I’m not too fused about job titles but I’m fully aware of their importance within our fast evolving industry. They enable us to quickly understand what skill set a professional might have to offer. Some job titles are more fuzzy than others “social media expert” springs to mind and some are cut and dry “.net developer”.

I call myself a user experience designer but I’m not massively confident in doing so. I first used the term “user experience” on my CV in 2000 and I’m confident in my ability to design and build solid usable websites that people engage with while meeting the needs of the business etc, but the job title UX designer doesn’t feel 100% right to me.

This is partly due to confusion over what a user experience designer does, not just outside the field but from within too. Much of the confusion arises from the title itself. You would assume from the title that we design user experiences but we don’t. Experiences are personal and different for everyone so cant be “designed”. Instead we design for the experience, the many parts that make up the experience. We design the user interface, the information architecture the interactions and even venture in to the murky world of strategy.

If it was up to me I’d call myself a web designer and have done with it. However UX design does seem to be a better umbrella term for what I do so I’ll roll with it for now.

Right I have a leak in my kitchen. I better call the utility infrastructure architect.

Oh and just be sure not to use the word “Ninja” in your job title unless you are an actual Ninja.