Highlighting issues in current conceptions of user experience design through bringing together ideas from HCI and social practice theory

A socio-technical reconceptualisation of use, and the active roles of the material and users in design prompt us to question professional designers’ roles and agencies within the wider realm of social (re)production. This paper focuses on bringing together key concepts of UX design and theories of practice, and pointing out some challenges that lie ahead of professional designers in the conception of their work. Theories used in HCI and historical legacies of production models may limit a full conception of ‘experience’ – or a locating of the social ‘motor’– that can bring change about, as well as ‘hide’ other factors that make up professional design. We argue that there are limitations with current theories underlying design practice, and that the commonly conceived concept of agency in design and use, and the ontological place allocations of the professional designer and the user in the mechanisms of social (re)production need to be revisited. An investigation of professional designing as a social practice can serve the purpose to illustrate alternative conceptions of agency in professional designing, and help designers to be more aware of the social dynamics in their work.