School Communicator or User Experience Architect? Which one are you? – SCN Encourager

Since I didn’t know what “UX” meant until last week, I guess I’m a school communicator.

But UX is big, Big, BIG.

It’s the acronym for user experience.

And given the range of skills and talents typically demonstrated by many of the school superintendents and communicators I know, I’m convinced UX are two letters we should cozy up to.

With all that you do as well, you may be moving down the road to becoming a User Experience Architect faster than you’d imagine.

Just like I didn’t know what UX meant until days ago, I didn’t know User Experience Architect was a job title, either.

But dang, take a look at this guy’s bio.

 

 

 

Isn’t it fascinating?

It made me wonder what Kumedan’s approach would be if he were directing the school marketing strategies of a “competitor.”

He wrote an incredible article on marketing which offers a pretty good idea, though.

Kumedan lists seven common mistakes marketers make and shares a bevy of practical ways to reverse course.

It’s one of the best overviews I’ve read.

And I read a ton of them.

Just ask Cindy. She’ll vouch for me. (I hope!)

The only obstacle to obtaining full access to the article is that the MarketingProfs require you to sign in.

But it’s worth the extra step for this dandy.

And it’s free.

To give you a taste, this is how Kumedan introduces “Mistake 4.”

Mistake 4: Designer-Centered Design, AKA Design by Community

This is something a group of people do, without being aware they’re doing it. In meetings, people design an experience while claiming to know the users well and speaking on the users’ behalf. In reality, however, uniform opinions, biases, personal motivations, and business goals quickly become the basis for design, and user needs are only half-heartedly accommodated.

When you start talking about the “user” or “the customer,” you have become a designer.

Design by community is usually the kiss of death for great customer experience.

After his rundown of mistake #4, as well as with the other six, Kumedan offers a minimum of three “more effective” strategies for each one.

It’s not often you see a list of mistakes come along with its own set of solutions.

I might try to write up a similar list sometime soon.

I’m pretty sure I can dream up a solution or two… ONCE I’m able to stop adding to my list of mistakes.

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