UXD club video from Jenna Langan on Vimeo.

Kent State’s User Experience Design (UXD) Club was founded at the beginning of the Fall 2018 semester by Sean Sabihi, a senior psychology major and Maggie Morley, a senior visual communication design major.

UXD has been on the rise recently and even more particularly at Kent State.

“It applies to everything,” Morley said. “Most people think it’s just apps and websites, but it’s in the design of your furniture, your home, your car. Everything that you always interact with, it’s there.”

More students are becoming intrigued by the idea of UXD as it is now offered as a minor and introductory course on campus.

The UXD club is open to all majors. They meet every other Wednesday at 8 p.m. to get students informed, and thinking about how much impact UXD has on the world.

“This is the best way I could provide to undergraduates who are looking to meet upperclassman can guide them in their career paths,” Sabihi said.

The group is very open to sharing their knowledge and helping each other grow in the UX field.

“I like the whole networking aspect,” said Betsy Garwood, senior visual communication design student and student officer. “I feel like people don’t talk about UX as much as other majors, the networking is awesome and it gets people talking.”

The UXD club is looking forward to another semester of more meetings, events and networking in 2019.

“In this first semester, it’s been kind of experimental in finding out who we can talk to,” Sabihi said. “I have reached out to companies and they’re interested in establishing a connection with our club to have a back and forth between young UX people and the more experienced UX people.”

The best way to learn more about UXD and start broadening horizons within the field is by getting involved.

“There are so many different career paths that you could get into with this, so it comes down to what you truly want to do,” Sabihi said. “Start doing your own investigation of the type of environment you see yourself working in, establish a connection by networking with professionals in the field and do your research to get more information on how you can give back to that field.”

Jenna Langan is the consumer tech reporter. Contact her at [email protected].