UX is not about computers

Yes, you read the title and it’s true. UX is not about computers. It’s always been true, even before I chose to write this article.

UX is not really about technology. It’s not about computers. In two senses, UX is about people. First and foremost, it’s inherent in the very name “User Experience” that is about the users. And the most important point about users is that they are humans with very different characteristics than the computers they’re using.

That is why a specific discipline is required to bridge the gap between these humans and these technologies. To create effective user interfaces, we must first understand human traits. Yes, we must understand computers, but it is the people who are most essential.

It’s tempting to believe that the primary point about UX is technology, because we’re constantly building every user interface to be given through a certain technology. But it doesn’t really matter if we’re building a graphical user interface for a PC, a cloud-based online service, or a phone app.

Yes, the icons will appear different. Slider controllers, for example, will be slightly different depending on the technology. However, the most significant effect on the usability of the design will be things like our workflow design and whether it meets human requirements, as well as the interaction architecture and UX writing of everything from labels to menu items to instructions.

The second aspect in which UX is People is that it is all about us. The UX specialists, as well as our work procedures and approaches. UX lives through us as we strive to create better products, and any UX advise must take into account how humans function in teams and organizations.

So UX is about aligning design to human features as well as developing techniques that allow human designers to produce these user experiences effectively. In other words, user experience is about people.

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