The contours of user experience (UX) design practice have been shaped by a diverse array of practitioners and disci- plines, resulting in a difuse and decentralized body of UX- specifc disciplinary knowledge. The rapidly shifting space that UX knowledge occupies, in conjunction with a long- existing research-practice gap, presents unique challenges and opportunities to UX educators and aspiring UX designers. In this paper, we analyzed a corpus of question and answer communication on UX Stack Exchange using a practice-led approach, identifying and documenting practitioners’ con- ceptions of UX knowledge over a nine year period. Specif- cally, we used natural language processing techniques and qualitative content analysis to identify a disciplinary vocab- ulary invoked by UX designers in this online community, as well as conceptual trajectories spanning over nine years which could shed light on the evolution of UX practice. We further describe the implications of our fndings for HCI research and UX education.

1. YUBO KOU
Florida State University
A PRACTICE-LED ACCOUNT OF
THE CONCEPTUAL EVOLUTION
OF UX KNOWLEDGE
COLIN M. GRAY
Purdue University

2. UX is an
emerging,
interdisciplinary
context

3. 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
2004-01
2004-07
2005-01
2005-07
2006-01
2006-07
2007-01
2007-07
2008-01
2008-07
2009-01
2009-07
2010-01
2010-07
2011-01
2011-07
2012-01
2012-07
2013-01
2013-07
2014-01
2014-07
2015-01
2015-07
2016-01
2016-07
2017-01
2017-07
2018-01
2018-07
UX Design Worldwide Google Trend
(2004-2018)
Increase in Google searches of “UX design”

4. Uptake in corporate adoption of UX practices

5. Rapidly expanding (and diverse) program offerings

6. User experience: A concept without consensus? Exploring practitioners’
perspectives through an international survey
Carine Lallemand a,b,⇑
, Guillaume Gronier a
, Vincent Koenig b
a
Public Research Centre Henri Tudor, 29 Avenue John F. Kennedy, L-1855 Luxembourg, Luxembourg
b
University of Luxembourg, ECCS Research Unit, Route de Diekirch, L-7220 Walferdange, Luxembourg
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Available online 17 November 2014
Keywords:
User experience
Survey
Definition
Concept
Practitioners
a b s t r a c t
For more than a decade, User Experience (UX) has grown into a core concept of Human–Computer Inter-
action (HCI). Practitioners and researchers from a wide range of disciplines are daily working with this
concept. However, despite many attempts to understand, define and scope UX, one may still wonder
whether a consensus has been reached on this concept. In a willingness to address the complexity of this
research topic and bring the concept of UX to maturity, a replication of an international survey has been
conducted. The main goal of the present study is to get a better understanding of practitioners’ view-
points on the notion of UX and to analyze potential evolutions over time in the understanding and prac-
tical use of the concept. As both practical and theoretical implications of UX are of the greatest
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Computers in Human Behavior
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/comphumbeh
Little consensus over a body of disciplinary knowledge

7. GAP
RESEARCH/PRACTICEACADEMIA
PRACTICE

8. How do practitioners develop and
maintain their occupational competency?

9. What can we do as educators to inform
students’ professional development?
How do practitioners develop and
maintain their occupational competency?

10. Prior Work on Defining and Demarcating UX
Survey of UX researchers and practitioners
(Law et al., 2009; Lallemand et al., 2014)
Interviews with experiences designers and university students
(Tokkonen and Saariluoma, 2013)

11. EXCHANGING
EXPERIENCES
DISTRIBUTED
CRITIQUE
PROFESSIONAL
DISCLOSURE
(Kou & Gray, 2017) (Kou & Gray, 2018)(Gray & Kou, 2019)

12. EXCHANGING
EXPERIENCES
DISTRIBUTED
CRITIQUE
PROFESSIONAL
DISCLOSURE
“Most UX jobs in the
software industry are UX/UI
frankly. UX =/= UI because
UX is much broader.”

