UK MSDN Flash Poll: How interested are you in User Interface design?

The topic this time around is “How interested are you in User Interface design?”. This poll came about after a visit to a local (Bath, UK) software startup which has at least as many user interface designers as developers which made me realise just how much things have moved on over the last couple of years. Certainly 3 years back a “similar” software startup would have been developer heavy and most likely have had no user interface designers. Expectations today are that applications (web and rich) will offer a great experience to the user. Yet many of us have had no formal training in user interface design (nor indeed the broader user experience design). I know for many folks I meet they are comfortable in code but are uncomfortable when faced with the challenge of creating a great user experience using tools such as Expression Studio and Adobe and the new enabling technologies such as AJAX, Silverlight, WPF and Flex. Anyway, here is your chance to sneak a vote in before the newsletter comes out on Wednesday.