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Designing User Experience Design: Determining the Role of UX in Software Organizations

Christensen, Seth Y. Designing User Experience Design: Determining the Role of UX in Software Organizations. 2018. Radford University, Thesis. Radford University Scholars' Repository.

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Abstract

There are many academic and practitioner definitions of user experience (UX), but there is not presently a universally accepted definition of UX either theoretically or practically. The purpose of this study was to help software teams define and develop UX within their own organizations. Affinity clusters were used to analyze 41 UX job postings from 36 Utah-based software companies in order to develop an understanding of what was expected of UX employees, based on the skills, roles, and responsibilities that were listed in job postings. Thirty-nine UX professionals participated in bull’s-eye-diagramming and buy-a-feature activities, which were utilized to compare and contrast the current and ideal practice of UX. The study culminated with the creation of a design-thinking workshop that might help UX managers, designers, and researchers apply design-thinking methods to effect positive changes in UX design practices and processes in their organization. Two UX designers and two UX managers participated in trial runs of the workshop. Throughout the collection and analysis of data, several patterns and themes emerged. UX teams considered research to be a very important part of UX design, yet results showed that the amount of time actually spent on research was far less than ideal. Collaboration and communication were among the most important skills and responsibilities. UX managers, designers, and researchers shared similar views regarding the primary responsibilities of UX; however, they held different views regarding the amount of time that should be allocated to various UX responsibilities. Keywords: user experience, design, design thinking, software

Item Type: Thesis
Subjects: N Fine Arts > N Visual arts (General) For photography, see TR
Divisions: Radford University > College of Visual and Performing Arts > Department of Design
Date Deposited: 31 May 2019 16:13
Last Modified: 20 Apr 2023 12:55
URI: http://wagner.radford.edu/id/eprint/466

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