UX is Dead. Long Live UX.

According to the newsletters that hit my inbox every morning and the industry publications and authors I follow, the UX Design discipline is in shambles. Just this morning I discovered that the term “UX Design” is no more. Thanks, Duolingo. I’ll update my email signature later. While provocative statements and sweeping declarations are great for encouraging introspection and discussion (and boosting engagement), it’s clear to me that the core focus has always been, and now more than ever increasingly should be, on the holistic experience of the person, and not just the user interacting with a product. That person’s experience began well before their awareness of a product. It’s the person we need to start knowing in a real, authentic way. We can’t just wait for them to tell us what they want to do with our products. It’s our responsibility to know them well enough to design the products they need, that do exactly what they want, when they need it done. The opportunity for connection and ongoing communication needs to be at the core of creating feedback loops for validation and learning. To learn about people we need to learn how to ask the right questions, at the right time. Then we need to learn how to shut up, and listen. This article is about how we arrived at the current shifting, slipping, sliding stage we find ourselves navigating today, and about the direction I’m proposing, experimenting with, and implementing, and iterating on in my current role as head of experience at Umego. Let’s get on with it then.

From command to intent

We’re in the midst of a paradigm shift, moving from command-driven interactions toward those that, someday, may be entirely intent-driven. Early computer systems relied on command-line interfaces requiring users to memorize and input specific textual commands to perform tasks. For decades, UX has focused on explicit commands — clicking buttons, selecting options, typing commands — to interact with interfaces and navigate the structured pathways of the graphical user interfaces (GUIs) which abstracted memorization to visualization. In many ways, that structure simplified UX design. Create a path, test its real world utility with real users, iterate, reduce friction, rinse, repeat.

Historically, human-computer interaction consisted of a passive system, cursor blinking, waiting for an input. Consider the following simplified example of search engine - a user enters a term or series of terms, initiates a hand off of the task off to the system by clicking a button or hitting return, the system queries a database with the exact (or nearly exact but fuzzy) user input, and identifies the best results based on the programmed search logic governing that system, and passes the task back to the user by outputting a list of those results in a programmed format like a list. If you’re looking for the ten blue links of a bygone era then consider that a successful interaction.

The future of experience design, however, must move beyond guiding users through deterministic systems. We're entering a new age where success is measured by the clarity of human-computer communication. Users will express their intent in natural language, and increasingly probabilistic systems will dynamically respond, clarify, and proactively fulfill needs by understanding current user intent, context, and past behavior. The factors driving this fundamental shift away from this accepted interaction paradigm are probably obvious to anyone reading this and include advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI), particularly in the areas of Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Machine Learning (ML). These technologies are increasingly enabling systems to interpret human language more accurately, to understand underlying context in user requests, to learn from past interactions, and to adapt in ways that predict future user needs.

Gone are the days of memorizing system-specific commands. The future of human-computer interaction is more intuitive, prioritizing intent-driven, journey-centric experiences. The future of experience design will need to shift toward what has, up until now, only existed in human-human interactions - understanding intent and context, verifying motivations, learning from past behavior, and anticipating future needs. At its simplest, the future of experience design is all about simplicity, clear communication, and paradoxically perhaps, human connection.

The problem with feature overload

Look, product development isn’t easy. It’s a constant tug-of-war between competing valid needs. For now, I want to address one challenge traditional UX design has faced since people started using software - feature bloat - and how future experience designers might recontextualize and address it. It starts innocently enough. We label things for understanding. In this case, we affix the label “user” to a person experiencing a problem that we believe our product will solve. UX research has always focused on getting to know users, iterating based on their feedback, and continuously improving the products they use. But “users” are not a monolith. And products get built to satisfy the broadest set possible while knowing it’s impossible to please everyone.

And, yet, we try. More advanced users request more advanced features? Okay. We design those to be buried in menus and trust progressive discovery will eventually get users where they need to go. We don’t want to overwhelm less experienced users afterall. So we tuck features away into corners, into menus, and under icons. Then more features need to be added to resolve what was an edge case, but has quickly become a top priority. Why the escalation? More users means it’s more likely to be discovered, impact, and frustrate more users. So the menus grow broader and deeper until even the most advanced users are unable to to achieve their goals without getting lost in a labyrinth of features. Don’t believe me?

Have you ever used customer relationship management (CRM) tools? It’s like navigating a black hole of features you don’t understand and will never use. With your eyes closed, and Matthew McConaughey riding shotgun roasting your skills as a pilot. How about Microsoft Word? It’s packed with features that most of us have never even touched. Users feel overwhelmed and seek out simpler solutions like Google Docs. Those rise in popularity and usage grows until, guess what, the perceived need to compete wins out. The “simpler” solutions become the new old, and we start all over again. It’s an unending, inevitable, result of attempting to solve problems for ever-growing user-bases. Either continue tucking new features in menus, and submenus, and sub submenus, or take one bloated solution which solves all of the problems, and break it up into two smaller products which only solve a percentage of problems, and require bouncing between multiple apps to accomplish what could previously be done in one. It’s pretty clearly a lose-lose situation, but why is it such an important one to solve as we transition to a new focus in experience design?

First, it’s kind of our job as advocates for our users’ experience with the products that get shipped. Feature Fatigue Effect has been studied, and its negative impacts well documented. And, up until now, even the most flexible, seemingly highly dynamic system, built on dynamic frameworks, still exists in a static container, rendering pre-built, inflexible UI, and governed by existing relational states. Ultimately, it falls within the purview of designing experiences to limit cognitive overload, recognize and pushback against feature-centricity, and work to build systems that present the right information, in the right format, at the right time. This is one area where the underlying technology (AI-based) can positively impact and enhance the experiences (intent-driven) being created.

