I just read Naomi Klein’s No Logo, and despite being so late to that party It’s not hard to imagine how big an impact it had in its time at identifying the brand being the product more than the things the businesses made (*sold).
Because I’m always trying to make connections that might not be there, I can’t help think we’re at a stage where “Brand” is being replaced by “UX” in a world of tech where you can’t really wear brands on your shoulders.
We’re inside the bubble so we talk in terms of brands (i.e. openAI) and personalities (sama), which are part of brand really, but outside of the bubble the UX is what gets people talking.
When you think about Slack doing their AI dataset shit, you can really see how much their product is a product of UX, or fashion, that could easily be replaced by a similar collection of existing properties.
As I write this, I already wonder if UX is just another facet of brand or if it’s a seperate entity.
Anyway, I’m writing this out as a “is this a thing?” question. WDYR?
I agree, I don’t think many of the things I criticise about the UX industry are the result of a conscious decision, but no less insidious. It’s a good point though, I also remember the emergence of UX as a thing when there would be talk about it being everything - as if things like usability, accessibility, customer service, QA, etc never existed before.