<p>The studio model of education incorporated in to many design-oriented HCI programs in the past two decades brings a number of objectives to programs implementing it. One objective is the building of a “bridge” between pedagogy and practice, preparing students for the differing realities between academia, and the constraints imposed in an organizational setting. The bridge also encourages the development of a student’s design philosophy, allowing them to acknowledge and understand their conceptions of design which influence decisions in project-processes, and the projected communities they may navigate towards in practice. This study addresses the dimensions of design philosophy held by students educated in these programs, and how such philosophies are engaged and shaped further in practice. Through a qualitative interview approach, this study presents 9 dimensions of design philosophy through the accounts of 10 students and practitioners, reflecting on their education and practice. Using existing work studying the flow of competence between practitioners and organizations, the discussion of the dimensions presented provides four ways in which the philosophies of practitioners may encounter tensions in practice. This research proposes future work on how the studio model in HCI pedagogy may better prepare students for enacting their philosophies, and further reflecting on the shaping of that philosophy through felt contrasts between education and practice. </p>

Due to fast-paced technological disruptions and diversifying users, user experience (UX) professionals are experiencing a flood of new UX methods and a need for continuous learning. Literature has shown that with a lack of understanding, UX practice research has designed too abstract UX methods making them hard to understand and to apply. With a thematic analysis of an interview with 13 UX professionals, this study presents results on how UX professionals choose UX methods and insights into their lifelong learning. The results from the thematic analysis agree that UX methods are hard to integrate into Agile, too complicated, take too much time to learn, and colleagues have shown to be an essential component for learning. These findings indicate that UX methods might work better if they are designed less complicated and deliver results quicker following the design of Scrum. Also, companies could use novel ideas to ease the access to users and to learn, e.g., lunch lectures.

Due to unprecedented circumstances brought about by a global health pandemic, User Experience (UX) design professionals have had to adapt their user research practices to keep on working. This has meant that methods such as user interviews and stakeholder engagement workshops are required to run entirely online. Previous literature has often favoured in-person settings for user interviews, claiming it produced the highest quality of the data collected and remote workshop facilitation has not been researched thoroughly. With a thematic analysis of transcripts from 4 in-depth user interviews and a naturalistic observation of a remote workshop facilitation, this study presents findings on the applied remote practices when it comes to both facilitation and preparation of remote user interviews and workshops. The results from the qualitative data analysis find that in contrast to previous literature, UX professionals do not experience lower data quality when opting for remote modes. The applied practices that contribute to that experience are acknowledging one anothers’ physical environment during initial bonding with interview subjects, spending more time for casual conversation before conducting the interview and sending out preparation documents to the interview participant to inform them about where to be located (private or work setting) and to use a desktop if they are expected to interact with online prototypes. I then unpack the applied practices of designing and facilitating remote workshops where I presents a workshop journey process constructed of different phases that UX professionals follow when designing workshop journeys. The practice of designing these workshop journeys and facilitating them online can serve as design documentation as UX professionals design for the desired experience throughout the workshop beforehand and can validate the experiences afterwards. New workshop facilitation practices have also emerged in the form of actively engaging with participants in order to gather signals that would otherwise naturally present themselves in in-person settings allowing facilitators to probe the workshop atmosphere. / På grund av oöverträffade omständigheter orsakade av en global hälsopandemi, har professionella UX designers (User Experience) fått anpassa sina metoder inom användarstudier för att kunna fortsätta arbeta. Detta har inneburit att metoder som användarintervjuer och workshops ämnade för att engagera intressenter har blivit tvingade att genomföras online. Tidigare litteratur har ofta förespråkat fysiska uppsättningar för användarintervjuer och hävdar att detta producerar den högsta kvaliteten på insamlad data, dessutom är tidigare forskning kring workshop-ledning genomförd på distans begränsad. Med en tematisk analys av transkriptioner från fyra djupgående användarintervjuer och en naturalistisk observation av workshop-ledning genomförd på distans, presenterar denna studie resultat kring tillämpade metoder när det gäller både underlättande och förberedelse av användarstudier och workshops genomförda på distans. Resultaten från den kvalitativa dataanalysen visar att till skillnad från tidigare litteratur upplever professionella UX designers inte lägre datakvalitet när de väljer metoder för att arbeta på distans. De tillämpade metoderna som bidrar till den upplevelsen är att erkänna varandras fysiska miljö under inledande introduktion med intervjupersoner, spendera mer tid för avslappnad konversation innan intervjun genomförs och skicka ut förberedelsedokument till intervjudeltagaren för att informera dem om var de bör befinna sig (i privat eller arbetsmiljö) och att använda ett skrivbord om de förväntas interagera med online-prototyper. De tillämpade metoderna används sedan för att designa och underlätta workshops på distans där jag presenterar en workshop-process konstruerad av olika faser som UX designers vanligtvis följer när de utformar workshops. Tillämpningen med att utforma dessa workshops och leda dem online kan fungera som designdokumentation när UX designers designar för den önskade upplevelsen för workshopen i förväg och för att validera upplevelserna efteråt. Genom aktivt samarbete med deltagarna i studien har också nya metoder för att leda workshops visat sig. Dessa kretsar kring information och reaktioner som annars naturligt skulle visa sig i fysiska uppsättningar och gör det möjligt förworkshop-ledare att mer effektivt undersöka stämningen i workshops.

