What is inspireUX?

inspireUX is a blog that posts quotes relating to user experience (UX). Every quote on inspireUX focuses on the impact that user experience has on people, business, or the world.

Who should read inspireUX?

This blog is intended for both user experience practitioners as well as anyone involved in product design and development. Often, when creating designs or experiences, it’s easy to forget the “big picture” behind why you’re creating what you’re creating. It’s nice to have a little reminder of how important user experience really is and how it impacts everyone’s everyday lives.

What exactly is user experience design?

Defining “user experience” and the disciplines within it is a common source of debate amongst UX designers (whether you’re an information architect, interaction designer, usability engineer, etc etc). My personal opinion is that user experience design is simply creating solutions that improve the way people interact with something. That includes making things easier, more “usable”, findable, understandable, and relatable to what you’re trying to accomplish. No matter how you want to spin it or break it down further, user experience aims to make peoples’ lives better.

This broad definition is one of the reasons this blog exists. So many specialties and disciplines like to defend their roles and define what their specific title means. But, what it all comes down to, is people interested in user experience all have the same end goal. Positive experiences help alleviate frustrations, save time, and are often surprisingly delightful. They help you accomplish what you set out to accomplish, or discover something that you may not have found or done otherwise. User experience not only makes our lives better, but makes our businesses and organizations better. If users don’t enjoy interacting with your products or services, what motivation do they have to stick around? Not much, unless there’s nowhere else for them to go. User experience helps build strong brands and improve business, and all the while helps people. Sounds like a win win, doesn’t it?

This blog will sometimes draw upon quotes from things outside of “user experience.” I consider customer experience, branding, strategy, and even psychology all part of what makes up this field. Just thinking inside the box of “design” can sometimes prevent you from seeing the big picture and how everything is interconnected. Hopefully, this blog inspires you to think beyond your traditional role and think about the end result you’re trying to accomplish.

Who am I?

My name’s Catriona Cornett. I am currently a member of the Technology Leadership Program at Vanguard. In this program, I experience three 8 month rotations in Vanguard’s Web Services department, and in particular, the User Experience Group. During my first 8 months, I served as a business lead working on the company intranet. I am currently in my second rotation as an information architect for the Personal Investors website (www.vanguard.com).

I’m fairly new to the user experience field, but I’ve always had a passion for it, even if I didn’t always attach it to the name “user experience design.” I’ve been designing personal websites since I was 12 years old, and always felt there was something special behind design. Like everyone else, I’ve had my share of positive and negative experiences interacting with products and websites. Once I discovered that I could turn improving these experiences into a career, I knew it was the perfect fit for me.

I am a graduate of The Pennsylvania State University with a B.S in Information Sciences and Technology. Previously, I interned at AccuWeather as a web developer and at GE as a project manager and business analyst. If you’d like to read more about me, feel free to email me or connect with me via LinkedIn