- 11 Top Designers Share Honest Career Advice
- The Nuggets translation Project
- Translator: Adam Shen
- Proofreader: Ithreking, circlelove
Good designers are lifelong learners.
At Springboard, we pair mentors and learners of UX (User Experience) and data science, which helps us listen to our predecessors.
In our free UX Guide to UX Careers, we’ve rounded up advice from top practitioners in many fields.
We asked 11 leading UX designers for their inspiration and some UX advice for others.
We worked with the team at UXPin to bring you the following insights.
1. Paul Boag
As co-founder of Headscape, a web design agency whose clients include Nestle, Macmillan and a number of UK universities, Paul has been working on websites for more than 20 years. He is also a widely published author and speaker.
Design inspiration
My favourite design is the original London Underground map.
Its unconventional design makes it quite groundbreaking. It abandons the tradition of showing real distances and locations, so that they can present the complex subway network in a very simple way. To me, that’s what good design is all about: a different Angle to express something complex in a simple way.
Career advice
To be honest, I would never give my younger self any advice, because I knew I would never listen.
Even if I did, I wouldn’t have learned as much as I found out on my own. The best way to learn anything is to learn from mistakes, so I don’t want to let my younger self lose that opportunity. As Winston Churchill once said, “Success is going from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”
Don’t listen to anyone, make your own mistakes, and when you fail, get up and try again.
2. Eva Kaniasty
Eva runs her own boston-based company, Red Pill UX. She is also the president of UXPA.
Design inspiration
I recently discovered Duolingo, an online language learning platform
I like its UX for a number of reasons. The user interface is clean, fun, and motivating. A lot of apps try to combine gameplay and community just because it’s cool, and that ends up making those features feel like an afterthought. Duolingo makes perfect use of game elements and diversified courses to attract users.
I also like the language immersion feature, where users can collaborate on translations. Memorization and repetition are stages that beginners always go through, but they’re always boring. Duolingo is trying to do this very creatively.
I’ve always felt that we’ve reached some sort of plateau in terms of innovation in consumer apps, so it’s amazing to see some ideas that are fresh and appropriate.
Career advice
Understand that in collaborative careers like UX, people are more important than skills. If you have a talent for research and design, you will learn these skills sooner or later. But relationships can make or break a lot of your career.
When I turned my initial career into technology, I knew that few people were doing what I was doing. When I went back to school and studied Human Factors engineering at Bentley University, I felt as if I had entered a new world. Of course, a lot of this was due to what was learned, but it was also meaningful to meet so many people there.
I’m still involved with my local UXPA chapter, and that group has become even more important now that I’m doing independent consulting. Talk to people who are as passionate about user experience as you are, and ask for their opinion.
3. Mike Kus
Mike started out in graphic design and then moved to web design. He has worked with Twitter, Microsoft, MailChimp and others to create user experience designs that are both formal and functional.
Design inspiration
Hipopotam Studio, I love this site and its pure, creative and fun UI.
Career advice
Learn to separate user interface trends from practical design conventions. Just because a design approach is currently widely used does not mean it is the best approach.
4. Jack Zerby
Jack is a co-founder of Flavors. Me and Flavors. Me and a former design director of Vimeo. Jack says he was drawn to design when he first started Photoshop in high school, and that his father also had a big influence on him. You can now find him at Workshop, an entrepreneur training program for young people.
Design inspiration
One of my favorite recent product experiences was using the ParkMobile app in urban areas
Instead of spending dozens of minutes looking for change at a nearby deli to pay for parking, I can now just enter the number on my parking meter, set up my estimated parking time, and pay for parking directly from the app. The app also sends me a message when my estimated time is up, and IF I need it, I can add money directly to extend the parking time.
Smooth and trouble-free.
Career advice
Always think about the end result presented to the user and the context in which the user is in: what tasks should the user accomplish in what context?
For example, I was trying to install a bike rack on my car, so I went to the manufacturer’s website. My goal is to get the bike frame up and on the road as soon as possible. My current situation is, I’m standing outside my car in the hot sun, and my kids are crying because they want to go to the park right now.
Always design with in mind to try to understand your audience. Just like successful marketing, understand your users’ problems and frustrations and communicate them in a way they can understand.
Don’t speculate or fall into designer arrogance (which is what we do all the time).
