1

What would be the job title for someone who design prototypes of the physical products, and also be able to modify/integrate existing hardware and software (ex. experimenting with arduino?) to make it more user friendly with the ux research skills?

For example, I saw this recent product where they build the braille smart watch for visually impaired people. What is interesting here is that they used existing technologies and simply integrated them(Braille and watch) together to build a new product user-friendly for blind people. This is something I really want to learn and do.

Also, Which graduate school programs would fit for my interests? (Either in US or Canada) I'm a recent graduate with major in Psychology with a bit knowledge of programming language.

Thank you

Improve this question
1
  • Someone who is experienced in this field is Jason Mesut. He is a industrial designer who made the leap to interaction design: twitter.com/…
    – Ruudt
    Oct 14, 2015 at 10:37

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
2

It could be any or any combination of:

  • industrial designer
  • UX designer
  • human factors interface designer
  • product designer
  • inventor
  • engineer
  • computer science
  • (and I'm sure many more)

There's no one specific graduate program for this. It will really come down to finding one that you feel simply fits what you are looking for.

Improve this answer
1

Industrial Designer develops concepts and designs for manufactured products. They typically specialize in one product category, such as automobiles, furniture or housewares. They must be imaginative and persistent to communicate their ideas about new product design. (Source)

Hardware interface designers draw upon industrial design, interaction design and electrical engineering. (Source)

I think what you're looking for is someone between these two roles or someone having the skillset of both.

Improve this answer
0

That still sounds like UX to me.

User Experience design is not user interface design (though that is the most commonly visible part of the job).

User Experience is a very broad specialty that covers the whole of a user's experience, the hardware very definitely is a key part of this, especially if you are to be using abnormal hardware.

I can recall several classes from my HCI masters where we looked at things like physical bank machines, little gizmos for old people to remind them to take their pills, etc...

The focus is the user, not what appears on a computer screen. Hardware and software are purely the tools that a UX Designer uses in order to help the user to do what needs to be done.

Improve this answer
0

The best known example is probably Jonathan Ive - currently in charge of design at Apple

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Ive

Ive studied Industrial Design initially.

Industrial Design is understanding both the user - but also manufacturing processes and the properties of materials.

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.