User Experience Design For Entrepreneurs… Can’t My Visual Designer Do That!?!?
One of the mistakes that companies make over and over again is assuming they can save time and money by making their visual designer the same person as their user experience designer. The assumption is that since visual designers and ux designers both deal with the customer facing interface, they both have the same amount and type of knowledge regarding the user. In my experience, nothing could be further from the truth. Just because we work together and produce for the user does not mean that we are using the same skill sets. Most of the time condensing these two roles into one is a huge mistake.
In a previous post, How Do I Know What Type of Designer I Need?, I propose my definition for these two different roles The visual designer is the person we think of that uses Photoshop and makes things “pretty”. Of course this is a sore underestimation of what this role really does. A good visual designer is not only thinking about the aesthetics of the site, but is also concerned with the layout of the page, how balanced the page weight is, how effectively the branding is reflected and how the look and feel helps the user not only flow through the site, but informs the user which steps are the most important to take. They are able to do all of these tasks, and much much more, with just a “pretty” graphic file. Their job is hugely important in that it is taking all the conversations that the product, ux, and tech teams have had regarding a site and putting them into a functional and pleasing visual representation.
A user experience designer is thinking at a holistic level regarding the enhancements at hand. They are referring to user research and personas in order to empathize with the intended user so that they can put themselves into the user context. For example, let’s say the team is tasked with designing a money transfer application for an investment company. A user experience designer is going to be thinking, who is the intended audience for this design? Where are they when they are transferring money? At home? At work? How does this affect the flow and the information needed on the page? What type of financial situation are they in if they are transferring money? How does this affect their emotional state? And the list goes on. A visual designer may be thinking about how to ensure that the page still looks clean and promotes flow even with all the information on the page. They’ll want to understand the color palette that is available to them, and also how they can visual promote the mission at hand.
One can see that these two lines of thought are not only very different, but in healthy contrast. The ux designer may want to make sure that x, y & z are present in the flow, however the visual designer will be sure to explain why visually all these things may be confusing. Together they reach a healthy compromise that is best for the user both from the experience/information point of view as well as the visual communication and appeal point of view. If these two roles are one in the same, then this healthy contrast gets lost. The person, being human, will usually lean too far to the right or left, and one of the chunks will be overlooked.
This may make you think, what’s the big deal if the experience isn’t perfect as long as it looks good and reflects my brand, or vice versa, who cares about the aesthetics if the experience is dead on. The point is that the experience is reflected in the visual, and the visual reflects the experience. Without them both then you are only telling half of the story, and to me, that is a big deal.
——
About the Blogger: Lis is the Founder of Hubert Experience Design, a boutique user experience firm based in NYC. Her firm has worked with a wide range of organizations, from Fortune 500 to start-up. Hubert Experience Design takes pride in making websites better and easier to use.
[...] hire two different people to fill the roles of visual designer and user experience designer. Give User Experience Design For Entrepreneurs… Can’t My Visual Designer Do That!?!? a read and be sure to let me know what you think. Share this post: Related PostsI’m writing [...]
The article starts with “One of the mistakes that companies make over and over again is assuming they can save time and money by making their visual designer the same person as their user experience designer.”
I can understand the argument that they are two different roles, but to say that it’s a mistake for these two roles to be performed by the same person is, well, a mistake. Depending on the company, the same person may perform many roles. Especially in start-ups, the same person can be the programmer, program manager, QA, and the CEO, much less the visual designer and UX designer. To say that in those environments it would be a mistake to not have two different people doing the job is a bit silly, and makes you not want to read the rest of the article.
I recommend less sensationalist headlines to get your point across.
Kenneth, I tend to disagree. From my perspective as a non-tech CEO, I need to understand the delineation of the two roles. If one person can *effectively* fill several roles, that’s wonderful, but I think that we’ve all seen plenty of instances where one individual with tunnel vision created a monstrosity that fails on many levels.
I think it’s a question about scale.
For small->medium projects you don’t need two people for the project. Any decent web designer should have an excellent grasp of usability and the principles of interaction design, and for those projects it’s often much better to have a single mind considering the whole project.
For much larger projects you need to have more people, and so it’s natural to split the role into two, one in the planning & strategy side, and one paying more consideration to the purely visual side. This is a natural breakdown of the work and helps keep a project manageable.
If you really want to hear the other side of the argument, this is an article by a pretty smart guy arguing to ditch the entire wireframe process.
http://www.andyrutledge.com/where-wireframes-are-concerned.php
I agree with some of what you’re saying. It’s often a good idea for a company to be sure they’re using the right type of person for their assignment. For example there is a very big difference between a web “designer” and a web “programmer” and many companies hire the programmer expecting them to design a marvelous, out-of-the-box design only to get something that functions fine but looks ugly.
When it comes to whether a visual designer can also be a user experience designer I say yes, because I have done both. The difference I believe is whether a designer does their research, homework and has the ability to think logically. Not just make something pretty as you say, but making sure the design and functionality work hand-in-hand.
Great comments on both ends… thank you both for your input! I hope we get more discussion going here.
My point of view on this issue is pretty clear, and Kenneth, I do understand yours as well. Let’s put it this way. IF you have any sort of budget, even if it’s only a small amount, I would not combine the user experience and visual design roles. It is similar to having a java only (not javascript) programmer write your xhtml. Your user experience is the base of your product and your online presence. Even being able to bring in an expert to talk for an hour (buy them lunch in exchange for advice. I have done this several times) is better than relying on someone that is not fully qualified to define how your brand and product greet your online audience. Having a good foundation ensures that you can just redecorate instead of having to build a brand new house right? Same thing with your user experience.
Andy, I couldn’t be more happy that you are finding this information useful. The non-tech CEOs and Founders are precisely the people that I try to help out the most, so glad that I succeeded at least this once!