Thought Provoking Thursday: Prototyping and Homebrew UX are both examples of a version of UX that is fundamentally about usage, not visuals - interaction

Figma and visual thinking doesn't get you to Jude Bellingham's socks

Figma and visual thinking doesn't recognise the relevance of Homebrew UX

UX is so much more than these visual layers. In order to understand usage, you start to understand needs, pains, contexts. You observe usage, rather than asking someone to recall it from memory. You need to understand the human interaction with the digital thing (aka HCI)

Usage = Behaviour

Designing to needs, to support behaviour is as important than designing for visual appeal. Form and function. The market has over-focussed on form, not function - but there's so much more possible when form and function are equally important north stars

Can you now see why Figma doesn't even begin to address such interaction and product design issues? Figma is all about the visual layer, it doesn't do interaction at a level that the UX requires

Figma is fantastic, I use it daily for everything from design to slide decks, but when it comes to prototyping and rapid, iterative product development, it isn't the right tool for the job if you're trying to evolve beyond a visual 'UX' practice. It will keep you in the wrong box, it will keep you and your team from growing by learning the right things and building the right products

There is an inescapable truth to all of this

UX has never been a visual design practice because there were always more mature, more established visual designers in the world. It had no differentiation or value add. UX as a user centric interactive design practice was unique in the Digital world and it had a unique value contribution

To bring back the value, to put yourself back on an accelerated growth track means enhancing your visual thinking with interaction design and proper, good ole fashioned user centric UX with tools that support it

Trust me on this. Visual design will be deeply affected by AI. UX is much harder for AI to replace because it is no longer a single person role, it's a team thing. AI becomes a tool rather than a replacement. Start working in ways that the AI can't...and that means evolving beyond visuals into interaction, across your team. And that means... *drumroll* process 🤘 

Remember, the alternative is this random WoW with AI replacing roles. Team working, agreed process, user centric activity all lead to good things...but the longer the world fights against it, the worse things are going to get

We all need to play to our human strengths of collaboration, and that requires a common understanding of how to deliver great products through great UX. Open your mind and your career will follow 😀 

TL;DR: The value add that UX brings is beyond visuals as is in the needs and behaviours. Find the tooling and process that works for your team to enable 'beyond visual thinking' and you both grow and deliver value 🎉