5. Laura Klein
Laura spent 15 years as an engineer and designer in Silicon Valley. Her goal is to help startups understand their audience so they can build better products faster. Her book, UX Lean Startups – UX for Lean Startups, and her popular design blog, Users Know, tell product owners what they need to Know when doing research and design.
Design inspiration
I think it’s a curse that UX designers only notice designs that make us feel uncomfortable, or maybe it’s just me. Anyway, I’ve always loved any simple design that fits into my life and I don’t even notice.
Career advice
Find two mentors.
The first mentor should be someone more experienced and influential than you are in the area you care about. They can help you, give you perspective, and teach you the skills you need to be hired by someone like them.
The second mentor should be someone a few years older than you. They teach you what you need to know to do the job you want to do. I don’t know what life is like for people starting out in tech today, but I’m sure that anyone who has been doing it for a few years will have a very deep understanding.
So find two people: the one who will help you get your next job and the one who will help you get your next job.
6. Joshua Garity
A design psychologist and brand strategist, Joshua has worked with companies such as Wendy’s and The New York Times to help them better communicate with customers and increase their revenue. You can see what he has to say on his blog, Twitter and Candorem, the company he runs.
Design inspiration
User experience exists in every aspect of our lives, and it extends far beyond the digital web. The user experience should be considered in terms of the environment in which you interact with real media or platforms.
Take cars for example.
Let’s say we spend most of our time in the car driving. When we drive, I want to give priority to the conditions on the road in front of us: stay in your lane, don’t speed, other cars, pedestrians and animals. But we have radios and air conditioning in our vehicles. Taking your eyes off the road for even a fraction of a second poses a major safety risk to everyone on the road. So why didn’t automakers pay attention to the central control board when they designed it? Most cars have a plethora of options, push-button dials, and some even use touch screens to change air conditioning temperatures or radio stations.
If the user experience is about the interactive environment, we need to focus on simplifying the experience so that the user’s primary focus is not on the adverse effects.
A good design guides users correctly without requiring them to think too much.
Career advice
Don’t be complacent. Live in the moment. Don’t let a label define you or limit your purpose in life. Try to find the answer in everything and everyone, even if at first they seem irrelevant. You can always be anything you want to be.
7. Kevin M. Hoffman
At Seven Heads Design, Kevin works on “solving problems you didn’t even know you had” — not just human-computer interaction, but human-human interaction. His clients include Harvard University, Nintendo and MTV. You can find him on his website and on Twitter.
Design inspiration
I’m a big fan of the entire Android system and the Google Play user experience, and I’ve recently fallen in love with Android Wear.
When the Android Kit Kat version and Nexus 5 came out, I tried to start using Android. I think there are a lot of interface choices that are really good. What I like most is the predictability and microinteractions, like the different actions you can do on a push notification, or the seamless integration of the user’s schedule.
When I first discovered that I could let people know I was going to be late with just two clicks, I felt “Wow! It’s really practical.” I recently started using An Android Wear watch, and in just five days it has become a completely natural part of my life. Instead of pulling my phone out of my pocket to check and process messages, I now need to look at my watch every now and then when I need to do something social.
I’m also looking forward to Android Auto. We don’t know what the next generation of iOS will look like, but for now, I have no plans to switch back to iOS.
Career advice
“Hey, young me!
You’ll spend some time idealizing your long-term goals, which can be a good exercise. You think about your ideal job, employer, lifestyle, family, and many other things. But the truth is, you’re rarely satisfied with any of these things, and you shouldn’t wait for a perfect state.
Live your life.
The most interesting thing is to describe the really small decisions that you face whether you want to or not. Your goal should be to make better decisions that will have the greatest impact on your life, not to choose something idealistic.
In addition, understanding self-doubt as much as possible can only help you become humble. Don’t take yourself too seriously. More practice, because what have you done to this older me? Also, don’t overuse the word ‘Also.'”
8. Lis Hubert
Lis has worked with companies large and small to create technology products like ESPNW.com and NBA.com. These products all change people’s lives in some meaningful way. She is also an advisory board member of Future Insights.
Design inspiration
My biggest design inspiration recently comes from the design of public Spaces in big cities, such as New York, where I live.
