UX and design disciplines

The UX field of study is exponentially growing at such a rapid rate, and with this expansion comes a variety of different specialties that branch out of UX and into other design disciplines. Even though some of these disciplines seem similar (especially because most of them have the word Design in the title), they have distinctive focal points that differentiate one from the other and contribute to the bigger picture of HCD.

• UCD: Also called UDD, it is the design philosophy that provides the guidelines within a software development cycle to always focus on the user's wants, needs, and limitations to create the best possible end product for the user.
• Iterative design: It follows these UCD guidelines within a development cycle of a digital product that includes research, concept, design, develop, and test. After each cycle, iterations are made based on feedback results, thus improving the final product.
• Product design: It is the practice of creating an innovative new product for the user.
• Interaction design (IxD): It looks at the way users interact with the product through different types of interaction, such as multitouch and gesture-based interfaces.
• UX research: It is also called user research or design research, and is the specialty of researching and analyzing the user's needs, behaviors, and motivations to interact with a product.
• UX design: It focuses on creating an overall satisfactory experience for the user when interacting with a product by improving the usability and accessibility.
• UI design: It ensures that all the touch points of the digital product are not just visually appealing but also support the user journeys and end goals of the user.
• Visual design: It is the practice of using color, typography, illustrations, and photography to communicate a message.
• Industrial design: It is the practice of designing concepts for manufactured products.
• Service design: It is the practice of aligning a company’s infrastructure, employees, and services in such a way as to improve the quality of interaction between the company and the user.

From the list of UX and design disciplines here, it's clear that each specialty plays a significant role in the user's experience and interaction with any product (not just a digital product, such as a website or a mobile app). The two fields of study that are interlinked and sometimes mistakenly seen as the same discipline are UX and UI. In the next section, we'll discuss these two roles and the unique roles they play in the user's experience with a digital product.