“Jonathan Sketch can’t fly and he doesn’t shoot web, but he has all of the other qualities of a superhero. He helps people, he uses his smarts, and he assesses a situation and displays problem-solving skills. There are countless books on UX design, but none have used the comic book format. We have a great opportunity to spread the ideas of design in our own way and inspire people.” That’s how Tal Florentin, the man behind UX Hero Comics, describes his protagonist. The mission of this comic book series is to deliver the message of User Experience design in the most engaging way possible. Florentin expects UX Hero to be used to teach junior designers, to inspire advanced designers and to help convince your boss. Besides a good story for a few minutes of refreshing fun, there’s a specific professional message embedded in each issue.
UX Hero was created by Tal Florentin, an Israeli UX designer and CEO of UXVision – a leading boutique UX design agency that has been providing services for local fortune 500 companies. Florentin is the author of the first UX design book in the Hebrew language, an experienced speaker and the winner of the 2014 UX-Award. Three years ago, he founded the UXV certification program which has been named as one of the top five academic programs worldwide by UX Magazine. Florentin’s is the first and only book ever published in Hebrew in the local market in that field. Following the great feedback from people saying that this book is unique and has a great added value along with the other books published, he started with the process of translating the book. However, he wanted to stand out and have a unique presence next to all of the other books that were written in the field. In a funny meeting with friends, Florentin raised the subject and one of them said something about Manga – the Japanese comics. The rest is history. Together with a team of professionals – an award-winning writer and an award-winning artist, UX Hero became a reality. It’s really a global team though, as the founder and company are from Israel, their writers are American, and the art team is Asian. But you probably know that everything is possible when you have a team of ninjas. Still, Florentin cites that the hardest part of the operation was becoming an editor and producer for a comic series. It’s something that he never thought he’d be doing – working with the script writer and trying to translate a real case study into an engaging story is definitely a challenge.
Research shows that comics are one of the most engaging ways of transforming a message. In the world of creative and digital design, this is a new media and a new opportunity that provides a different way to spread the ideas of UX and inspire. That’s what the UX Hero Comics team tries to do – inspire, and as Jonathan Sketch says: change the world pixel by pixel. Currently, there aren’t any other providers of UX related comics magazines, so UX Hero doesn’t have any real competitors in the field. The digital version is free, and includes sponsored ads – but you can also buy a yearly subscription and get the hardcopies, a few posters, and the satisfaction of supporting this initiative. UX Hero targets digital designers, developers, and entrepreneurs; they intend to publish six issues per year and host case studies of the world’s top UX designers, leaders and products.
You can download UX Hero for free from their website, www.uxherocomics.com .
