User Experience (UX) design is a phenomenon that everyone talks about, especially in Tunisia, which strongly encourages us to explore and refine it as a promising future profession.
Definitions of User Experience design can be found everywhere online, whether on YouTube, Medium, or Instagram, and they vary greatly.
Experts in User Experience design, whether Tunisian or foreign, have addressed this topic and continue to do so. Every time we face the same questions: What does User Experience design mean? What is the difference between User Experience design and User Interface design? How can I become a User Experience designer?
You have the right to ask these kinds of questions, but you will encounter complex intersections that may complicate your entry into the fundamentals of discovering User Experience design. In the long run, this may affect the level of enthusiasm that fuels your ambition to go far in the field of User Experience design.
User Experience design is an incredibly vast field, and the waves of vast information may impact your learning path and, consequently, your future decisions.
In this article, I will not delve into the definition of User Experience design in detail (although I have my own perspective that I adopt and it’s exciting to share it with you in another context), but instead, I want to acquaint you with questions that are advisable to ask to understand the subject well and differently.
Deciphering User Experience Design: Uncovering the Fundamentals and Creative Solutions
Let’s assume that User Experience design is a thinking discipline that enables you to find an effective and intelligent solution to a problem that a user may face while interacting with your product.
You notice in this simple acknowledgment three elements mentioned: the problem, the solution, and the user. Your role as a User Experience designer is to coordinate and identify areas of overlap between them and then identify optimal solutions to meet the needs of the end user.
The equation isn’t overly complicated! To be a User Experience designer means being able to monitor the user experiencing a difficult interaction with or without a product and analyzing their behavior.
As a simple example to better understand: imagine yourself first crossing a street equipped with traffic lights and then imagine a street without traffic lights: undoubtedly, there isn’t the same experience or the same interaction that will be emanating from you when deciding to cross the road. Isn’t that right?
Another element is added to the equation we discussed earlier! It’s your ability to suggest solutions to improve the user experience. The more innovative and creative the solutions are, the greater the chances of success and positive impact on the daily lives of users.
In our previous example, I invite you to think about a mechanism that makes the crossing process more innovative, smoother, and why not safer. Like being connected to smartphones or interacting with spatial framework elements.
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Let’s now revisit our main topic and the questions that I recommend asking to gain a different and more useful perspective. You will then have clarity about the subject of user experience design like never before.
…I promise you that
Q1: What are the major shifts that the technological and industrial market in Tunisia, for example, has undergone in the face of evolving consumer behavior?
In Tunisia, as in any part of the world, the way of life is changing from day to day and from person to person, where the pace and momentum of life greatly influence our habits and consumption patterns.
We cannot overlook how the COVID pandemic has changed our behaviors and created new habits on both individual and collective levels.
This behavioral change has forced the industry and technology to integrate more and more into the psyche of the consumer/user to provide products that meet their consumption needs in general, and overcome the difficulties they face and aspire to avoid.
The term “user experience design” at its simplest level provides an attractive user experience that makes the user attached to the product. But what lies behind it is the desire of the product designer or owner to focus on mechanisms of influence and attraction by providing purposeful content and collecting valuable data.
As is the case all over the world, the Tunisian industrial market is on its way to unifying its forces with technology and digitization to ride this wave. It is time to seriously rely on user experience design, as it plays a fundamental role in controlling users’ unconscious and instilling new consumption habits that are originally pre-programmed.
User experience design is essential for attracting the user’s attention and dealing with their consumption behavior. Understanding smoothly enables finding solutions that perfectly suit their desires. This remains valid in all industries: from the food industry to the aerospace industry, from the bottled water we carry in our hands to the spacecraft that humans travel to space with.
Q2: What are the indicators that I should discover and activate to be ready for this transformation point?
Being a confident user experience designer requires, above all, the ability to analyze and interrogate ideas in a creative way.
A user experience designer follows an analytical path that primarily focuses on the user. In short, the designer takes into account the needs of the user and translates them into practical and creative solutions that allow for comfortable product usage.
In a paragraph I liked:
A UX designer is not a good specialist: he is neither a graphic designer, nor an art director, nor an interface programmer, nor a marketing strategist. He is part of all this at the same time: technician and psychologist, artist and business engineer, expert and project builder and team leader. With the development of technologies, uses and purchases, we have moved from the age of the consumer to the age of the user.
Source: adimeo.com
The challenge now is : am I capable of aligning myself with this new direction and formulating a distinguished career path?
This can be possible and, above all, more beneficial if I address the issue from both angles: the market and your ability to understand the evolution pattern of consumption!
Some indicative signs that user experience has become everyone’s focal point include:
A market actively seeking proficient and reliable user experience developers.
Our institutional system is growing stronger thanks to waves of startups and their digital platform solutions. The advantage here is that the founders of these projects (future small and medium-sized enterprises) are being trained through modern and diverse incubation structures and startup accelerators, pushing them towards the doors of success.
One area of training offered is design thinking and user experience design. Therefore, there is growing awareness, evolving daily, about the importance of conducting user experience studies before developing solutions and sweeping the markets.
Major global brands continue to solidify their gains and significant successes by paying close and dedicated attention to their users’ experiences and interactions with their products: examples include Netflix, TikTok, Uber, and many others.
An alternative educational system for user experience design is noteworthy.