13. EXCHANGING
EXPERIENCES
DISTRIBUTED
CRITIQUE
PROFESSIONAL
DISCLOSURE
U1: Why registration rate
went down after we tested
social login buttons?
U2: The user was ok as
long as there was no
commitment.

14. EXCHANGING
EXPERIENCES
DISTRIBUTED
CRITIQUE
PROFESSIONAL
DISCLOSURE
“Hi, well I just graduated
with an undergrad in Psych.
I've been interested in the
UX field for a while. At the
moment, I’m sort of stuck
on how to proceed.”

17. 1. What concepts and knowledge categories
could characterize this body of UX knowledge?
2. How has the UX knowledge shared
on this site evolved over time?

18. Using POS Tagger to
extract unigram nouns
(53,281 unigrams)
Collecting practitioners’
conversations on
UX Stack Exchange
(2008-2017; 21,216 Q&A)
Qualitative analysis to
establish categories
(6 knowledge branches).
Screening to identify
unambiguous words
(604 concepts)

19. Theory (14): affordance(845), theory (444), psychology (360), paradigm (304), fidelity (276), terminology (274), etc.
Intermediate-Level Knowledge (24): guideline (2407), principle (1195), Nielsen (635), heuristic (456), norman (341), etc.
Tech Basic (179): page (19,952), app (11,329), link (9,258), email (5,603), device (4,857), browser (3,629), etc.
Design Basic (24):
user (90,938), design
(16,373), ux (8,882),
experience (7,709), ui
(6,301), etc.
Interface Elements (146):
button (22,630), text (11, 804), form (10,331), list (10,133), icon
(9,033), color (7,904), menu (7,514), image (6,399), etc.
Interaction patterns (30):
interaction (3,919), notification (1,932), confirmation (1,274),
update (864), scrolling (771), checkout (730), etc.
Commercial
(23):
price (1354), ad
(1259), marketing
(905), ecommerce
(686), etc.
Value (13):
law (595), culture
(546), gender (345),
ip (253), health (144),
localization (143),
etc.
Social (10):
developer (2290),
stakeholder (627),
programmer (432),
dev (385), etc.
Design Process (21):
test (3,647), testing (3257),
prototype (1268),
workflow (1,044), etc.
Design Tool (23):
wireframe (3038), mockup
(3038), bmml (2092),
balsamiq (1998), etc.
User Research (27):
profile (1,278), persona
(1,324), survey (1,118),
participant (1,018),
interview (500), etc.
Accessibility (12)
Accessibility (1102), vision(466),
blindness (267), wcag (214), disability
(123), screenreader (100), etc.
Information Architecture (3):
Architecture (661), ia (319), sitemap
(144)
Privacy/ Security (24): password
(4312), account (3366), security (1457),
validation (1219), registration (898), etc.
Usability (6):
usability (4,743), readability (602),
visibility (322), discoverability (222),
legibility (155), learnability (122).
User Mental Model (23):
feeling (667), perception (591),
impression (461), frustration (364),
appearance (363), emotion (306), etc.
Visualization (3):
visualization (477), 3D: 288, 2D: 83
CONCEPTUAL
PERCEPTIBLE
FEATURES
DESIGNER-
ORIENTED
SPECIFIED
KNOWLEDGE
BRANCHES
BEYONDTHECUBICLE

