Ghost in the Pixel is one of my favorite Interaction Design blogs. Last May, Uday Gajendar posted some insightful questions to guide young designers on the path they want to take professionally. I found this helpful in allowing me to better define the type of designer I want to be when I grow up. Below are my answers.
What kind of Questions intrigue you?
When I start out trying to solve a new design problem, my mindset is normally around what does a person need to do in order to accomplish their task? What kind of tools can I put into their hands that make their job/life easier and more fulfilling? One of the aspects that make us all human is our ability to create and use tools. It is my responsibility as a designer to create the tools in such a manner that the person it was meant for can easily pick it up and run with it.
The process of designing new tools easily leads to exploring new and exciting ways of doing something. It is common to assume that you can never be 100% sure how a person is going to use a product. During the design process, I want to explore the ‘what ifs’ to see if there is any missed opportunities or something completely unexpected. You never know how far the rabbit hole can lead you sometimes.
What kind of Problems and Domains excite you?
I love helping small businesses solve their problems. Normally, they don’t have the resources or money to hire a designer, even though they sorely need one. They are experts when it comes to the products and services they provide, but when it comes to branding, user experience, and web presence it’s unchartered territory for them.
My other interests make me out to be a masochist. The constraints the come along with working in heavily regulated industries or in the education field fascinate me. If you can create something revolutionary with so many factors working against you, then there is nothing keeping you from being a rock star. The challenge of it all just draws me in, regardless of the emotional and mental stressors that are abound to occur.
As if I haven’t stretched my interests out enough, the way people use products inspire much of my daily voyeurism. Watching someone struggle with something gets the gears turning and starts me thinking how it could have been improved and why certain decisions were made about the products design. Many times I start to curse the ‘designer’ for either missing something obvious, or just being lazy.
What kind of Artifacts do you like to work on?
There is a special place in my heart for prototyping and wireframing. I constantly try to learn about new methods of creation, or tools to use. The earlier a design can be looked at, played with, or tested helps get to a better design. My process always starts with either a piece of paper or my moleskin where I can do a complete brain dump of all the possible ways to solve the problem I am tackling. Once I am happy with a sketch, or series of sketches, it is off to whatever prototyping tool I have handy. (Recently it has been Fireworks.)
Though I love doing prototypes, wireframes, and sketches, it is hard for me to do them effectively without some visual documentation to guide me. Getting a clear understanding of the domain though site maps, flow diagrams, and user task flows help me understand all the minor nuances which spark the creativity needed to get to the actual design. I would be lost without these tools and sometimes find myself in a very Zen state while creating them.
What Activities and Phases do you prefer and excel at?
I got started in the user experience business mainly doing user research and traditional usability studies. Though I have moved on to being a designer, I still remember my roots and find great value in the lessons I learned. Every time I sit down with a new group of people to learn how and why they their thing, I learn something new. I learn about their behavior and expectations, but more importantly I learn something about myself. This leads to so many great design insights that it still amazes me that some companies don’t see the value in it.
The natural next steps from doing all the good ole fashioned user research and analysis is coming up with the conceptual design. This phase normally eats up huge chunks of my moleskine and is by far the most fun. It naturally feeds into the designs I ultimately create and gives me the background to effectively defend my designs.
What Purposes motivate you as a designer?
This question is the easiest to answer for me, improve the human condition. Granted this is a fairly broad goal, but a total worthwhile one. As a designer, I strive to help people with the problems that they have. Another aspect is getting out and helping others in the design community. It is selfish for me to learn all these great things about people, methods of solving possible common problems, and not share that knowledge with others. Since so much about user experience is either self-taught or learn as you go, it is important for me to give back to the community that has helped me grow and learn.
The other aspect of being a designer that motivates me is to try and make the world a bit more playful. Recent devices like the iPhone, Wii, or the proposed Project Natal showcases how much meaning an interaction can have if there is a sense of playfulness to it. Interactions don’t HAVE to be boring. Yes, it may take a little extra time and money to make it playful, but the resulting experience makes it worth the cost.
So that is the type of designer that I am, or hope to become. The real challenge is finding a place in the world where I can do all of this, and also evolve into maybe something different 5 years down the road. Regardless, I have some boundaries I can work within and bring meaning to my career. What are your answers to these questions? Either post them below or put them up on your own blog. Think of it as your own little manifesto as a design.
