Who is responsible for your UI / User Experience?

Question

Looking for input from all, though mostly interested in small engineering teams / small companies (10 - 20 people) that develop web applications:

1. Who is responsible for the overall look and feel of your UI (i.e. setting standards)? Is this person a dedicated resource or does he / she have other responsibilities? What type of background does this person have?

2. What about the look / feel of individual features? The BA's that design the features? The engineers that implement them? A combination of both? Somebody completely separate (i.e. engineer codes core functionality and passes it on to somebody else to "pretty it up")?

Answer 1

In our place its a seperate person. We sit together and talk about what feature we're going to implement. Then the "graphics-guy" designs an interface while we do the coding. Once everything is done, we put it all together, that is, we output the XHTML and he provides the css.

Answer 2

I love working with a graphic designer, but realistically, the developers often end up making decisions -- with results ranging from barely adequate to reasonably good.

I think a full-time graphic designer/UX expert is a luxury that requires a larger shop -- although bringing someone in to do a one-time design effort is more manageable, it's often a hard sell for line-of-business apps.

At the end of the day, in my experience, the specific UI/UX features for internal apps end up being designed by the user/sponsor in conjunction with a BA/Developer.

Answer 3

1. Ideally, you would have a dedicated UX expert - someone who sleeps and breathes UX. But in a small company that's unlikely. In our company (6 people) we all decided on a general UI approach, then we hired a designer to come up with a look and feel, and subsequently the devs have modified it.

2. The devs usually design the UI for new features. Obviously, feedback from the customer (or customer proxy) informs this process.

Answer 4

I think User experience(UX) need to be handle with a combination of Business + Design + Engineering skill. Front the business side the role is more of an Information Architect and Designer is having 50% responsibility(Major responsibility to drive this effort) and of course the Engineering person has to validate the design whether it is doable with in the scope of the technology/time etc

Answer 5

I currently work in a small-ish web development company. All our UI design is done by an "interactive designer", who in theory is responsible for how everything looks, and the 'flow' of the application for the end user. Our guy has a degree in 'interactive design', and (I think) his background is mostly working with HTML/CSS/JavaScript as well as Photoshop and the other designer-type programs (I think Illustrator is one). All he does is the design of the UI, so yeah he doesn't have any other responsibilities. He does the overall design as well as the specifics of each feature/piece of functionality.

It usually works along the lines of; the developers create all the core functionality outlined in the specs, the designer dude creates a big plan of how he wants everything to come together, we all argue about it for a bit, the developers create a bare-bones version of what he wants, and then our designer pretties everything up.

Answer 6

We have about 8 engineers. I am in charge of the UX. My title is Dir. UX & Product Management. However, my training is pretty cross-functional. I am very good with HTML/CSS/jQuery/System Administration/MS Office/etc. I can't really program, but I can "read" programming a little and follow the logic.

Design is not just about "graphics". The way it works and how its organized is also the design. Design is "decisions". If you make a decison, even simple things like what you NAME something, then the user needs to live with that reality. Every decision is a design decision.

Being able to create a great experience is a company wide comittment, however, it's my job to give the engineers a good starting point. I use powerpoint to put a first draft UI together.

In terms of graphic design, you often don't need alot. StackOverflow is designed well, but is very minimalistic. Craiglist is totally minimalistic, but it is very successful. Don't confused user experience with graphic design.

I blog about this at http://www.commadot.com

Answer 7

Ideally today's coders are supposed to have a flavor of UI design. If you could afford one, a dedicated resource for the overall "UserExperience" is a good option, but for a small organization the coders need to wear the UI hat throughout.

Answer 8

If you just have someone to "pretty things up" that won't make much difference for the user experience. That's just a coat of paint.

The important thing is to have someone that is responsible for the user experience that is in contact with users and the people building things. If you can't manage that make sure the people who make UX decisions have regular opportunities to see real users using your product.

Answer 9

We have a product from engineers for engineers, so us globbing together dialogs is rather ok.

I still see a lot of possibilities to improve the UI, but the cost is prohibitive in a vertical market, even without a dedicated UI/UX designer.

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thinking about the quesitons that interest me -

Where is the interface between developer and designer?

As someone else said, a graphics designer prettying up things doesn't cut it - it's just polish on top of an ugly UI. Also, a graphics designer doing the UX (layout and flow control) will optimize for looks, not ergonomics.

A good UX person also needs to understand development / code and what a designer can or can't do. Realistically, for most projects, this is one of the devs with a feel for UX and enough authority, usually someone who enjoys looking over a user's shoulder.

What projects need a UX expert and/or a designer?

Many can really do without.
Mass market products should get one, because (a) a good UX is the best reduction in support cost, and (b) a good interface in both looks and efficiency can set you ahead the competition even with a smaller set of features.