Arguing about design: A taxonomy of rhetorical strategies deployed by user experience practitioners

The design of technology occurs in a rich, nuanced and complex rhetorical space. Technical teams engage in negotiations, and at times argue, about design. We claim that user experience (UX) practice, at its heart, is a rhetorical endeavor, and this aspect of UX practice has been underexplored. To bridge the gap between UX theory and practice, we pose the research question: What strategies and tactics do UX practitioners use to convince or persuade others about design? To answer this question, we interviewed experienced UX practitioners and present the results of these interviews as a taxonomy of rhetorical strategies situated by an awareness of rhetorical complexity and the impact of context. The results of the study demonstrate that normative UX methods and practices discussed in the literature are chosen, adapted or dismissed as savvy rhetors flex their metis.

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