Industrial Designers in UX Practice: Motivations, Professionalization, and the Construction of Designer Identity

Sedef Süner-Pla-Cerdà is an assistant professor at TED University in Ankara. She obtained her PhD in Middle East Technical University, Department of Industrial Design, where she started her career in design teaching and research. Her academic interests focus on the intersection of design and user experience, such as interdisciplinary design thinking, design methods, user research, and integration of user-centered skills into design education.

Gülşen Töre-Yargin is an assistant professor at Middle East Technical University, Department of Industrial Design, and the director of METU/ BILTIR-UTEST Product Usability Unit. After completing her PhD at METU, she conducted postdoctoral studies at the University of Cambridge. Her current research interests involve UX research methods and education and human-centered design of emerging technologies, particularly conversational agents, sensor-based technologies and smart products, and their user experiences.

Asli Günay is an assistant professor in the Media and Visual Arts Department at Koc University. Having completed her PhD at METU on user experience (UX) with health technologies and her post-doctoral studies at the University of Cambridge on systems approach to healthcare design, her major research interests include design for well-being, UX with emerging technologies, UX research methods, and UX education.