A friend of mine recently asked me if I knew any User Experience Design positions in NYC area. I was baffled to learn how many UX Designer positions are currently open right now. How many of these positions are really web design, IA (information architecture), interaction design or another established craft, but filed under a buzzword name? Frankly, how can you design a user experience? Doesn't it just happen?
Wikipedia nails it with this quote:
User experience is a subjective feeling; it cannot actually be 'designed'. Instead, you can design for a user experience, trying to enable certain kind of experiences. The scope of the field is directed at affecting 'all aspects of the user's interaction with the product: how it is perceived, learned, and used.'