Not only do I notice that large Spaces like Central Park are well designed, but I also find that small public Spaces are equally convenient. At the same time, I was fascinated by watching the people in the park, and the playgrounds and fields in the park. The reason I use such ecosystems as inspiration is that to successfully design these Spaces, designers must consider the experience of such a large and diverse group of people enjoying them. If not properly designed, it is likely to become overcrowded.
That, to me, is the goal when building a user experience. To think about how they make these public Spaces satisfying to users, owners and designers.
Career advice
Rookies, just calm down.
What often happens in our field is that we know the importance of what we do, and we want other people to know and understand the importance of it. So a lot of times we struggle to get our message across.
It’s certainly exhausting and frustrating. I realized that trying so hard to indoctrinate people in other fields was not the main thing to do. I also found that it didn’t matter much whether the business team, the technical team, or anyone else really understood the deepest meaning of what I was doing.
The only thing that matters is that you are passionate about what you can control, do your part (and more if necessary) to bring that passion to life, and you really enjoy the process.
9. Matt Hamm
Twitter. Matt is co-founder of Supereight Studio in the UK. He has been designing websites since 1998. You can find his work here, or what he said on Twitter.
Design inspiration
Dropbox is still leading the way in UX, and the experience is seamless.
A good UX design should be invisible. I was impressed by how perfect Dropbox was. Designers pay attention to details and have unique ideas, rather than copying established design patterns by instinct.
Career advice
Document everything!
Having a thorough reference document for an organized UX design will greatly help you understand problems and find solutions. Be sure to record actual experiences as well, as these can be used as references as well.
10. * * * *Pavel Macek
Pavel is now a product designer at Slack. Pavel says he “really cares about his users,” and it shows in his work: he designs products that many people enjoy. You can follow him here.
Design inspiration
For me, a great example of UX design is Technics Turntable SL-1200, which has been sold for 35 years without major changes. Yet it remains the most popular turntable among DJS, producers and musicians.
This is a great example of practical design and the importance of combining innovative design with precise execution. I think people often forget that functionality is part of a UX designer’s job, but that’s what ultimately determines the success of a product.
Career advice
Don’t get lost in all the design methodologies and design patterns. It’s important to learn about design frameworks and maintain a rigorous design process, but the beginning is always simple: Who am I designing for? What does he need to achieve? How can I help him achieve that?
Then it’s just repetition and learning what works and what doesn’t.
11 * *. * *Robert Fabricant
Robert is an expert in innovative design for health care and society. It is currently leading the Masiluleke project. This is an innovative project to use mobile technology to fight HIV/AIDS in South Africa. He previously worked at Frog Design, an internationally renowned design agency. He also teaches classes, gives lectures and writes articles.
Design inspiration
I’m always inspired by the amazing, multifaceted user experience of the New York City subway system.
I’ve been riding the subway for at least 45 years. You can never say exactly what an experience is worth unless you’ve lived it for a long time.
So much of the user experience we celebrate is fleeting: apps that may not be on our phones for months. But the subway has always been here, and any improvements have been slow, requiring labor and steel. Such a design is slow and difficult work.
However, change is permanent. As a Resident of New York, there are few systems you need to know more about than the subway. But where does the experience start and end? The experience is not limited to subway stations, subways and ticket gates.
In recent years, the subway system has become a test bed. Experiment with both proven and tentative ideas. A few large touch-screen information displays have recently been trialled on the union Square platform. It was fascinating to watch people interact with it for the first time, and to connect so many people in this huge city (yes, that’s where I’m from) through this one experiment.
As UX designers, we should be thinking and experimenting on a large scale. What could be better than a city? Where can data and mobility be better aligned? And where we can continue to explore and enjoy the gap between our own experiments and those around us.
Career advice
I love talking to other designers about the first time you put your design in front of someone and watching him explore, experience and (hopefully) enjoy it.
In that moment, even before the person is really attracted to the design, you always see something that you didn’t notice before. As the old saying goes, “scales are falling out of your eyes.” You suddenly discover so much beyond your understanding, planning and intuition.
Those moments are precious, and they are the same for all designers, no matter how accomplished.
The design itself seems less precious, so try to create those moments in your project. You don’t need permission for this.
In my 13 years at Frog, I’ve had the privilege of experiencing that situation over and over again on many different teams.
The quality of a design is always, and can only be measured by the feedback that a design generates, by how it engages, supports, and pleases users.
Behavior is our medium, remember!