becoming a ux specialist, generalist, or both - david thomas, 2016
Post on 07-Apr-2017
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Becoming a UX Specialist, Generalist,
or Bothby David Thomas
Creative Director, Mad*Pow
1. A little about me2. A little about Mad*Pow3. A lot about UX4. A lot of discussion
David Thomas
Creative Director@MadPow
@cultivasion
/in/cultivasion
Been getting paid to design for 15 years
I’ve worked for small agencies, large corporations, some freelance, some charity
Consumer goods, start-ups, travel, real estate development, publications, finance, and a lotof healthcare
Born ’n bred in Louisville
This is Lauren
This is Finn
Lauren + Finn
Me + Lauren + Finn
I’m in a band #LeavingLondon
The Karate Kid is the best movie ofall time
Daniel and Mr. Miyagi
Marty and Doc
Luke and Obi Wan
The Wonder Years is best TV show ever
Obama you’re fired.
Mad*Pow is a design agency that improves the experiences people have with technology, organizations and each other.
Research & ValidationExperience Strategy & Service DesignContent Strategy & CreationMotivational DesignInteraction Design & Visual DesignUsability Testing & AccessibilityBrand Development & GuidelinesDigital MarketingFront-End DevelopmentApplication DevelopmentProject ManagementDesign Training
Design for People
Health InsurancePatient CareFinancial ServicesEducationSports & EntertainmentTechnology
Boston, MA *Portsmouth, NH
Louisville, KY Oakland, CA
I get to work with 65 +/- awesome people every day.
Flexible vacation policy
35 hour work weeks
Summer Friday’s
Coffee @P&TY
It’s about human capital and culture
Ok, so back to talking UX.
UX is difficult to describe.
It’s ambiguous. intangible. holistic.
If someone was to ask you, “What do you do?”
How do you respond?
Do you tell them your job title at your company?
Or, maybe you get brave and try to explain what you UX is…good luck!
Who here is a UX Designer?
Sorry to be the first to let you in on this little secret, but a UX Designer is not a real thing.
“As designers, we can’t design ‘an experience.’ It is an emotional, interior state of being. The best we can do is design for an experience.”
– Andy Fitzgerald, Senior UX Architect at Deloitte Digital
UX Unicorns and Other Fanciful Creatures (2012) – http://bit.ly/1oJqvsk
So if I’m not a UX Designer then what am I?
They want us to be unicorns!
So, a job title is one thing, but really what type of worker am I?
1. CompartmentalistA compartmentalist is a person well versed in their specialty, but doesn’t know anything beyond that. Compartmentalist's throw their hands up when the work goes beyond their area of expertise or produce poor results.
“A compartmentalist isolates themselves from other disciplines around them, not really learning what they do or how they do it.”
– Jared Spool, CEO UIE
TIIHard Skill #1Weak
Soft Skills
Har
d Sk
ill #2
Har
d Sk
ill #3
Rest of Your Team
If this sounds like you, you’re not alone, but it’s time to
embrace change.
2. T-Shape/SpecialistA specialist brings a lot of skills and experience in one or more specialties. Maybe they’ve done a bundle of big and small information architectures projects. They’ve made a point of keeping up on the latest thinking and have perfected many new techniques.
“T-shaped people have two characteristics. The vertical stroke of the “T” is a depth of skill. The horizontal stroke is the disposition for collaboration across disciplines.”
– Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO
TSoft Skills
Har
d Sk
ills
TTTAdva
nced
Har
d Sk
ill #1
Strong Soft Skills
Adva
nced
Har
d Sk
ill #2
Adva
nced
Har
d Sk
ill #3
If you think this is you, come talk to me, I wanna hire you!
3. GeneralistA Generalist is someone with broad skills—someone who can switch between skill sets, as the projects demand. This person offers value regardless of the nature of the project, giving flexibility to the types of assignments the team could tackle.
“Generalists pay off in fast moving organizations with a high-pressure fire hose exuding out small, targeted projects. The fast pace and variety of the work will energize a talented generalist, who brings value by connecting the disparate projects together to create common threads and elements.”
– Jared Spool, CEO UIE
TTTTTTReally Strong Soft Skills
Lim
ited
Skill
#2
Lim
ited
Skill
#3
Lim
ited
Skill
#4
Lim
ited
Skill
#5
Lim
ited
Skill
#6
Lim
ited
Skill
#1
Sound a lot like you?You’d be a great UX Consultant!
Ok, what else?
Skills
• User Research • Analytics • Information Architecture • Content Strategy • Interaction Design • Visual Design • Font-End Development
Hard Skills
– Patrick Neeman, UsabilityCounts
• Empathy • Curiosity • Systematic • Pragmatic • Fearless • Self-Aware • Articulate • Passionate
Soft Skills
– Patrick Neeman, UsabilityCounts
“I would rather have a OK designer who works well with others and can sell his work, than a GREAT designer who is challenging to work with and can’t sell his design.”
– Mike Monteiro
Capability vs. Chemistry
Capability is what you’ve done: Your portfolio, your resume…your work.
Chemistry is how you’ve done it: Your process, solving problems, what you learned.
Your employer cares more about soft skills
Your employer cares more about soft skills…So do your clients
So what does UX actually mean?
UX is a neologism.
“Well, it's nothing very special. Try to be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”
– Monty Python’s Meaning of Life
https://youtu.be/qBArMmngVH4
“UX deals with people, with real human beings ,and we’re a messy, contrary, often bloody-minded and obstinate species and any process that caters for that is also going to be just as messy and ill-defined.”
– Robert Powell, UX Consultant
user research
strategy & mapping
information architecture
content strategy
interaction design
visual design
creative technology UX
“UI stands on the top of a huge UX mountain. The better the UI works, the bigger the UX beneath.”
– Erik Flowers, Principal Service Designer at Intuit
UX = BrandUI = Logo
Let’s Recap
1. No such thing as a UX Designer
2. UX is about designing for an experience
3. Job titles are less important than roles
4. Soft skills close more deals than hard skills.
5. UX is not UI
6. The Karate Kid is the best movie ever
Thanks!
• Mike Monteiro – http://bit.ly/1A2as9N • Tim Brown – http://bit.ly/1S9Zms7 • Robert Powell – http://linkd.in/1dNp3Ru • Patrick Neeman – www.usabilitycounts.com • Jared Spool –http://bit.ly/1NUlyVT
Check these out:
David ThomasCreative Director, M*Pdthomas@madpow.com@cultivasion/in/cultivasion
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