[IxDA Discuss] Most important skills of an IX Designer?

[Allison]

I see them as all very distinct people. 

#1 is one type of person. An ethnographer, market- or user-experience
researcher depending on the company or industry.

For #2 the person needs to have an understanding of the users and
what the business is trying to convey in the design. But, artistic
skill is required.

#'s 3-4 seem pretty related. It's kind of hard to provide good
recommendations for a design without a good understanding of the
limitations of the tools and the constraints you're working with,
and prototyping/wire-framing tends to be very iterative in practice
anyway. 

For #5 I'd argue that a good manager isn't necessary the best in
their field, but they do need to be good at making the business case,
keeping others motivated, and having the big picture view.

But, if you have a 4 person team where each person is really great at
each of those above things, a good manager who understands that a good
design is functional and aesthetic, and they can all work together to
fit a need, then you've got a rockin' team. 

In any case, I wouldn't make my team just one person. Then you get
only one person's design aesthetic interpretation. But, that might
be another discussion. 


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Posted from the new ixda.org
http://beta.ixda.org/discuss?post=19386