I was beaming with pride as I read UX Magazine’s Top UXpredictions for 2014. No, they didn’t
ask me for my prediction. But several of
the top predictions from some of the leading thought leaders in UX are exactly
what we focus on in the Bentley MS in HFID and BS in IDCC programs. It is almost like we looked into the future
ten years ago (actually Bill Gribbons should get the credit here) and tailored
the curriculum for today’s future (one of my favorite oxymorons :-)).
Here are the ones I am talking about:
#1. More UX designers
will develop expertise in marketing and business. That is a no brainer for Bentley, we are one
of the only UX-related programs that are housed in a business school. Both our BS and MS programs, of course. In fact, we are not just a business school,
we are a Business University.
#2. More programs will appreciate the importance of customer
experience (which is a wider concept than user experience). Yup. We do that.
Again, both BS and MS programs.
#3. UX will be blended with content strategy. I just finished teaching our undergrad
content strategy course and 90% of my students were in the IDCC program.
Most of the predictions after #3 are too specific to
describe any particular program. Things
like responsive design and mobile first design.
And some are negative predictions so I am glad we don’t reflect those.
Then when you get towards the end:
#15 and #16: Positive Computing and Conscious Experience. These focus on considering more than just
utility and usability in design – also thinking about what will improve the
lives of the users on a broader scale – emotional health, intrinsic motivation,
human connection. We don’t have courses
in these specifically but they are the areas where I have been focusing my research
lately so we are poised to be leaders there too.
Yeah Bentley!!!
