5 Insights in 5 Months

It’s been 5 months now since I left the world of Life Sciences to become a Futurehead on the UX team. I’ve been welcomed by a lovely community, and wanted to share 5 learnings over this time;

• Job titles mean very little – the difference between Information Architect, UX designer and Interaction Designer mean very little on paper; the same can be said for senior and lead; what really matters is getting in a room with someone and learning what particular elements really make them tick. Rapid Prototyper? Workshop Wizard? 
• The UX event scene is crazy – it’s a tight knit community here in London and there’s an event nearly every week, and I’m continuing to enjoy attending UXPA and IXDA and hope to see some of you guys there soon. 
• The effect of good UX really determines how well you like using something, for example (This might be a divisive opinion but I’m sure plenty of you will back me here -) Netflix’s UX is way better than Prime Video. It’s got good content but really isn’t as enjoyable.. I’m always cheap and want to find the free stuff only without having my desperation monetised.
• UX needs a voice at board level. We rarely see this. A compromise may be a UX savvy Chief Product Officer, who advocates user centricity. UX reporting to tech or marketing? No thanks.
• Solving complex information architecture is becoming a lost art. Some problems can resemble Russel Crowe’s shed out of A Beautiful Mind. In a world where product design titles are the new trend, are designers well equipped for problems this gnarly?
• Bonus Round: UXers want to do UX, not UI.. (Mostly)

Agree? Disagree? Drop me a message to share your thoughts; [email protected]