In addition, along with the common set of skills highlighted, theabove figure further indicates the claimed skill set among the UX professionals, web developers, and web designers representing the UK community at large. These are the essential skills that need to be well developed by a UX professional for accomplishing growth and success in this field, Chivukulaet al. (2020). With these skills, the above-mentioned job opportunities can be accomplished successfully.
Analysis andjustifications
Based on the above research and investigation, it has been analysed that the UX career has potential opportunities for individuals at present to accomplish growth and success in their professional life. In addition, the opportunities and scope of this particular UX space are immense for new or existing graduates to shift their careers in this area due to lucrative salary packages as well as driving demand in the marketplace. Other than that, the common skill set that is highly essential for every individual in the UX career needs to be well comprehended and developed for accomplishing career aspirations, irrespective of the job role. Hence, it has been comprehended that the scope and potential of the UX career pathway are immense and significant in this competitive era of job search and placement.
Recommended UX career pathway
On the other hand, it has been comprehended that there are three major job opportunities in the UX career which include user research, usability analyst, and information architect with lucrative salary packages and scope for growth. Each of the job roles has its own potential and growth prospect for individuals, however, the major scope for growth in the UX field is in the job role of Usability Analyst. As opined by Chow and Sajonas (2020), the Usability Analyst job roles were typically found in the web design platform, until recently, the need for this role has been emerging in other industries as a method for increasing sales and ensuring customer satisfaction. In addition, in this particular job position, the UX professional can interact and evaluate what makes a product or website function well and also what could be done to enhance the experienceand satisfaction of the end-user. This information is typically shared with the entire team of UX professionals which can be used to back up design decisions. Other than that, the salary range of this job position ranges from $66k - $127k depending on the skill set and qualifications of the professional. Therefore, it can be stated that compared to other job positions, the Usability Analyst job role is trending and emerging widely in the present business world which is highly feasible and justified for graduates or professionals to choose as their career pathway in the UX field.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it has been analysed that the most promising job positions in the UX field are user research, usability analyst, an information architect with growth prospects, and lucrative salary packages for individuals or professionals in terms of their career pathway. However, based on the research and investigation, the scope and growth prospect of usability analysts is relatively high due to its emerging trend, growth prospects, and salary packages. In addition, the need for developing a common skill set is essential for individuals to accomplish their career aspirations in the UX field. As a result, growth and success in this competitive era are inevitable in this UX career pathway.
Referencelist
Ananjeva, A., Persson, J.S. and Bruun, A., 2020. Integrating UX work with agile development through user stories: An action research study in a small software company. Journal of Systems and Software, 170, p.110785.
Chivukula, S.S., Watkins, C.R., Manocha, R., Chen, J. and Gray, C.M., 2020, April. Dimensions of UX Practice that Shape Ethical Awareness. In Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-13).
Chow, L. and Sajonas, S., 2020. From UX study to UX service: Using people-centered research methods to improve the public library experience. Public Library Quarterly, 39(6), pp.493-509.
Clark, D., 2021. Individuals employed in design occupations 2019 Statistic | Statista. [online] Statista. Available at:
Slade, C. and Downer, T., 2020. Students’ conceptual understanding and attitudes towards technology and user experience before and after use of an ePortfolio. User experience assignmentJournal of Computing in Higher Education, 32(3), pp.529-552.
Watkins, C.R., Gray, C.M., Toombs, A.L. and Parsons, P., 2020, July. Tensions in Enacting a Design Philosophy in UX Practice. In Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference (pp. 2107-2118).
Young, S.W., Chao, Z. and Chandler, A., 2020. User experience methods and maturity in academic libraries. Information Technology and Libraries, 39(1).
Appendices
Appendix A
Fig 3: (UX honeycomb for creating an ideal user experience)
Source: (Linde, 2021)
The above figure highlights the components that are essential for creating a positive user experience and ensure the user finds value in what are being provided to them including technology, product or website.
