USER EXPERIENCE:WHAT IS IT, ANYWAY?

Sam O’Hara, UX Designer

PACIFIC LUTHERAN UNIVERSITY

@sambidextrous

@samofsorts

The Wikipedia Definition *YAWN*

“User Experience Design is the process of

enhancing user satisfaction by improving the

usability, accessibility, and pleasure provided

in the interaction between the user and the

product.”

OK, now in

normal people

words.

You know how an

iPhone feels like it

was meant to

bring joy every

time you use it?

The design is sleek, it’s

easy to figure out how

to do something, and

it’s the same across

every iProduct.

See - way back in the day, Steve

Jobs introduced something to the

technology industry with Apple

that no one had seriously thought

about before.

“You’ve gotta start with

the customer experience

and work backwards to

the technology.”

-Steve Jobs, 1997

The rest of the

industry slowly

caught on.

Companies started

to realize that they

couldn’t just make

websites, software

and apps without

consulting and

observing the people actually

using them.

UW was the first university in

the area to recognize the need

for a formal education

program in the field.

“The University of Washington started offering a Graduate Certificate in User-Centered Design in the Winter of 2003.”

- UW Website

And then, everything

EXPLODED.

Tech companies still

needed web

designers and web

developers.

But students had been able

to get degrees in Web

Design for over a decade,

and Computer Science for

far longer.

User Experience education

(as it related to technology)

had only been around for a

relatively short time, and

popular for an even shorter

period.

What do salaries look like?

In Seattle:Web Designers

$61,556

User Experience Designers

$96,425

Web Developers

$77,419

$0

$10,000

$20,000

$30,000

$40,000

$50,000

$60,000

$70,000

$80,000

$90,000

$100,000

Web Designers User Experience

Designers

Web Developers

Average Mid-Career Salary According to glassdoor.com

Seattle Nationally

What does demand look

like?

Hiring In Seattle:Web Designer positions

4

UX Designer positions

38

Web Developer positions

34

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Web Designers User Experience

Designers

Web Developers

Current job demand in SeattleAccording to indeed.com

Seattle

Pretty telling, huh?

And, as we as users start to expect EVERY thing we interact with to work well and be enjoyable to use, it’ll only get more

valuable from here.

SO HOT RIGHT NOW

USER EXPERIENCE DESIGNERS

So, how about we explore

what tools a User Experience

Designer uses?