The Fountain Institute is an independent online school that teaches advanced UX & product skills.
Dear Reader,
You hear Slack's familiar "sweep, pop, pop, pop!"
It's your CEO. She writes: "Can you make a UX strategy for us?"
Does she know what a UX strategy is? Should you know?
The weird thing is, you suspect that she knows that neither of you knows what making a UX strategy means.
Sure, you skimmed that book by Jaime Levy, and you read a few articles on it. But you don't really know how to make one, and you don't get why you should.
Today, I want to talk about why a CEO might expect strategy from a UX designer and why it's still important in 2022.
The other day I was talking to a leader in UX strategy, and she was commenting on how different UX strategy is today compared to ten years ago.
When she first started writing about UX strategy, it was an activity, not a role. The idea that UX people could work on strategic projects that were as big as the business was very new in 2015.
In the past five years, a giant wave of UX designers is joining the profession to fill the need for better digital experiences. A lot of UX designers today missed the initial wave of UX strategy.
Today we have over a million (around 1,420,000 according to Linkedin) roles in "UX strategy." What are all of these designers doing? Do they make UX strategies all day, every day?
There's a big difference between the activity of UX strategy and the role. I have an assumption that most people that put "UX strategy" in their title have never actually made a UX strategy. To them, "UX Strategist" means "I'm a great UX designer that works on big, important stuff."
But the artifact of UX strategy is needed now more than ever.
What problem is a UX strategy artifact the solution to? It must serve some kind of purpose for it to be so popular.
Here is an incomplete list of problems that a UX strategy can solve.
These are just a few of the messy problems that can arise when the complexity of a growing UX practice has no direction.
Design has the difficult task of providing a good user experience on a million different screens and in a million different contexts...a UX strategy can add some focus to that mess.
As long as design teams want to move in the same direction, there will always be a need for UX strategy.
I admit, it's a tough concept, and it's hard to find a concrete definition.
Want to learn more?
Sign up for the email short course on UX strategy→
You'll learn the basics of UX strategy, the skills needed, and what makes a good UX strategy.
Remember, UX strategy is just like any other design project.
Take a deep breath and explore those strategic problems.
Jeff Humble
Designer & Co-Founder
The Fountain Institute
P.S. We just announced May's Meetup, Tackling Taboo: User Research in SexTech with Lex Gillon. RSVP here.
The Fountain Institute is an independent online school that teaches advanced UX & product skills.
Figma Skills Won't Get You Promoted by Jeff Humble Dear Reader, Today's advice letter concerns the design community's fetishization of Figma and how our obsession with tools gives the wrong impression. Let me explain. Everywhere you look, designer dudes are trying to sell you on Figma. Design is so much more than software for drawing rectangles. But still, you click this stuff. It's almost like you think that learning this one piece of software is the job...rather than, you know, learning how...
Shaping the Future of the Guild of Working Designers - Let's Co-Create! By Hannah Baker Dear Reader, As one of over 6,500 newsletter subscribers, you're part of a vibrant group passionate about senior-level design and leadership. You might have heard us refer to the Guild of Working Designers, or Guild for short, and maybe you're even part of it. But if you've been curious about what this is and why it exists, we are here to clarify that and offer an opportunity to shape its future. The Guild...
Innovation by Design with Cristina Colosi Dear Reader, Last night, we heard an inspiring talk from Cristina Colosi, a service designer working on the innovation team at Rainforest Alliance. Many designers want to get involved in sustainability work, and Cristina is an example of how you can use your design skills to make a real impact on the climate. Cristina gave us a firsthand view of her innovation work with a case study about an NGO that involved farmers, corporations, and the entire...