20. Theory (14): affordance(845), theory (444), psychology (360), paradigm (304), fidelity (276), terminology (274), etc.
Intermediate-Level Knowledge (24): guideline (2407), principle (1195), Nielsen (635), heuristic (456), norman (341), etc.
Tech Basic (179): page (19,952), app (11,329), link (9,258), email (5,603), device (4,857), browser (3,629), etc.
Design Basic (24):
user (90,938), design
(16,373), ux (8,882),
experience (7,709), ui
(6,301), etc.
Interface Elements (146):
button (22,630), text (11, 804), form (10,331), list (10,133), icon
(9,033), color (7,904), menu (7,514), image (6,399), etc.
Interaction patterns (30):
interaction (3,919), notification (1,932), confirmation (1,274),
update (864), scrolling (771), checkout (730), etc.
Commercial
(23):
price (1354), ad
(1259), marketing
(905), ecommerce
(686), etc.
Value (13):
law (595), culture
(546), gender (345),
ip (253), health (144),
localization (143),
etc.
Social (10):
developer (2290),
stakeholder (627),
programmer (432),
dev (385), etc.
Design Process (21):
test (3,647), testing (3257),
prototype (1268),
workflow (1,044), etc.
Design Tool (23):
wireframe (3038), mockup
(3038), bmml (2092),
balsamiq (1998), etc.
User Research (27):
profile (1,278), persona
(1,324), survey (1,118),
participant (1,018),
interview (500), etc.
Accessibility (12)
Accessibility (1102), vision(466),
blindness (267), wcag (214), disability
(123), screenreader (100), etc.
Information Architecture (3):
Architecture (661), ia (319), sitemap
(144)
Privacy/ Security (24): password
(4312), account (3366), security (1457),
validation (1219), registration (898), etc.
Usability (6):
usability (4,743), readability (602),
visibility (322), discoverability (222),
legibility (155), learnability (122).
User Mental Model (23):
feeling (667), perception (591),
impression (461), frustration (364),
appearance (363), emotion (306), etc.
Visualization (3):
visualization (477), 3D: 288, 2D: 83
CONCEPTUAL
PERCEPTIBLE
FEATURES
DESIGNER-
ORIENTED
SPECIFIED
KNOWLEDGE
BRANCHES
BEYONDTHECUBICLE

21. Theory (14): affordance(845), theory (444), psychology (360), paradigm (304), fidelity (276), terminology (274), etc.
Intermediate-Level Knowledge (24): guideline (2407), principle (1195), Nielsen (635), heuristic (456), norman (341), etc.
Tech Basic (179): page (19,952), app (11,329), link (9,258), email (5,603), device (4,857), browser (3,629), etc.
Design Basic (24):
user (90,938), design
(16,373), ux (8,882),
experience (7,709), ui
(6,301), etc.
Interface Elements (146):
button (22,630), text (11, 804), form (10,331), list (10,133), icon
(9,033), color (7,904), menu (7,514), image (6,399), etc.
Interaction patterns (30):
interaction (3,919), notification (1,932), confirmation (1,274),
update (864), scrolling (771), checkout (730), etc.
Commercial
(23):
price (1354), ad
(1259), marketing
(905), ecommerce
(686), etc.
Value (13):
law (595), culture
(546), gender (345),
ip (253), health (144),
localization (143),
etc.
Social (10):
developer (2290),
stakeholder (627),
programmer (432),
dev (385), etc.
Design Process (21):
test (3,647), testing (3257),
prototype (1268),
workflow (1,044), etc.
Design Tool (23):
wireframe (3038), mockup
(3038), bmml (2092),
balsamiq (1998), etc.
User Research (27):
profile (1,278), persona
(1,324), survey (1,118),
participant (1,018),
interview (500), etc.
Accessibility (12)
Accessibility (1102), vision(466),
blindness (267), wcag (214), disability
(123), screenreader (100), etc.
Information Architecture (3):
Architecture (661), ia (319), sitemap
(144)
Privacy/ Security (24): password
(4312), account (3366), security (1457),
validation (1219), registration (898), etc.
Usability (6):
usability (4,743), readability (602),
visibility (322), discoverability (222),
legibility (155), learnability (122).
User Mental Model (23):
feeling (667), perception (591),
impression (461), frustration (364),
appearance (363), emotion (306), etc.
Visualization (3):
visualization (477), 3D: 288, 2D: 83
CONCEPTUAL
PERCEPTIBLE
FEATURES
DESIGNER-
ORIENTED
SPECIFIED
KNOWLEDGE
BRANCHES
BEYONDTHECUBICLE

