Integrating UX Design in Astronomical Software Development: A Case Study

Abstract

In 2023, ASTRON took the step of incorporating a dedicated User Experience (UX) designer into its software development process. This decision aimed to enhance the accessibility and usability of services providing access to the data holdings from the telescopes we are developing. The field of astronomical software development has historically under emphasized UX design. ASTRON's initiative not only improves our own tools, but can also be used to demonstrate to the broader community the value of integrating UX expertise into development teams. We discuss how we integrate the UX designer at the start of our software development lifecycle. We end with providing some considerations on how other projects could make use of UX knowledge in their development process.