Collaborations and Partnerships in User Experience
Edited by Joy Robinson and Ryan Weber
Copy edited by Don Donahue. Designed by Mike Palmquist.
Effective UX work is necessarily complex and challenging—and necessarily collaborative. Drawing on their extensive collective experience, the contributors to this edited collection offer valuable insights and practical guidance for UX professionals seeking to navigate the complexities of collaborative work and create effective, user-centered products and services. Collaborations and Partnerships in User Experience focuses on the importance of building and nurturing relationships, fostering open communication, and ensuring that all partners benefit from collaborative efforts. The chapters in the collection offer theoretical frameworks, case studies, and lessons learned from successful (and sometimes unsuccessful) collaborative projects. They also explore the challenges that can arise in UX collaborations, such as differing priorities, vocabularies, and institutional structures, as well as the strategies employed to overcome these hurdles and achieve meaningful outcomes.
Table of Contents
Introduction, Joy Robinson and Ryan Weber
DOI: 10.37514/TPC-B.2025.2517.1.3
Part One: Collaborations in Industry and the Academy
1. Building Relationships Across Professional Spheres in Academic-Industry Collaborations: A Cross-case Synthesis, Benjamin Lauren, Casey McArdle, Jennifer Ismirle, and Keith Instone
DOI: 10.37514/TPC-B.2025.2517.2.01
2. “We need to figure out how to do better!”: Opportunities for UX Professionals in Project-based Organizations—An Activity Theory Analysis of a Technical Design Project, Richard Douglas Divine and Mark Zachry
DOI: 10.37514/TPC-B.2025.2517.2.02
3. Working with Ladies in UX: Building Academic/Industry Partnerships for User Research Projects, Heather Noel Turner, Laura Gonzáles, and Liza Potts
DOI: 10.37514/TPC-B.2025.2517.2.03
4. A Case for (Re)Envisioning Academic UX Spaces: Lessons Learned at a Polytechnic University, John M. Spartz
DOI: 10.37514/TPC-B.2025.2517.2.04
Part Two: Collaborations in Communities
5. Voice of a Community Partner: Challenges and Benefits of Novice Students Conducting Onsite Usability Tests, Billy Kangas and Chalice Randazzo
DOI: 10.37514/TPC-B.2025.2517.2.05
6. Designing Virtual Reality User Experiences for a Nonprofit Organization: Perspectives from Engineering Graduate Students and Community Partner, Missie Smith and Felicia Chong
DOI: 10.37514/TPC-B.2025.2517.2.06
7. Reflections on a Graduate-Level Engineering Service-Learning Project in a Virtual Reality and User Experience Course, Missie Smith and Felicia Chong
DOI: 10.37514/TPC-B.2025.2517.2.07
8. Critical Success Factors for Teaching an Accessible User Experience Project Across National Borders and Disciplinary Boundaries, Sushil K. Oswal, Zsuzsanna B. Palmer, and Rita Koris
DOI: 10.37514/TPC-B.2025.2517.2.08
9. Sustainability as a Productive Site for User Experience Collaboration, Tatiana Batova
DOI: 10.37514/TPC-B.2025.2517.2.09
10. How Long Have We Been Doing This Again? Establishing a Long-Term Interdepartmental UX Collaboration on Campus, Ashley Patriarca and Kristin Williams
DOI: 10.37514/TPC-B.2025.2517.2.10
11. Forming and Sustaining One Collaborative Service-Learning Partnership Around UX, Joseph W. Robertshaw
DOI: 10.37514/TPC-B.2025.2517.2.11
Part Three: Collaborating with Users
12. Twitch and Livestreaming as User Experience Platforms, Amelia Chesley and Cody Reimer
DOI: 10.37514/TPC-B.2025.2517.2.12
13. Collaborating on the Interface: Rhetorical and Hermeneutic Theory for User Experience Design, Eric J. York
DOI: 10.37514/TPC-B.2025.2517.2.13
14. Achieving Veteran-Centered Design: Case Study of the Human-Centered Design Process Used During the Vets.gov Project, Jeffrey M. Gerding
DOI: 10.37514/TPC-B.2025.2517.2.14
15. Collaborating Through Usability in Health and Medical Contexts, Kirk St.Amant
DOI: 10.37514/TPC-B.2025.2517.2.15
16. Feature Flow Analysis: Collaborate More Deliberately with Your Users, Lane T Lynn, Matthew R Miller, Holly Lussenden, and Joy Robinson
DOI: 10.37514/TPC-B.2025.2517.2.16
17. Empathy, Access, and Engineering: Empathy Maps in a Disability Studies Course for STEM Students, Sarah Summers and Renee D. Rogge
DOI: 10.37514/TPC-B.2025.2517.2.17
18. Crafting the Story: Engaging Stakeholders in UX Research, Ginnifer Mastarone
DOI: 10.37514/TPC-B.2025.2517.2.18
About the Editors
Joy Robinson, PhD, is a Senior User Experience Researcher at Google, where she focuses on delivering insights to teams about users’ experiences with Android and ChromeOS. Previously, she was a UX Manager for Northrop Grumman, coordinating UX teams and conducting research studies to improve warfighter software. She was also an Assistant Professor at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, where she taught UX and technical Writing courses and founded the university’s UX lab. She has a PhD in Technical Communication from the Illinois Institute of Technology and holds MS and BS degrees in engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, respectively. She is an accomplished researcher with published articles on UX methods and practice, innovative teaching practices, and collaboration. She has published articles in Computers and Composition and numerous communication and engineering journals including Technical Communication Quarterly, Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, Communication Design Quarterly, and IEEE Transactions in Professional Communication.
Ryan Weber, PhD, is Associate Professor of English at The University of Alabama in Huntsville as well as the Director of the Business and Technical Writing Program and User Experience Program. He holds a PhD from Purdue University, where he contributed to the Purdue OWL. His work has appeared in journals such as Communication Design Quarterly, International Journal of Human-Computer interaction, Technical Communication Quarterly, Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, and IEEE Transactions in Professional Communication. He teaches courses in information architecture, user-centered design, usability, technical editing, proposal writing, and technical communication. He hosts the podcast 10-Minute Tech Comm.
Publication Information: Robinson, Joy, & Ryan Weber (Eds.). (2025). Collaborations and Partnerships in User Experience. The WAC Clearinghouse; University Press of Colorado. https://doi.org/1010.37514/PER-B.2025.2517
Digital Publication Date: April 7, 2025
Print Publication Date: Pending
ISBN: 978-1-64215-251-7 (PDF) | 978-1-64215-252-4 (ePub) | 978-1-64642-736-9 (pbk.)
DOI: 10.37514/TPC-B.2025.2517
Contact Information:
Joy Robinson: njoying@gmail.com
Ryan Weber: rw0019@uah.edu
Foundations and Innovations in Technical and Professional Communication
Series Editor: Lisa Melonçon, Clemson University
This book is available in whole and in part in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF). It will also be available in a low-cost print edition from our publishing partner, the University Press of Colorado.
Copyright © 2025 Joy Robinson, Ryan Weber, and the authors of individual parts of this book. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 United States License. 336 pages, with notes, illustrations, and bibliographies. This book will be available in print from University Press of Colorado as well as from any online or brick-and-mortar bookstore. Available in PDF and ePub formats for no charge on this page at the WAC Clearinghouse. You may view this book. You may print personal copies of this book. You may link to this page. You may not reproduce this book on another website. For permission requests and other questions, such as creating a translation, please contact the copyright holder.