While accessibility is acknowledged as a crucial component in design, many technologies remain inaccessible for people with disabilities. As part of a study to better understand UX practice to inform pedagogy, we analyzed 58 interview sessions that included 65 senior user experience (UX) professionals and asked them “How do you consider accessibility in your work?” Using transitivity analysis from critical discourse analysis, our findings provide insight into the disparate practices of individuals and organizations. Key findings include the growing role of design systems to structurally address accessibility and the range of organizational strategies, including dedicated teams. We also found that the categories of accessibility consideration were somewhat superficial and largely focused on vision-related challenges. Additionally, our findings support previous work that many practitioners did not feel their formal education adequately prepared them to address accessibility. We conclude with implications for education and industry, namely, the importance of implementing and teaching design systems in human-computer interaction and computer-science programs.
Read the paperOne of the most important emerging trends in the field of user experience (UX) is the creation and use of design systems, which are a collection of documented elements that embody an organization’s design rules and principles. While design systems are becoming ubiquitous among organizations, especially those with mature design practices, few academic programs teach students how to use or create them. In this experience report, we share details on how we incorporated design systems into assignments and courses in three different academic programs. In this experience report, we provide a definition of design systems and introduce a scalable and flexible model for teaching them. We reflect on our motivations, insights, and lessons learned from implementing this model.
Read the paperThe UX industry is complex to both practice in and teach about. Through interviews with practitioners, we identified five challenges facing the field: misconceptions about UX, untested education models, added complexity, increased systematization, and ever-changing job roles. To move forward, we need more dialogue between industry and academia.
Read the paperWhile being a good communicator is a key skill for user experience (UX) practitioners, human-computer interaction (HCI) education typically prioritizes the creation of tangible project deliverables, e.g., wireframes, over providing students with a more complete set of communication skills. In this paper, we draw from an analysis of 60 interviews with experienced UX professionals to argue that a nuanced understanding of communication strategies should be explicitly included in HCI education. Specifically, we identify five goals that shape communications between UX practitioners and four distinct audiences and show that they select specific methods (techniques, artifacts, and tools) to achieve these goals. Drawing on theories of situated and authentic learning, we discuss three key implications for HCI educators: embracing rhetorical complexity, simulating real-world communication challenges, and highlighting the performative elements of communication. Educators must embrace these challenges to help students become more effective communicators and prepare them for UX careers.
Read the pre-print version of the paperThe field of user experience (UX) is growing and rapidly evolving. As instructors who teach in and help design UX programs for students in higher education, we are interested in developing compelling and relevant educational experiences for our students who aim to work as UX professionals. To gain a better understanding of the current expectations for working in the UX industry, we conducted 64 interviews with 71 senior UX industry professionals to learn about their current practices and their expectations of what skills new employees need to be successful working in UX. In this paper, we present a subset of findings from the study that focus on desired skills (both human and technical) and dispositions of UX employees. We discuss the implications of this research for teachers and students and a call for future work.
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