UX in the United Nations Development Programme

Photo: chronicleofalonesheep.com


Hubert Uy is the User Experience Lead at the United Nations Development Programme. He shares with us how User Experience design within the United Nations differs from startups and design agencies. He gives us insights on the U.N.’s bureaucratic evaluation processes, as well as the different design and usability challenges that they face.


Photo: hub.cool


Hubert Uy is the User Experience Lead at the United Nations Development Programme. He was chosen to be the U.N.D.P.’s first UX designer while still finishing his Masters in Interactive Telecommunications at N.Y.U. He and his team work with different organizations around the world to create innovative solutions for sustainable development.

During the interview, he was asked a total of five (5) questions, which he answered collectively, as a whole. The following questions were as follows:

1. What is UX like in the United Nations?
2. Are the UX designers in the UN bound by specific laws/guidelines?
3. What are you currently working on/ What are the common challenges you face?
5. How is usability testing done?
6. Advice to hopeful UX designers?

“UX design in the U.N. is very different from how it is done in agencies and startups.” Founded in 1945, the United Nations is a bureaucratic and traditional institution. The U.N. uses a “Waterfall” or gated method while startups and design agencies use “Agile” methods.

“For example, we are redesigning a website. In an agency, normally, they pool a project team (project manager, UX designer, engineer, content, and several other people) to meet and discuss. By the 2nd day they have a prototype. They come up with the MVP (Minimal Viable Product) – what is the minimum thing you can develop? They don’t care if its buggy, it just has to be usable, because a big part of UX is getting your product out there to test.”

“In the U.N., because of the bureaucracy, no matter how you try to be agile, it is difficult. It consists of a lot of channels and red tape that you have to go through. My team can churn out prototypes in two or three days, but we launch it in 2-3 months. We have to ship it to the director, he has to approve it, then it comes back to us for revisions. After the director approves it, the head of the bureau has to approve it, then it comes back again to us. It then goes through the president for the final approval, or back to us for further revisions. This is what a gated design method is. It’s not that we can’t launch quickly, in the U.N. we are bound to certain guidelines and laws.”

These laws include the U.N.’s Web Accessibility Guidelines that are agreed on by certain member states. All their products have to conform to the latest screen readers, and be accessible to those with disabilities. For example, he mentioned that designers cannot create motion in the U.N.’s digital interfaces. This is because those with vestibular disorders (inner ear imbalance) get triggered by visual stimuli such as motion, and colors- most especially the color green. When uploading videos, they also have to transcribe them for those with vision impairments. “When we put up a video on Youtube, we have to transcribe alternative text in HTML so that those with vision problems hear what’s going on when they access it.”

Another admirable aspect about his job is that he and his team design digital interfaces in three different languages: English, Spanish and French. But the U.N., in general, has six official languages. Other departments might have to design for all six languages.

“In UX we always say ‘Design for Mobile first’, because it’s easier to create something small initially. In the U.N., we have the saying ‘Design for French first.’ Language defines your interface.  A person who’s vernacular is Mandarin will interact with your product differently from a person who is an English speaker. Some languages read and write from right to left. That’s one of the reasons why developments take longer to produce. For example, when designing in French, the SIGN UP button is going to be one or two lines longer because of the language and the context. “

The U.N.D.P. works with 170 countries and they recently redesigned their homepage. Hubert and his team are now in the process of translating the website for the rest of the 170 countries- each having communication officers on ground. Currently they are 20% finished and they have been working on it for 7-8 months. “By the time we complete all 170 countries, we might have to redesign the global webpage again. But it’s fun!” He has a great time doing this, as he gets to connect with different people and learn about cultures around the world.

His team consists of roughly three project managers, one UX designer (him), a developer and three content producers for the three languages they are mandated to design for (English, French, Spanish). When asked what a normal day on the job is like, he mentions two more projects he is also working on. He is currently working with C.A.F.I., Central African Forest Initiative. They are developing a tree tracking app to manage and prevent deforestation. They want to be able to track all the trees, so they know if one is being cut down. There is no name yet for this app, but it is definitely something they feel would benefit and aid in C.A.F.I.’s mission to monitor deforestation. Another project of theirs is with Asia Pacific’s Youth Co Lab. They are trying to solve poverty through entrepreneurship. Their goal is to create a digital product that teaches kids about entrepreneurship through video lessons on skills, business management etc. The major challenge for this project is the content and not the design, as they need to consider language translation and culture. There are various socio-economic levels and backgrounds that they need to consider when designing for this.

User testing in the U.N.D.P. is very informal, and they often outsource their evaluations to third-party companies who specialize in user testing. However, for initial prototypes, they usually invite a few friends for casual guerilla testing. “But of course, before we launch it, we always do formal testing which another company does for us.”

Lastly, I asked him to give striving UX designers some advice. He stated that having a good foundation of coding is important. “Your role is really to collaborate with a lot of people. You will make your developer and project manager happy if you can understand code. If you can speak the same language, it will be a huge help. After all, how are you going to design technology without understanding technology?”


