Our everyday lives have lots of problems — some small and others rather complicated. But, we usually have the right kind of products to help solve them.

For example, ordering an Uber ride can be made in a few taps from a smartphone app. Transferring some money without visiting a brick and mortar bank can be achieved online. And you can find out when your Amazon delivery will arrive by asking your home assistant: “Alexa, where’s my stuff?”

Although we have novel solutions to help solve our problems, life, unfortunately, isn’t that straight forward. Unfortunately, in this world, there are poorly designed products that can make our lives a misery.

21st-century problems

In the 21st century, we have access to a wealth of modern technology and novel commodities. However, there are still poorly designed products that cause even more problems for us humans. 🤯

During the COVID-19 pandemic, my local hospital reduced its refreshment services for visitors. They installed some shiny new ‘hot food’ vending machines as a solution to keep hungry visitors fed. However, my experience in using one wasn’t great; I spent nearly 20 minutes trying to dispense a curry!

Using the machine required a little luck. Firstly, the digital keypad used for selecting a meal gave little feedback, which resulted in a constant loop of trial and error. Then the card scanner refused my Apple Pay until I rotated my screen after several attempts. Finally, when I received the culinary delight (which turned out to be frozen), I had to figure out how to use the adjacent microwave.

To my surprise, the microwave was not your conventional kitchen appliance. Instead of setting the temperature and pressing a start button, it required me to scan a tiny barcode on the back of the frozen meal packaging — a dexterity challenge in itself. Nonetheless, I eventually achieved my goal.

But why was operating both the vending machine and microwave such as difficult task? Was it down to my incompetence? Was I to blame?

In reality, my struggle in working the machines was not my fault. Anyone of any skill level should never have to endure such a frustrating user experience. The issue lies in the poor design of the product.

Rise of the UX evangelists

Fortunately, we have designers, researchers, copywriters, and other UX specialists who know how to design better products for everyday people. Yes, they are the ones who fight for making people’s lives a little bit better.

These extraordinary talents are what I like to describe as UX evangelists. Together, they combine creative thinking to solve complex problems. They develop user empathy to understand the pains, struggles and fears of everyday folk. And, they test and iterate products until they resonate with people’s needs.

UX evangelists are user advocates and promoters of quality experiences. Through creative innovation and iterative learning, they endeavour to solve people’s problems with a positive impact.

UX evangelists act as the user advocates and promoters of quality experiences. They collaborate with multi-disciplinary teams to discover, define, and solve all the right problems for their products or services. Through creative innovation and iterative learning, they endeavour to design for the best possible user experience.

🔍 Related: Why UX writers need to work on their negotiation skills

What’s even more extraordinary about our UX evangelists is that they’re willing to accept any challenge — from websites to vending machines. They thrive on solving problems — no matter how large or small — for real people.

But of course, it’s not always going to be plain sailing for our UX evangelists.

The product development process is often complicated. Teams have separate viewpoints and critical needs to be met; research budgets are cut short, and tradeoffs are made late in the build cycle. Furthermore, constant changes and modifications result in low-quality products.

However, all good UX evangelists will fight for better quality products for users to enjoy. It’s what they do; it’s the reason they get out of bed.

If you’re a UX evangelist in the waiting, then join the cause for creating better, usable products — even vending machines!

=====