How do you explain user experience design to a layman?


My strategy involves three things:
  • Connect UX to personal experiences with things UXers design
  • Distinguish between something they understand (eg, what engineers and programmers do) and something they don't (what UXers do)
  • Describe UX in terms of what UX designers do for them (make something they love that  improves their lives) instead of what UX designers do (user research, wireframes, strategy, card sorting, persona, etc)

In practice, my approach is as follows.

First, I ask people to name their favorite information thing. I get them to think of something they can't imagine living without. Something that came into their life in the last ten or twenty years. Answers vary, but people usually mention something—website, app, device, service, etc.—that involves information, interaction, networks, and the digital realm. Typical answers are Google, iPhone, Facebook, Kindle, Xbox, GPS, eBay, Netflix, and so on.

Then I distinguish between 2 kinds of people who created that thing

  • The engineers who made that thing work. I say these people make sure that thing, whatever it is, does what it is supposed to do. We call them programmers, developers, and engineers. But no matter the title, this person's highest priority is making it work.
  • The UX designers who made that thing work in ways people love. I say these people don't make the thing work. Instead, they make you love the way that it works: what it looks like, how it feels, how to use it, how it's organized, etc. We call them information architects, interaction designers, usability engineers, and more. But no matter the title, this person's highest priority is making things work in ways that people will love.

People get this in my experience. They immediately understand the value that UX has for them. They don't how that value is created, but they understand that there is value and, roughly, what the value is.

Of course this is a vast simplification of UX. It deliberately overlooks business, marketing, support services, and so on. It also lumps a whole group of creative people under the title of UX and doesn't make distinctions between types of UX practitioners.

But when the point is to help someone outside UX to understand UX at a high level, I've had more success with this than anything else. And it's a good gateway to deeper conversation about how good UX happens.

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