Design and user experience
The strong focus on design and UX is a major advantage for the market success of products and services from Berlin-based companies.
User experience (UX) and usability are key success factors for companies. Well-designed products increase effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction – for both customers and employees. In safety-critical areas, such as control rooms or medical technology, high usability is already required by law.
The industry is characterized by:
- strong cross-sectional orientation
- agile working methods
- basis for new digital products and services
- clear competitive advantages through UUX
- great growth potential, including in related industries
UX service providers analyze existing solutions, facilitate innovation processes, and support product development – especially where digitalization is giving rise to new business models. The range of services extends from design thinking, user research, and market analysis to prototyping and UX testing, as well as the development of interactive software and products and performance measurement using UX methods.
The capital region is excellently positioned for this – with numerous specialized service providers for user experience testing and analysis, service design, software design, and product and industrial design. Large companies such as Amazon, AVM, Deutsche Telekom, eBay, HERE, SAP, and Zalando operate their own UUX teams.
Research and development in the field of design and usability
Over 3,000 students at universities and universities of applied sciences make use of the diverse design‑oriented training opportunities – for example to become usability engineers, interface designers, human factors specialists, interface architects, engineering psychologists, work scientists, or organizational and business psychologists. They form a pool of qualified UX specialists.
- University of the Arts | Design Research Lab
- Technical University | Cognitive Psychology and Cognitive Ergonomics
- HTW Berlin University of Applied Sciences | UxLab Usabiliy Labor, Creative Computing
- Humboldt University Berlin | An-Institut Artop
- Hasso Plattner Institute | School of Design Thinking
- Potsdam University of Applied Sciences | Design Department
Innovative forms of human-computer interaction are being researched, for example, at the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute.
Talent, community, and events
Berlin offers creative minds and designers an inspiring environment with plenty of room for experimentation. An international community of freelancers, students, and employees has established itself around UX and usability. Networks such as the International Design Center (IDZ) include over two hundred design-oriented companies, agencies, institutions, and creative professionals.
Numerous conferences, events, and informal meetings promote exchange, facilitate contact with UX service providers, and support the formation of collaborations for joint product and solution development, e.g.:
