UX Titles
Posted in: Information Architecture on Jan 17
I've reproduced a portion of Challis Hodge's informal study of user experience titles, but with Google's date updated parameter changed.
(Numbers in parentheses indicate the percentage of the total results for each title.)
I think the results prove my hunch that the large number of results for "web designer" is due in part to that title's popularity in the early-to-mid days of the web. As the UX discipline evolves, we'll likely see fewer generic titles like "web designer" and more specialized titles.
Google Results for Three UX Titles (000s)
| Title / Update Period |
"Web Designer" | "Information Architect" | "Interface Designer" |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anytime | 807 (100%) | 41 (100%) | 21 (100%) |
| Past Year | 203 (25%) | 36 (88%) | 16 (76%) |
| Past 3 mos | 145 (18%) | 27 (66%) | 12 (57%) |
"Information architect" has a much higher share of recent mentions than "web designer" and, one could say, is picking up steam. However, "web designer" remains a fine generic title (the kind you can use with your parents' friends), so I doubt it will vanish completely.
Also, it's always worth noting that any analysis built on Google search results is inherently sketchy.
Posted by Gene Smith on Jan 17, 2003