22. Theory (14): affordance(845), theory (444), psychology (360), paradigm (304), fidelity (276), terminology (274), etc.
Intermediate-Level Knowledge (24): guideline (2407), principle (1195), Nielsen (635), heuristic (456), norman (341), etc.
Tech Basic (179): page (19,952), app (11,329), link (9,258), email (5,603), device (4,857), browser (3,629), etc.
Design Basic (24):
user (90,938), design
(16,373), ux (8,882),
experience (7,709), ui
(6,301), etc.
Interface Elements (146):
button (22,630), text (11, 804), form (10,331), list (10,133), icon
(9,033), color (7,904), menu (7,514), image (6,399), etc.
Interaction patterns (30):
interaction (3,919), notification (1,932), confirmation (1,274),
update (864), scrolling (771), checkout (730), etc.
Commercial
(23):
price (1354), ad
(1259), marketing
(905), ecommerce
(686), etc.
Value (13):
law (595), culture
(546), gender (345),
ip (253), health (144),
localization (143),
etc.
Social (10):
developer (2290),
stakeholder (627),
programmer (432),
dev (385), etc.
Design Process (21):
test (3,647), testing (3257),
prototype (1268),
workflow (1,044), etc.
Design Tool (23):
wireframe (3038), mockup
(3038), bmml (2092),
balsamiq (1998), etc.
User Research (27):
profile (1,278), persona
(1,324), survey (1,118),
participant (1,018),
interview (500), etc.
Accessibility (12)
Accessibility (1102), vision(466),
blindness (267), wcag (214), disability
(123), screenreader (100), etc.
Information Architecture (3):
Architecture (661), ia (319), sitemap
(144)
Privacy/ Security (24): password
(4312), account (3366), security (1457),
validation (1219), registration (898), etc.
Usability (6):
usability (4,743), readability (602),
visibility (322), discoverability (222),
legibility (155), learnability (122).
User Mental Model (23):
feeling (667), perception (591),
impression (461), frustration (364),
appearance (363), emotion (306), etc.
Visualization (3):
visualization (477), 3D: 288, 2D: 83
CONCEPTUAL
PERCEPTIBLE
FEATURES
DESIGNER-
ORIENTED
SPECIFIED
KNOWLEDGE
BRANCHES
BEYONDTHECUBICLE

23. Theory (14): affordance(845), theory (444), psychology (360), paradigm (304), fidelity (276), terminology (274), etc.
Intermediate-Level Knowledge (24): guideline (2407), principle (1195), Nielsen (635), heuristic (456), norman (341), etc.
Tech Basic (179): page (19,952), app (11,329), link (9,258), email (5,603), device (4,857), browser (3,629), etc.
Design Basic (24):
user (90,938), design
(16,373), ux (8,882),
experience (7,709), ui
(6,301), etc.
Interface Elements (146):
button (22,630), text (11, 804), form (10,331), list (10,133), icon
(9,033), color (7,904), menu (7,514), image (6,399), etc.
Interaction patterns (30):
interaction (3,919), notification (1,932), confirmation (1,274),
update (864), scrolling (771), checkout (730), etc.
Commercial
(23):
price (1354), ad
(1259), marketing
(905), ecommerce
(686), etc.
Value (13):
law (595), culture
(546), gender (345),
ip (253), health (144),
localization (143),
etc.
Social (10):
developer (2290),
stakeholder (627),
programmer (432),
dev (385), etc.
Design Process (21):
test (3,647), testing (3257),
prototype (1268),
workflow (1,044), etc.
Design Tool (23):
wireframe (3038), mockup
(3038), bmml (2092),
balsamiq (1998), etc.
User Research (27):
profile (1,278), persona
(1,324), survey (1,118),
participant (1,018),
interview (500), etc.
Accessibility (12)
Accessibility (1102), vision(466),
blindness (267), wcag (214), disability
(123), screenreader (100), etc.
Information Architecture (3):
Architecture (661), ia (319), sitemap
(144)
Privacy/ Security (24): password
(4312), account (3366), security (1457),
validation (1219), registration (898), etc.
Usability (6):
usability (4,743), readability (602),
visibility (322), discoverability (222),
legibility (155), learnability (122).
User Mental Model (23):
feeling (667), perception (591),
impression (461), frustration (364),
appearance (363), emotion (306), etc.
Visualization (3):
visualization (477), 3D: 288, 2D: 83
CONCEPTUAL
PERCEPTIBLE
FEATURES
DESIGNER-
ORIENTED
SPECIFIED
KNOWLEDGE
BRANCHES
BEYONDTHECUBICLE

