Sundial model of UX and IxD
The field of user experience (UX) and the activities of interaction design (IxD) are arranged here on a circular path reflecting the spectrum of product development activities, ranging from:
Understanding –> Definition –> Communication
This sundial model was designed to show how the fields of user experience and the activities of the discipline of IxD (my professional specialty) operate around these three core skills. This model could serve as educational material for people outside the UX world, who might not understand the full breadth of fields that UX encompasses. Recruiters & hiring managers especially could use more accurate terminology to refer to the practices and skills involved in UX and IxD.
Additionally, with another layer of information overlaying these diagrams, the model serves as a way for people to represent their own level of expertise in the various fields & specialties. This would allow UX managers to assess people’s individual sundials and identify gaps in their team’s skills, for example. Not every practitioner should be expected necessarily to have full mastery of all their discipline’s skills, much less of all the fields of UX, in order to be a strong contributor to product development activities.
I welcome other’s contributions to flesh out the sundials for the other disciplines of UX! Additionally, it seems useful to create a higher-order model that shows how the fields of UX combine with the other professional fields such as Software Development and Product/Program Management to provide the complete picture of product & service development. The question for me stands whether these latter fields also operate on a spectrum of Understanding –> Definition –> Communication, or whether there’s another set of overarching skills. Perhaps the core skills abstract to: Analysis –> Definition –> Construction?
Thanks for sharing your sundials Elizabeth. I feel comfortable with your ‘Understanding –> Definition –> Communication’ activities spectrum.I might argue that understanding business goals (Understanding/Communication) is useful to align business and user goals, however stakeholder interviews will provide the insight needed.
Designers: User Experience is the whole pie. Interaction Design and Industrial Design are just slices!
I should mention in case anyone’s offended that one could definitely slice up the pie of UX more finely. (Personally, I think Service Design is IxD for services, but your mileage may vary.)
Elizabeth, I like your pie! I am tempted to say, let’s make it 3D so we can discuss the depth of these fields and all other areas involved in the process such us "Branding" which will include Marketing and Advertising. I started a discussion blog about this at: http://americangaucho.wordpress.com/Come tell me what you think!Thanks!