UX is a field that most people in the industry think it’s just one discipline. But it actually is a range of disciplines that go from Strategic Planning to research and design.
This is a nice way to visualize all the disciplines that are within UX.
Update, 2026: The Thread That Ties Them Together
This map shows how wide UX is, from strategy to research and design. After 20+ years working across product and design, I’d add one thing that runs through all of it: the product story. It’s the shared explanation of what your product does, who it’s for and why it matters. Every discipline on this map does better work when the whole team agrees on it.
Here’s how to write your product story with your team, and here’s the Story Workshop if you’d like help getting there.