Duolingo has dropped its “User eXperience” moniker and is instead calling it “Product eXperience.” Mig Reyes, Duolingo’s VP of Product Experience, wrote about the reasoning behind the change to Product eXperience on LinkedIn.
Mig Reyes said that the name UX sounded old and outdated and didn't fit them. They defined themselves as people who create products, and that the product is more important than UI or UX.
Product experience is a concept that encompasses product design, product writing, and product research, and consists of designers who understand the business context and can visualize it as a product.
The name change from 'User' to 'Product' has been met with mixed reactions from many. Some say it's good because it allows us to focus on the experience of the 'Product' that actually makes a difference, instead of the overly broad UX that has been around for a long time, while others say it's just a way to trick users into meeting KPIs with dark patterns.
Jakob Nielsen, one of the pioneers of UX, said that if we went back 30 years, he would have agreed to a new term, but after 30 years of popularizing the term “user experience,” he is reluctant to see it change.