Purpose – Artificial Intelligence has seen important growth in the digital area in recent years. Our aim is to explore possible guidelines that make use of AI advances to design good user experiences for digital products. Method – The proposed methods to gather the necessary qualitative data to support our claim involve open-ended interviews with UX/UI Designers working in the industry, in order to gain a deeper understanding of their thoughts and experiences. In addition, a literature review is conducted to identify the knowledge gap and build the base of our new theory. Findings – Our findings suggest a need to embrace new technological developments in favour of enhancing UX designers’ workflow. Additionally, basic AI and ML knowledge is needed to utilise these capabilities to their full potential. Indeed, a crucial area of impact where AI can augment a designer’s reach is personalization. Together with smart algorithms, designers may target their creations to specific user needs and demands. UX designers even have the opportunity for innovation as mundane tasks are automated by intelligent assistants, which broadens the possibility of acquiring further skills to enhance their work. One result, that is both innovative and unexpected, is the notion that AI and ML can augment a designer’s creativity by taking over mundane tasks, as well as, providing assistance with certain graphics and inputs. Implications – These results indicate that AI and ML may potentially impact the UX industry in a positive manner, as long as designers make use of the technology for the benefit of the user in true human-centred practice. Limitations – Nevertheless, our study presents its own unique limitations due to the scope and time frame of this dissertation, we are bound to the knowledge gathered from a small sample of professionals in Sweden. Presented guidelines are a suggestion based on our research and not a definitive workflow.

Professional User Experience (UX) practitioners have an inherent need for effective group communication practices. If they work as external consultants, the need is arguably even greater. Enterprise Social Media (ESM) technologies have affordances that make them seem promising for this domain. The aim of this thesis is thus to identify the domain-specific communicative needs of UX consultants, and discuss how these might be supported using ESM. A case study was conducted, examining how the ESM system Yammer was used by a group of UX consultants at a major Swedish IT firm. Through interviews with members of the group, together with content analysis of Yammer messages, three categories of communicative needs were identified: Solving design problems, Supporting “guerilla activities” and Making knowledge and relationships visible. The results further showed that the Yammer tool had failed to support these needs and consequently fallen into disuse. Finally, implications for future use of ESM technologies in the UX domain are discussed, and some practical recommendations are given. / Yrkesaktiva inom User Experience (UX)-området har ett stort behov av effektiv kommunikation–både externt gentemot intressenter och användare, och internt inom gruppen. Det senare gäller I allra högsta grad de som arbetar som externa UX-konsulter, då dessa inte alltid har möjlighet att träffa sina kollegor på daglig basis, men ändå kan behöva råd, hjälp och stöd. Att använda sociala teknologier speciellt skapade för organisationer, så kallade Enterprise Social Media (ESM), som medium för denna internkommunikation är en möjlighet som framstår som särskilt lovande, och som idag redan testats av företag i UX-branschen. Målet med denna studie var därför att identifiera de domän-specifika kommunikativa behov som finns bland UX-konsulter, och diskutera hur väl ESM-lösningar lyckas stödja dessa. Under våren 2015 genomfördes en fallstudie bland en grupp UX-konsulter på ett ledande svenskt IT-företag som under en tid använt ESM-verktyget Yammer. Bland gruppmedlemmarna fans interaktionsdesigners, utvecklare, kravanalytiker och UX-strateger. Genom intervjuer och kontextuella observationer av gruppmedlemmarna, samt textuell analys av meddelandena i deras Yammer-kanal identifierades tre kategorier av kommunikativa behov inom gruppen. Dessa var 1) Att bistå lösandet av designproblem, 2) Att stödja “gerillaaktiviteter”, och 3) Att göra kunskap och sociala relationer synliga. Studiens resultat visade vidare att verktyget Yammer inte hade lyckats uppfylla dessa behov på ett tillfredsställande sätt, vilket lett till att det inte längre användes I någon större utsträckning av gruppen.  Slutligen diskuteras resultatets implikationer för hur ESM kan komma att användas för UX-arbete i framtiden, och ett par konkreta rekommendationer lämnas.