UX design has never been just for designers

I often see our clients adopting design processes themselves, and this is only natural to me. UX design has never been just for designers.

You could say the internalisation of design is real*, but the truth is that design has been happening forever, by everyone who ever makes a product decision.

I used to get “designs” made in Excel or Powerpoint. People will just use whatever is accessible to them to visualize their ideas.

It’s just that now, some tools that are considered traditional design tools are way more accessible than they used to be. An application like Adobe XD is completely free whereas it used be that tools that allowed for the same kind of work would come with a hefty price tag or a “Mac only” requirement.

Newer web-based tools are also just a click away. With UXPin, LucidChart or Figma you can get started in minutes. You can share your work using a simple URL allowing for easier collaboration.

I think the democratization of design tools is a good thing. Everyone can pick up a design app and get to work.

Now it’s up to us as designers to be more specialized and knowledgeable. Challenge accepted.

*If you are curious about this topic, these are interesting links.

1. Internalizing UX: the death of external agencies?
2. The State of UX in Belgium