Some training structures and universities in Tunisia have begun to enhance their efforts around user experience and design thinking.
Several workshops launched by coworking spaces in Tunisia and some user experience design experts have demonstrated that this field has finally taken the path it deserves.
COVID has also influenced our digital lives positively in some aspects, as brands and companies continued their activities despite the complete paralysis that hit the world. Therefore, it was necessary to follow a digital transformation emergency plan that prioritizes users and their online behavior, especially the renewed consumption pattern.
Digital transformation is defined as “the integration of digital technology into all areas of a business, resulting in fundamental changes in how it operates and delivers value to customers.”
Digital transformation here involves putting technology at the service of end-users and developing the essential solutions and systems that ensure this qualitative leap.
An alternative educational system for user experience design is noteworthy.
Training structures and some universities in Tunisia have begun to strengthen their efforts around user experience and design thinking.
Dozens of workshops launched by coworking spaces in Tunisia and some UX design experts have proven that this field has finally taken the path it deserves.
Covid has also affected our digital lives — in part in a very positive way, as it has become a survival imperative for brands and companies to continue operating amid the total paralysis that has struck the globe.
Therefore, it was necessary to follow an emergency plan for digital transformation that gives priority to users and their behavior on the network, especially the new, renewable consumption pattern.
Digital transformation is defined as “the integration of digital technology into all areas of a business, radically changing the way it operates and delivers value to customers.”
Digital transformation – here – is about putting technology at the service of end users and developing solutions and platforms that ensure this qualitative shift.
Q3: What decisions should I make to accelerate my integration into user experience design?
As a promising professional field, user experience design is spreading more and more, as professional awareness— if the phrase is correct—takes this issue seriously. Resources are being mobilized, and educational events and training courses are being created for this purpose.
Many live events on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook are dominating the web, along with waves of audiovisual podcasts, workshops, and conferences at universities and coworking spaces focusing on this promising field: all of these are good signs.
For those who want to seize the opportunity and adopt user experience as a professional approach, it is recommended to select sources of information and learning and not to miss events that address user experience in Tunisia and beyond. It is necessary to classify and analyze the information flows that will affect future choices.
I cannot overemphasize the importance of books as a major and solid foundation for learning and acquiring skills in the field of user experience design.
Q4: User Experience Design and Employability in the Tunisian Market
The academic relationship between Tunisians and this field is somewhat smooth, with no obstacles if one wants to explore and learn. However, when we link this relationship or the desire for empowerment to a professional future, especially regarding employability, we need to step back and examine it properly, especially when we talk about the Tunisian market.
Let’s first assume that we are already aware of the difference between a graphic designer, a user interface designer, and a user experience designer. Has the job market predefined— in advance—the intersections between these fields and drawn their boundaries? Is there a cognitive maturity among companies regarding the independence of user experience designers and their significant impact on the development process of their projects?
My answer to this question is, frankly, yes, but to a very narrow extent, primarily related to the feasibility of employing a user experience designer and its significant impact on profitability: it is fundamentally being reduced to the investment that must be carefully considered for its financial returns and its impact on the product and the end-user.
This poses a challenge to integrate and enhance the position of user experience design within companies, which are always looking for the exceptional employee/hero who will drive the wheel of success and development. The reality recognized by the advanced world and major companies is that the driving force behind success is the user experience designer himself, with all its privileges.
The rapid transition from a graphic designer to a user experience designer, for example, on a LinkedIn profile or even on the CVs we receive, hides behind it a lack of knowledge about the challenges of this profession and the irresponsible treatment of its broad scope that greatly affects the future of any product: digitally or physically.
Gradually, user experience design in Tunisia is gaining volume and maturity thanks to the efforts of several active players in the market, experts who have proven their competence, shaping the bright future of this field locally and globally—with their unique capabilities and within reasonable limits.
The challenge also lies in paving the way for developing a user experience designer’s profile on solid academic grounds. We still look at teaching programs in Tunisian universities with concern and hope at the same time, due to our firm belief in the importance of creating a culture of user experience design on a wide scale and based on existing sciences: psychology, sociology, digital marketing, and other specialties that directly affect it.
Q 5 – Is it possible for me to easily find a job in Tunisia as a User Experience Designer?
Answering this question is difficult. Everything depends on the maturity of the market in Tunisia and the companies that are hiring, as mentioned in the previous section. Few companies have laid the proper foundations to host User Experience Designers.
Proudly, I would like to mention the company Moon — which has had a significant impact in supporting this profession and laying the first stones of success and distinction.
Most companies are intensively looking for User Interface Designers or Graphic Designers, even though the need for including User Experience Designer is necessary, because the real need is to hire a web and mobile interface designer, hoping that they will somehow be interested in user experience. It is amusing and revealing that the term “User Interface Designer” is always mentioned before “User Experience Designer” (UI/UX Designer).
We have a new generation of young User Experience Designers who have taken serious and valuable training courses in User Experience Design, which entitles them to say: “No, I’m a User Experience Designer.”
They will soon form the nucleus of the future professional community of User Experience Designers in Tunisia.
But that won’t be enough unless they are integrated into companies that genuinely care about what they do and recognize the value of focusing on User Experience Design.
Thank you for following along, and I hope this article meets your expectations.
Your feedback is appreciated.