Apathetic.
Bummed.
Competent.
Despondent.
Everywhere.
More evidence
More evidence that no one knows how information architecture impacts stuff. Especially online stuff. I see lists of shit like this almost daily. No rhyme or reason to the order of the thing not to mention the length of the list. It’s a simple rule: 7 plus or minus 2 and it exists because humans don’t have great brains. All of us. Why are phone numbers in the United States formatted the way they are? Because in groups of 3 or 4, they’re easier to recall.
I know information architecture isn’t completely dead but as an information architect in a UX generalist and visual design world I see this failure everywhere.
Don’t believe me? Start looking at lists of things and see for yourself. Start with Tesla’s website, it’s a total failure. Maybe there was a UX pro around but it’s doubtful. And if there was someone with that or another ‘designer’ type title, they missed a huge part of the discipline.
Defiant UX
What might that mean? Defiant user experience. DUX? No. It doesn’t need a clever TLA or new name with a few letters missing. What it needs is to just happen.
If you’re someone who thinks of themselves as a UX designer, a product designer or heaven forbid, a senior product designer or worse, someone using the letters UIUX all together (or UX/UI), pause. Ask yourself why you think that.
If you’re someone who is in the business of thinking of themselves as a person who can and will advocate for the people using a system, relying on a platform, doing a complex task comprised of physical and digital interactions then you might be a UX designer. But my gut feeling is that is not the case.
UX means something to some of us.
Design means something to some of us.
It’s not about the money.
It’s not about the title.
It’s always been about the users. The people who have to use the shit other human beings build and either create by design or by default.
Defaults are usually dumb. Why? Because they’re not backed by real world user data. UX Research? Bahaha if that were a real thing I’d be able to fix my own smartphone or even better customize one. Gimme a tactile qwerty keyboard instead of this wretched touch screen and I’ll believe in UX again.
Yes, it’s hate
I hate Mark Zuckerberg. Genuinely. What I may hate even more are all the people who have indulged this loathsome child. He’s the worst of everything that’s gone wrong in our 30 years of unfettered commercialization of a thing the US tax payers funded.
The. Internet.
I personally can’t scroll on one of his apps for more than 10-15 seconds without being told I need some kinda neck mask, some makeup that makes your skin look like it’s been Botox’d, to be proud of grey hair, to permanently find a way to make hair stop growing grey.
What. The. Actual. Fucking. Fuck. And. Fuck You.
But wait, here’s an ad for SENIORS born before 1974. WHAT?!?!
Jesus Fucking Christ.
There are no financial benefits to being this age. Maybe a discounted movie ticket TEN or more years from now.
You’d think at 56, I should be:
Dead – yes please.
Retired – uh, hello? With what money?
Working – hmm, can’t be at the top of my career game when I’ve either been a) laid off or b) passed on because of how expensive medical insurance plans are for people over 50) or c) ignored not because of youth but because I don’t have the right brands listed on my resume and last but not least d) no dick.
I’d prefer to choose door number one as listed above, given the current state of affairs. But. Barriers to checking out are too many.
All I ever wanted was to live, work, do things – mostly quietly, hopefully with a partner – like just about everyone else. Guess that was a lot to ask for.
I’m gonna end with gratitude. A handful of good friends. Check. Mostly healthy. Check. Family. Yep. But most importantly, my coordinates, the land I sit on saves me daily.