Amplifying Voices in Ux: Balancing Design and User Needs in Technical Communication

Designers can create stronger products by considering multiple users with varied perspectives and thus create balance, termed equilibriUX, in their designs.

The field of technical and professional communication is young, and research related to it-and specifically usability-is constantly growing. Usability and user-experience researchers are broadening research into studies involving social issues, accessibility, reconciliation, and user advocacy. Amplifying Voices in UX explores the theme of balance in design and UX in three main areas: curriculum design that includes empathy, service learning, and design justice; design and balance for effective medical and health communication; and design to create balance in labor, social, civic, and political movements.

Amber Lancaster is Associate Professor of Communication at the Oregon Institute of Technology. She is Director of Professional Communication and Associate Editor for Communication Design Quarterly. Carie S. T. King is Clinical Professor, Director of Rhetoric at the University of Texas at Dallas. She is the author of The Rhetoric of Breast Cancer: Patient-to-Patient Discourse in an Online Community.