24. Theory (14): affordance(845), theory (444), psychology (360), paradigm (304), fidelity (276), terminology (274), etc.
Intermediate-Level Knowledge (24): guideline (2407), principle (1195), Nielsen (635), heuristic (456), norman (341), etc.
Tech Basic (179): page (19,952), app (11,329), link (9,258), email (5,603), device (4,857), browser (3,629), etc.
Design Basic (24):
user (90,938), design
(16,373), ux (8,882),
experience (7,709), ui
(6,301), etc.
Interface Elements (146):
button (22,630), text (11, 804), form (10,331), list (10,133), icon
(9,033), color (7,904), menu (7,514), image (6,399), etc.
Interaction patterns (30):
interaction (3,919), notification (1,932), confirmation (1,274),
update (864), scrolling (771), checkout (730), etc.
Commercial
(23):
price (1354), ad
(1259), marketing
(905), ecommerce
(686), etc.
Value (13):
law (595), culture
(546), gender (345),
ip (253), health (144),
localization (143),
etc.
Social (10):
developer (2290),
stakeholder (627),
programmer (432),
dev (385), etc.
Design Process (21):
test (3,647), testing (3257),
prototype (1268),
workflow (1,044), etc.
Design Tool (23):
wireframe (3038), mockup
(3038), bmml (2092),
balsamiq (1998), etc.
User Research (27):
profile (1,278), persona
(1,324), survey (1,118),
participant (1,018),
interview (500), etc.
Accessibility (12)
Accessibility (1102), vision(466),
blindness (267), wcag (214), disability
(123), screenreader (100), etc.
Information Architecture (3):
Architecture (661), ia (319), sitemap
(144)
Privacy/ Security (24): password
(4312), account (3366), security (1457),
validation (1219), registration (898), etc.
Usability (6):
usability (4,743), readability (602),
visibility (322), discoverability (222),
legibility (155), learnability (122).
User Mental Model (23):
feeling (667), perception (591),
impression (461), frustration (364),
appearance (363), emotion (306), etc.
Visualization (3):
visualization (477), 3D: 288, 2D: 83
CONCEPTUAL
PERCEPTIBLE
FEATURES
DESIGNER-
ORIENTED
SPECIFIED
KNOWLEDGE
BRANCHES
BEYONDTHECUBICLE

25. Theory (14): affordance(845), theory (444), psychology (360), paradigm (304), fidelity (276), terminology (274), etc.
Intermediate-Level Knowledge (24): guideline (2407), principle (1195), Nielsen (635), heuristic (456), norman (341), etc.
Tech Basic (179): page (19,952), app (11,329), link (9,258), email (5,603), device (4,857), browser (3,629), etc.
Design Basic (24):
user (90,938), design
(16,373), ux (8,882),
experience (7,709), ui
(6,301), etc.
Interface Elements (146):
button (22,630), text (11, 804), form (10,331), list (10,133), icon
(9,033), color (7,904), menu (7,514), image (6,399), etc.
Interaction patterns (30):
interaction (3,919), notification (1,932), confirmation (1,274),
update (864), scrolling (771), checkout (730), etc.
Commercial
(23):
price (1354), ad
(1259), marketing
(905), ecommerce
(686), etc.
Value (13):
law (595), culture
(546), gender (345),
ip (253), health (144),
localization (143),
etc.
Social (10):
developer (2290),
stakeholder (627),
programmer (432),
dev (385), etc.
Design Process (21):
test (3,647), testing (3257),
prototype (1268),
workflow (1,044), etc.
Design Tool (23):
wireframe (3038), mockup
(3038), bmml (2092),
balsamiq (1998), etc.
User Research (27):
profile (1,278), persona
(1,324), survey (1,118),
participant (1,018),
interview (500), etc.
Accessibility (12)
Accessibility (1102), vision(466),
blindness (267), wcag (214), disability
(123), screenreader (100), etc.
Information Architecture (3):
Architecture (661), ia (319), sitemap
(144)
Privacy/ Security (24): password
(4312), account (3366), security (1457),
validation (1219), registration (898), etc.
Usability (6):
usability (4,743), readability (602),
visibility (322), discoverability (222),
legibility (155), learnability (122).
User Mental Model (23):
feeling (667), perception (591),
impression (461), frustration (364),
appearance (363), emotion (306), etc.
Visualization (3):
visualization (477), 3D: 288, 2D: 83
CONCEPTUAL
PERCEPTIBLE
FEATURES
DESIGNER-
ORIENTED
SPECIFIED
KNOWLEDGE
BRANCHES
BEYONDTHECUBICLE

