UI Designer, UX Designer… pretty much the same, ha? If you are in UI/UX business, I would suggest you get acquainted with a short essay by Peter Merholz before writing UX Designer in your cv.
Totally agreed with Peter in a definition part, I would, never the less, express my concern about the actual role of UX Designer described there.
It looks like UX Designer becomes a “Tzar of Design & Production” that is not only involved but managing every bit of the process directly. Not sure if even Steve was that kind of person.
ACCORDING TO THE ESSAY, THE ROLE OF UX DESIGNER IS THE FOLLOWING:
- User Insights – agreed.
- Ideation and Concept Generation – absolutely.
- Experience strategy and vision – I would say Experience vision and strategy overview.
- Experience planning, Team Facilitation – here comes the tough part. It should be clear, that UX Designer is not a Development Manager, Project Manager, Team Lead & Agile couch all-in-one. Moreover, an attempt by UX Designer to lead Development Team could lead to a bloodily bad end.
- Oversight and coordination – yes, with overseeing dominating over coordination.
IMHO Peter is pretty accurate in the theoretical part, but a UX Designer’s “job description” needs to be defined in a way that would not overlap Project Management and Team Management. As a person with a vision, UX Designer, sure, plays a role of high importance, but it should not lead to micro-management. Good UX Designer would be a team driver, but not the one responsible for everything.