Designing for intent

So much of our (and our users) lives are consumed by the digital world they increasingly have no choice but to inhabit. It’s maddening, unhealthy, and frankly needs to stop. It’s way past time to make digital tools work for users again. It's time for experience designers to step up and lead. To take our seat at the table. To truly become the advocates we claim to be, and that means shaking things up. We need to begin simplifying intent-driven design patterns. Imagine a travel app that, instead of bombarding you with generic flight deals, proactively suggests weekend getaways based on your past travel history and upcoming calendar events. That's intuitive input and context awareness working together. Or imagine a music streaming service that not only learns your preferences but also allows you to explicitly tell it 'I'm not in the mood for this right now,' and then adapts its recommendations accordingly. That's a direct feedback loop in action.

We have to be brutally honest with users about what we're collecting and why. None of this sneaky, fine-print bullshit. We're talking in their face, "Here's what we've got, here's why we're using it, and here's how you can tell us to shove off if you want.” Let’s get real. Let’s be fully transparent while attempting to build actual trust with each and every user. If we’re attempting to customize experiences based on user intent, then it must be obnoxiously clear what data is being collected and how it’s being used, why AI decisions were made and how the user can correct misinterpreted intent. Our governance policies should be front and center clearly articulating all collected personally identifiable information (PII), who has access to it, if and how it might be used, how the user can quickly and easily view what’s been collected, how it’s being stored, and how they can nuke all of it with the click of a button.

Now is the time for experience designers to be better. To be true user advocates. To speak truth to power when necessary. To stop creating and implementing dark patterns which negatively impact even seasoned, technologically adroit users who are constantly on the lookout for them (yes, there’s a story… for another time). The path forward for experience design is more human. It’s more honest, open, clear, considerate, and inclusive. The future is based on long-term sustainability through the creation of useful digital tools that proactively address user needs and then retreat when they are not needed, secure in their utility, confident that when a user needs them again, they will return and reestablish a connection.

To do this, experience designers need to be proactively engaged at every stage of product development. User flows and design interface elements will take on a vastly diminished role. When designing for intent-driven interaction, it’s vital that we think big picture taking the time to understand system architectures, non-linear user scenarios, and the rules that govern the models and systems we’re designing for. From the moment a new product or feature is funded, we need to understand the capabilities and limitations of our systems so we can clearly and concisely explain those to the user. We need to work with engineering and business to craft prompts that convey user needs with ease and honesty. We have to become as comfortable in a Python notebook running basic data tests on model tuning as we’ve become crafting pixel perfect designs in Figma.

Systems thinking is the new black because we understand that how the user interacts with the system is dependent upon and impacts how developers, data scientists, other users, marketing, and experience designers interact with the system. It’s one long holistic experience and we need to take care of it along the entire journey.

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A redefining engagement side quest

The shift to intent-driven design isn't just about the product itself; it requires a fundamental rethinking of how we engage with users across all touchpoints, including marketing and sales. We’ll need to inspire and lead a shift that extends beyond interfaces, information architecture, user research, or content design. Well, actually it has a little something to do with content design and how we spread the considered, thoughtful use of words to all of our well-meaning, carpet-bombing peers across marketing and sales.

The side quest we face is getting everyone on board. Having advocates for precision in marketing and sales telling the same story we’re telling. Users are not a monolith. Not everyone wants, or needs to be bombarded with content. That a truer relationship dynamic recognizes each user’s uniqueness and treats them accordingly. Success in the future isn’t about traditional metrics. Sustainable, authentic relationships (even at a distance) aren’t built on more information, more attention seeking, more screaming “look at me!” They’re built on a helping hand providing the right information when they need it humbly, quietly, like our noble experience designers.

This is the end: my only friend for now...

Aside from mangling the lyrics to a great song, what has been the point of all of this? Some of it is personally therapeutic. There’s a lot of change happening all across technology. For me that means lots of ideas and inspiration about what’s possible. Organizing and offloading that cognitive load provides an opportunity for the finer details to start coming into focus, and to start examining what takes shape. I believe a couple things:

• The future is not about more of anything. It’s about less, but better. It’s past time for us to get back to being thoughtful and considerate and human. To use intent-driven ideas across entire systems and to drag our peers with us if necessary.
• Form does indeed follow function. We need to get back to those principles reimagined and revised for our current time. A return to minimalism that reduces cognitive load for users, improves performance, enhances accessibility, and helps build trust in the tools they use will never go out of style.

The technology is in place to move on from command based interaction in a real, observable and valuable way. Every feature does not need to exist under trees of submenus to safely satisfy the broadest user base. Imagine a CRM that anticipates your needs based on your past interactions and your current goals, proactively surfacing the most relevant information and tools, instead of forcing you to dig through endless menus (and submenus, and sub submenus). To be truly successful, we’ll need to work cross-functionally, developing advocates across business and sales and product and development. We’ll all need to row the same way to create curated customized experiences that bring actual value to our people’s lives.

How exactly we get there is something I’ll be considering, implementing, and writing about over the coming months as we launch Umego.ai. I think it has to be more human, it needs to slow down and consider diverse perspectives, not move fast and break things. It involves less time in Figma and more time understanding systems and how they can dynamically create true personalization and actual value for our users, and if it doesn’t center ethics, honesty, transparency, and user well-being, then we’ve failed at our most important job. Being human.

The future of experience design is human. It's time to embrace this shift, to demand more from our technology, and to design a world where technology truly serves humanity. It’s time to get on the experience design train or get the hell out of the way. So, what are you going to do about it? Start by challenging feature bloat in your next product meeting. Demanding transparency in data collection. Advocating for user well-being, even when it's uncomfortable. The future of experience design is in our hands, and it's time to act like it.