26. Theory (14): affordance(845), theory (444), psychology (360), paradigm (304), fidelity (276), terminology (274), etc.
Intermediate-Level Knowledge (24): guideline (2407), principle (1195), Nielsen (635), heuristic (456), norman (341), etc.
Tech Basic (179): page (19,952), app (11,329), link (9,258), email (5,603), device (4,857), browser (3,629), etc.
Design Basic (24):
user (90,938), design
(16,373), ux (8,882),
experience (7,709), ui
(6,301), etc.
Interface Elements (146):
button (22,630), text (11, 804), form (10,331), list (10,133), icon
(9,033), color (7,904), menu (7,514), image (6,399), etc.
Interaction patterns (30):
interaction (3,919), notification (1,932), confirmation (1,274),
update (864), scrolling (771), checkout (730), etc.
Commercial
(23):
price (1354), ad
(1259), marketing
(905), ecommerce
(686), etc.
Value (13):
law (595), culture
(546), gender (345),
ip (253), health (144),
localization (143),
etc.
Social (10):
developer (2290),
stakeholder (627),
programmer (432),
dev (385), etc.
Design Process (21):
test (3,647), testing (3257),
prototype (1268),
workflow (1,044), etc.
Design Tool (23):
wireframe (3038), mockup
(3038), bmml (2092),
balsamiq (1998), etc.
User Research (27):
profile (1,278), persona
(1,324), survey (1,118),
participant (1,018),
interview (500), etc.
Accessibility (12)
Accessibility (1102), vision(466),
blindness (267), wcag (214), disability
(123), screenreader (100), etc.
Information Architecture (3):
Architecture (661), ia (319), sitemap
(144)
Privacy/ Security (24): password
(4312), account (3366), security (1457),
validation (1219), registration (898), etc.
Usability (6):
usability (4,743), readability (602),
visibility (322), discoverability (222),
legibility (155), learnability (122).
User Mental Model (23):
feeling (667), perception (591),
impression (461), frustration (364),
appearance (363), emotion (306), etc.
Visualization (3):
visualization (477), 3D: 288, 2D: 83
CONCEPTUAL
PERCEPTIBLE
FEATURES
DESIGNER-
ORIENTED
SPECIFIED
KNOWLEDGE
BRANCHES
BEYONDTHECUBICLE

27. A
B
D
E
C
User Mental Model
Usability
Accessiblity
Privacy/Security
Info. Architecture
Visualization

28. A
B
C
P
I
V

29. B
D
E

30. D

31. We have used social media data and data
analytics to define and demarcate UX
knowledge

32. We have used
social media data
and data analytics
to define and
demarcate UX
knowledge
however…

34. Limitations and Future Work
Leveraging social media data and computational techniques to extract evolving
knowledge for emerging occupations such as UX design and data science
Inform educational practices in emerging, interdisciplinary disciplines

35. YUBO KOU
yubokou.info
ykou@fsu.edu
COLIN M. GRAY
colingray.me | uxp2.com
gray42@purdue.edu
THANK YOU