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Are you ready for the challenge of UX for complex systems?
An invitation to tackle complex problems and take the profession to the next level
Dear Jr. Designer, one of the most complex decisions of your UX career will be consciously choosing what kind of problems you naturally gravitate toward, what makes you feel relevant, and the skills you want to master.
It is paradoxical that when UX Design has never been so popular, we are not talking about the full spectrum of our profession, reducing its impact and, by omission, limiting the range of action for future generations to come.
We do not talk about Designing for Complex Systems, and there is so much we are missing out on by not doing it.
The eclipsing effect of the known
The popularity of UX Design as a profession is unprecedented. I get to see it first-hand thanks to the constant LinkedIn messages from recruiters, how mentees reach out trying to get into the field and growth stats from the community I lead, Calgary UX.
This is a global trend. Peter Ramsey has done a great job collecting data from Google and LinkedIn and showing UX’s solid growth pace over time.
Still, we are just tapping a small percentage of our potential. The spotlight of our professional practice of UX is mainly focused on a handful of applications, devices and companies. If you look at the most prestigious design conferences, you will notice that there will be the same companies, speakers and topics over and over.
The most common denominators are highly recognizable brands, consumer-focused popular applications, and companies with understandable value propositions. This is not necessarily wrong, but it gives a narrow illusion of the kind of work we can do and how far the profession can go.
Most frequent design teams I got to hear from: Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Twitter, Nike, Facebook, Dropbox, InVision, Netflix, IKEA, Uber, AirB&B, SiriusXM, PayPal, Revolut, Booking, Spotify, McKinsey, Publicis Sapient, Pentagram…
