Message from Joann Tupaz Vogtman, UX Team Director

“Their Experience Matters to Us” is the motto on which we created the User Experience Team. We understand the frustrations that can come when dealing with “unfriendly” technology. Being an applicant, student, faculty member, or college administrator is hard enough without technological problems. Our goal is to facilitate the creation of web pages, apps, and even infrastructure implementations that make the life of the user easier. In my opinion User Experience or UX is really a simple formula:

Empathy + Data + Best Practices + Good Design + Branding + Accessibility = UX

The UX team functions as a resource for customers, users, and development teams. We interact with customers and users to find out what they need and what works for them. We collaborate with campus partners to facilitate the work of their departments. We gather data from observation, surveys, interviews, and user testing. We use that data to create products that are accessible and branded to represent the spirit of “Belonging” espoused by Brigham Young University. We want everyone to feel welcome and empowered to use technology to achieve their academic goals. The BYU Statement of Belonging includes the principle “Our interactions create and support an environment of belonging (Ephesians 2:19)” So much of our interactions are through technology and the UX Team, along with the entire Office of Information Technology, strives to make those interactions as “user friendly” and engaging as possible. Their experiences really do matter to us.

What is UX?

UX stands for User Experience. In the BYU Office of Information Technology that means that we focus on the needs of users and organizations. We base all of our prototypes on data as well as UX design best practices.

Why does UX matter?

UX is a combination of Empathy + Marketing + Design + Compliance. We care about the BYU community and want to make technology as helpful as possible. We create digital tools that make lives easier and which represent BYU and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in a positive and welcoming light.

Who does the UX Team help?

The UX team primarily designs for Office of IT projects, but we can and do consult with other departments' projects.