“UX” has become almost a derogatory term. Sadly so, because the industry has finally realized that there’s a lot of money in it. The problem is that everyone now wants their share in UX, with most of them simply claiming that they are UX experts, just because it sounds totally cool. A result of this is that the people who do know what they’re talking about smell a rat whenever they hear the term and start running.

As an attempt to work against this, today’s hook tries to encompass some aspects of UX (and its relationships to IA, CS, UI, research, animation, etc.) in what we think is meaningful material. As always, this is to be considered a starting point. Do tell us your favorite resources, so we can all profit from them.

01: UXD — What is UX?

by Nazmul Idris & Izabel Grey / on Android Developers Channel

If you don't have a good idea of what user experience design means, yet, or have somehow lost track of it, because the word has been “thrown around” too much, here's a good opportunity to get an overview.

02: What UI Really Is (and how UX confuses matters)

by Ryan Singer / on feltpresence

UX is tricky because it doesn’t refer to any one thing. Interface design, visual styling, code performance, uptime, and feature set all contribute to the user’s “experience.”

Ryan Singer un-confuses the relationship between UI and UX in this short, comprehensive piece, with the analytic precision we appreciate him for.

03: UI Animation & UX: A Not-So-Secret Friendship

by Val Head / on A List Apart

Val Head’s elaborate piece on how animations can enhance the user experience by giving visual cues, without getting in the way of interaction, but rather supporting it and making it more intentional.

04: Content Strategy & UX: a Modern Love Story

by Christina Halvorson / on UX Magazine

How Content Strategy and UX are related? “...it’s inherently impossible to design a good user experience for bad content", Christina Halvorson says.

If you’re passionate about creating better user experiences, you can’t help but care about delivering useful, usable, engaging content.

Simple as that. But Christina Halvorson really sorts out where, when, and why UX and CS come together and when they should stay apart.

05: Connected UX

by Aarron Walter / on A List Apart

The director of user experience at MailChimp talks about organizing and conducting research and its relevance for the user experience. Also, about how to bring teams together to tackle large amounts of data, what to do with rankings, and user studies.

06: User Experience Has Stunted Information Architecture

by Peter Merholz

This short post pushes and stabs at important points and questions. Its relationship with the discussion underneath makes it even more interesting and actually increases its value tenfold.