Business Interface Design
A new term for an established design field
Introduction
There are many articles that attempt to describe the correlation between User Experience and User Interface Design. I’m sure that you’ve seen a few of these already. While this is not one of these articles I have to admit that I don’t always agree with some of the existing definitions, specifically the way User Interface Design is represented.
User Interface Design is not a layer of visual design that sits on top of wireframes and definitely not just a user-friendly and aesthetically pleasing way for humans to interact with devices and software; I believe that during the last 2 decades, Interface Design has evolved to something more sophisticated and complex and it should be measured by the business and user value that derives from its practice. In other words, Interface Design should be valued based on outcomes, not outputs or artefacts.
This article explores why we have been using the term ‘User Interface Design’, why we need to change it and provides a suggestion on alternative terms.
Let’s start from the beginning
I have the privilege of leading a team of Experience Strategists, Researchers, Service, User Experience and User Interface Designers, and I truly believe that design is a business tool of strategic value. So, how accurately does the title User Interface Designer reflect the scope of the role?
As I mentioned earlier, a common belief is that the User Interface designer applies a layer of visual design on digital product blueprints, using elements such as branding, fonts, colour, typography, iconography, illustration and layout. Actually, an Interface Designer does more: interaction design, art direction, behavioural design, universal design, accessibility, design strategy, micro-animation and design systems, just to name a few.
The truth is that a well-designed Interface is intuitive, universal, scalable and technically feasible; it also contributes directly to the business viability of a digital product or service while offering a positive experience to humans which means that Interface Designers think strategically as much as technically and visually.
The roots of the title ‘User Interface Designer’
I believe that the term User Interface Designer has roots back in the fascinating era of ‘Human-Computer Interaction’ and the ‘Graphical User Interface’. HCI is the field that studies the ways we, humans, interact with software and devices in a way that promotes the humanisation and simplification of technology. While that is exciting it makes me wonder:
- Is that what we do as humans, Interact with devices?
- Is that what Interface designers do? empower humans to interact with devices and technology in an intuitive way?
Yes, we do, but we do more than that. An interface designer is seeking ways to design valid digital touchpoints between organisations that offer products and/or services and their users, either customers, employees or citizens; it’s human-business interaction, not human-computer interaction. While Interface designers strive to transform these interactions into positive experiences, the goal remains to create a meaningful connection between a business and its customers, not a device and a customer.
Devices, applications, software and technology are a means to an end, a wonderful, ingenious and magical step, a way for users to achieve their goals; but alas, it’s not the destination. The destination is the experience, the achievement of business goals and the successful completion of the tasks that the users have in mind in the first place. Business, Marketing, Strategy, Design and Technology, in perfect harmony, all serve a business and/or a users’ purpose.
Interaction designers are not talking only about design systems, interface components and micro-animations. They also talk about how their designs influence the behaviour, emotions and decisions of the end-users and how the interface has a positive impact on the brand, the business and how all together contribute to the achievement of the business goals and the completion of user tasks.
Connecting the dots
In the provision of services and/or products there are always 2 poles: the ‘business’ (company, organisation, government, not-for-profit, etc) and ‘humans’ (users, customers, citizens, employees, etc). These 2 poles create an axis that represents the journey with all the physical and digital touchpoints that exist in between. When it comes to Interface Design since there is always a human end, do we still need to call this role ‘User Interface Designer’? Isn’t it obvious that the interface is being used by a human? So, if we need a differentiator it shouldn’t be the user (human), it should be the other end of the axis: the business!
With the above thought in mind, perhaps we can explore alternative terms to describe the role of an interface designer and its value. Here are a few examples:
- Business Interface Designer: a professional that design the way customers interact with a business through a system or application
- Government Interface Designer: a professional that design the way that citizens interact digitally with a government organisation
- Enterprise Interface Designer: a professional that design the way that employees are performing their job using the tools, systems and applications of a company to perform internal processes and tasks or offer product and services to their customers
In this new paradigm, the generalised term is ‘Interface designer’ and the specialised terms are Business Interface designer, Government Interface designer etc.
Conclusion
Interfaces are made for humans and that makes the term ‘User’ Interface Designer a pleonasm. If there’s something that requires a better definition it is who the humans interact with and that is a business, not a device. The device or software used by humans is part of a complex ecosystem that makes this interaction and transaction possible.
A business (company, government or other organisation) developed (or commissioned the development of) the application or software to offer their products and/or services to their customers. There is always a device or technology that allows users to complete their tasks and it’s an extremely important step that enables this interaction or transaction and makes it possible, but, the technology is a means to an end, not the destination.
The goal of an interface designer is not only to create an aesthetically pleasing interface but to work as part of a multidisciplinary team that aims to achieve business goals while offering the best possible experience to humans. Interface designers are using business terms, goals and objectives. qualitative and quantitative data to justify and rationalise their decisions and while they are advocates for the user, they craft ways for humans to interact with a business, not a device. Perhaps we can start calling these professionals, ‘Business Interface Designers’, a term that better reflects the scope and the value of the role and shift our focus to the outcomes of the role, not the outputs.