Accessibility Guidelines for United Nations. (n.d.). Retrieved September 21, 2017, from http://www.un.org/en/webaccessibility/

Design Critique: Snapchat

Photo: Snapchat.com


With 178 million users, Snapchat has surprised the world with the success of its counter-intuitive design. Going against core principles of discoverability and understandability, it has garnered millions who have learned and adapted its unique language. However, its glory may now be short-lived, as universally-designed competitors have considerably surpassed Snapchat’s numbers.

Snapchat initially prided itself with its unique design. Evan Spiegel, CEO, joked about the controversial interface, stating that “This is by design. We’ve made it very hard for parents to embarrass their children.” The app proved to be a booming success among the younger, more tech-savvy generation. As of 2016, 81% of Snapchat users were below the ages of 35, 37% of them being between the ages of 18 to 24.

Understanding its language requires trial and error, as there are no affordances, signifiers and constraints on the main interface. The lack of these design elements obstructs and prolongs the 7 Stages Of Action (Norman 2013). To learn the app, users execute their assumptions, evaluate them, and create new assumptions until they reach their desired outcome.Snapchat’s learnability makes the Gulfs of Execution (Plan, Specify, Perform) and Evaluation (Compare, Interpret, Perceive) a longer process. As a result, it affects the time it takes to learn the app. It does not harbor user-friendliness, as Don Norman insists that poor design exists when “new learning is required” due to lack of consistency. To the public’s surprise, it’s “snob appeal” has successfully enticed the millennial generation to continue using it.

Photo: theverge.com


When the Snapchat application is initially opened, users can choose to either sign up or log-in. A main camera screen then appears, consisting of familiar camera options. From here, users are given the freedom to swipe in all four directions. Each direction leads opens different features of the app. The navigational affordances are not apparent, as there are also no signifiers to inform users what to expect.


Main interface- camera


Below is a diagram of the Snapchat user flow. An upwards swipe (directed towards the North) opens a user’s saved snaps or cameral roll files. A downward swipe (towards the South) leads users to a newsfeed of different news articles, an option to quickly add other friends, and a user’s contact list. When swiped left (towards the West) from the main interface, the user’s contact list is also displayed. Swiping right (towards the East) opens an interface that showcases friends’ Snapchat stories. When swiping right twice from the main screen, a sponsored Snapchat newsfeed appears.



The great feature about Snapchat, aside from its interactive filters, is its impeccable feedback. When a user takes a screenshot of another user’s story, the creator of the story is immediately notified. This ensures users that their privacy is being monitored. When a user is typing a message to another user, the potential receiver is immediately notified with a phone notification such as “Jimmy is typing a message…” This is a great example of real-time, immediate feedback.


Photo: Aline Bradford/ cnet.com


However, Snapchat has been losing its edge as its numbers have significantly missed its targets, and advertisements have dropped. Instagram, its main competitor, has adapted Snapchat’s story-sharing capabilities. It has improved on Snapchat’s design model by incorporating tried and tested principles of good design. It follows intuitive design through linear constraints. There are less options, less buttons, and one navigational path. Users open the camera, take or upload a photo, enhance it with three options, then share it to their timeline or to their friends. It is understandable and discoverable. It is universally designed to be user-friendly. As a result, it has surpassed Snapchat’s daily user count to over 250 million.

On November 2017, Snap Inc. admitted that “Snapchat is difficult to understand or hard to use, and our team has been working on responding to this feedback. As a result, we are currently redesigning our application to make it easier to use.”  Without reassurance that their re-design will succeed among its loyal fanbase, Snapchat declared that they are willing to take the risk.

If Snapchat were to appeal to a broader audience, it might benefit from following a more usable design approach. Three recommendations could significantly alter their interface and promote user-friendliness:

  • Devise a more linear approach by eliminating North, South, East or West swiping to navigate. If not, create a user-friendly menu page
  • Follow a more consistent grouping pattern (ex. all news found only when you swipe left)
  • Improve signifiers and make use of actual words, given the amount of icons users are left guessing (ex. arrows with interactive icons or captions)


Suggested mapping solution


The story of Snapchat proves that universally good design triumphs over the short lived glory of counter-intuitive design mavericks.



Snapchat user demographics: Distribution of Snapchat users in the United States as of February 2016, by age, Statista, 2017, www.statista.com/statistics/326452/snapchat-age-group-usa/.
Miller, Chance. Snapchat says ‘disruptive’ redesign coming soon as it acknowledges the app is hard to use. 7 Nov. 2017, 9to5mac.com/2017/11/07/snapchat-app-redesign-coming/.
Taylor, Frank. Snapchat Has Thrown Out the UX Rules. 1 Oct. 2016, teamdigital.com/blog/snapchats-obscurity-is-what-makes-it-great.