5 Key User Experience Roles to Explore in 2024 and Beyond
User experience is central to the development process of a digital product, such as software, a mobile application, or a website.
But how do you create a user experience that resonates with your audience?
Well, this requires more than great design. It demands collaboration across different UX roles. For this, you’ll need a team of UX professionals with specialized skills who collaborate to provide a smooth and enjoyable user journey. And remember, the stakes are high!
A standard data used since 2016 in the UX industry to compare ROI was conducted by Forrester. It found that every dollar invested in UX brings a return of $100. That’s 9,900% of ROI.
Clearly, investing in a strong UX team isn't just good design practice; it's good business.
Let’s find out how and which UI/UX talents you’d need on your team to collaborate on a nuanced, seamless user experience.
Below are some of the key UX roles that play a major role in providing quality user experience.
1. UX Researcher
Okay, so you have this fantastic product idea. But how do you know if it will actually resonate with your target audience?
That's when you need a UX researcher who’ll dig deep to uncover what makes your users tick by conducting interviews, surveys, and testing to get real answers.
A UX researcher brings data to the table, helping the whole team focus on what really matters—creating something useful and enjoyable for users.
Below are the main tasks UX researchers perform.
Conduct user interviews
UX designers carry out structured conversations, asking questions like, "Can you walk me through your typical day managing your finances?" or "What are your biggest frustrations with existing banking apps?"
Engaging in active listening and observing helps them uncover valuable insights that might never surface in a survey.
Perform usability testing
Usability testing helps avoid fundamental issues when using apps. Here, UX researchers use these tests to observe users as they interact with the product in real-time. In turn, they’ll identify pain points and areas of confusion that could make or break your product.
Run A/B tests
UX designers will set up an A/B test showing different versions to different user groups. They use it to analyze user interactions and feedback to decide which design performs better and drives the desired outcomes.
2. UX Strategist
A UX Strategist takes up the role of an architect when it comes to providing the user experience. While others might be focused on individual features or specific user interactions, the UX strategist ensures that every element of your product ties back to the business goals. At the same time, they keep the user’s needs front and center.
These strategists can connect design decisions with business outcomes, user needs, and technological possibilities.
Whether you’re launching a new app or redesigning a website, the UX Strategist maps out a clear path so the entire team knows where they’re heading and why.
Here’s what UX strategists typically do:
Defining UX vision and strategy
The UX Strategist crafts a roadmap that aligns the user experience with the company’s goals. They’ll ask, “What do we want the users to accomplish?” and “How can our design get them there efficiently?”
Developing user personas
The strategists create detailed user profiles so that every design decision is based on real user needs.
It also involves mapping out the user’s journey by highlighting key touchpoints where the experience needs to excel.
Conducting competitor analysis
A strategist of user experience will investigate what your competitors are doing and where they’re failing. Having such competitive knowledge will help shape a UX strategy that sets your product apart.
3. UX Designer
UX designers are responsible for turning insights into actual designs that people interact with every day. They are creative problem solvers who soak in all the research and strategy to act as a bridge between users and technology.
They take the raw insights from user research and translate them into user flows, wireframes, and prototypes that bring the product to life. Hence, their focus is not just on making things look good (although that’s part of it) but on ensuring that users do not have to think twice about how to interact with your product.
Below are some of their primary tasks.
Configuring user flows
UX designers create user flows to map out the steps a user takes to accomplish a specific task within a product.
For instance, below is how a user follows is mapped for eCommerce products.
This contributes to making the user journey more logical, efficient, and free of roadblocks. The UX designer considers various scenarios and decision points to create a comprehensive flow.
Perform wireframing and prototyping
Before diving into final designs, the UX Designer creates wireframes and prototypes. These are rough sketches and interactive models that help visualize how the product will work before it’s fully developed.
Iterating and improving designs
A UX Designer’s work doesn’t stop after the initial design is completed. They continually refine and improve the user experience based on user feedback and evolving product needs.
4. UX Writer
A UX writer will choose the right text for every button, message, and instruction to make the product communication clear and intuitive. They focus on crafting a message that appears in buttons, error messages, form labels, and even those little pop-up hints.
Overall, they have to make sure that every bit of text serves a specific purpose, which is to help users act, find information, or avoid mistakes.
Here are some of the key tasks of UX writers.
Crafting microcopy
They create short content blocks that appear throughout the interface—on buttons, in forms, or even in tooltips. This microcopy helps make user interactions intuitive.
Writing Error Messages and Instructions
Error messages and prompts must be clear and helpful.
A UX Writer ensures that when users make a mistake, the message doesn’t just tell them what went wrong—it also helps them figure out how to fix it.
Testing and iterating on a copy
Like designers, UX writers test their work. It includes running A/B tests on different messages to see which one helps users complete tasks more efficiently so as to refine the copy based on the results.
5. UX Architect
A UX architect takes a step back to see the whole product and ensures that every piece of the user experience fits together logically for a cohesive experience. Their primary job is to design the framework to support users' navigation through your product.
Whether it’s an e-commerce website or a mobile app, a UX architect will take the user research and strategic goals and translate them into a solid framework that guides the entire design process.
Let’s explore key tasks that a UX architect performs.
Conducting Heuristic Evaluations
UX architects assess existing designs to identify usability issues and suggest improvements.
This sort of evaluation will help the rest of the team members refine the product’s structure.
Interaction design
They define how users interact with the product, considering every click, swipe, and tap. This helps them determine the flow of interactions so that users can easily accomplish their goals within the product.
Designing navigation systems
UX architects will also design how users navigate from section to section, ensuring the product is intuitive and easy to use.
Other Key Roles Overlapping UX Design Duties
When it comes to creating a great user experience, it’s never just one person doing all the work. You’ll need different team members to contribute to their roles. But then, even if your team is spread across the globe, you’d need tools like MockFlow for remote team collaboration.
Whether it’s wireframing or design reviews, with MockFlow, you can have different UX experts stay connected, share ideas, and keep the design process moving forward smoothly.
Here are two key roles that often overlap with UX design duties:
Product designer
The product designer leads the entire product design and development and focuses on how everything works together. From solving user problems to making sure the product hits its goals, they work closely with UX Designers, engineers, and product managers to ensure that the product meets user needs while achieving business objectives.
UX team lead
The professional leading a UX team guides and mentors a team of UX professionals. They work to provide a project direction where they ensure consistency across different UX operations while fostering a collaborative work environment.
They manage everything, from keeping deadlines in check to making sure the design is solid, as they guide the team to make sure everything stays on course.
Conclusion
So far, we’ve discussed how different professionals collaborate and contribute to providing top-notch UX across various products. Each of these talented individuals has a vital role to play — from understanding user needs to crafting intuitive interfaces and compelling content, they form a backbone for a successful digital product.
Whether it’s research, design, or strategy, every contribution counts. As you move forward, focus on gathering the right people for the job.
Ready to have a UX team collaborate for a better product?
Sign up for MockFlow to have your team provide seamless, intuitive user experiences.
