Digital - UX Scarcity

Focusing on the recruitment of staff falling under the Digital banner here at Fabric it has quickly become clear that there is a huge demand for skilled and creative people.  UX designers are particularly sought after as all kinds of organisations are battling to ensure their web offering gives customers the very best user experience.  Many of these requirements are for project work on a freelance or contract basis, however finding sufficient good quality applicants to meet the demand is a challenge.  Why the scarcity of UX designers?

Traditionally UX people gain their training from a Human Computer Interface (HCI) qualification, but in the fast changing world of web2.0 and social media these courses cannot always keep up and  the real learning takes place ‘on the job’.  This requires an understanding of business logic, psychology (and social psychology for social media), user research, analytics, creative (or ‘left brain’) thinking and technical details.  An aptitude in all of these varied areas is not necessarily commonly found in one person.  Consequently some UX designers are better suited to the empirical analysis and synthesis of data, while others lean towards the creative implementation of the concept, to define the task for the graphic designer.

In addition to these issues UX designers, whether analytically or creatively focused, may not have the training or background in the technical &/or the business sides of the project, which are equally vital for them to understand. 

The challenge remains to find those people with the breadth required, while retaining sufficient depth in the key areas, to enable them to build viable conceptual models by bridging the gap between customer needs, technical feasibility and business objectives.

- Jay Scott