On each episode of The Chris Miller Show, Chris speaks with a different UX expert on how they define and apply UX at work. Through these one-on-one casual conversations, Chris hopes to uncover the mystery and clear up the confusion around this advancing topic.
In episode 6, Chris interviews Ryan Rosenberg of Sanofi, a global pharmaceutical company. Through his conversation with Ryan, Chris just may have uncovered the primary purpose of the growing UX role.
As the Digital Design and UX Capability Lead at Sanofi, Ryan believes UX is less about designing and more about discovering. Why? Because in Pharma, like in many industries, the user’s intent and preferred journey is initially unknown. However, through user research and data analysis, a thoughtful UX professional can discover valuable user preferences. According to Ryan, if this analysis is reliable, it must be prioritized over less reliable sources like a brand manager’s personal preference. Ryan’s one caveat is the complexity required to do it right, especially in the design phase.
In Ryan’s own words, “To make something that is simple on a device is extremely complex. It takes a research team to figure out what their users want. It takes a tech team to build it, a design team to make the interactions useful and intuitive for the user”
“But when it does happen, now that’s great design, and there should be no other thought about how that experience should work. To give the users what they want, when they want it, on the device that they’re on is my definition of UX.”
Ryan believes, no matter the company, the UX role must work with a customer-centric mindset. Unlike other product, development or marketing roles, UX has a primary purpose of passionately advocating for the user. Now this doesn’t mean blindly implementing what the user thinks they need. Rather, it means capturing reliable user data and persuading others based on your data-driven UX model.
Next Steps
- Learn more about Chris Miller and his vision for our creative/digital services.
- Check out Ryan Rosenberg on Linkedin.
