What I have learned from working my first 6 months as a product designer fresh out of University [Part 2]

As promised: the second part of my article regarding what I have learned as a product designer at Barbican. Read the first part of the article here: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/what-i-have-learned-from-working-my-first-6-months-out-de-hulsters/

• In the previous article, I talked about asking questions twice to get a better grasp of what other departments are doing and prevent mistakes. This ties right into a huge change from working on projects in university with people who were all following the same course to working with people from very different backgrounds. These backgrounds are different on a personal level such as different ways of reacting, responding to changes and what makes people motivated but more importantly in the knowledge base they have. Working with IT’ers, working with sales agents, working with machine operators is very different compared to working with other designers. Some things need to be clarified more in order for your colleague to understand. So be patient and always try to gauge your colleague on how they have received the message and if they look comfortable in proceeding with what you just talked about. The funny thing is that they are probably doing the same thing to you: IT’ers are not going to teach you how to write code, sales is not going to let you sell products to customers (or they might, depending on the company of course) and machine operators are not going to make you learn how to fabricate parts in detail. The main message here is to convey your message so the other party understands what implications this will have on their routine and that they can give critique and feedback on your decisions.
• In line with working with colleagues from different departments, the same thing is true (to a lesser extent) between designers. Although your team can all be designers, a mechanical designer, a product designer or a process designer is very different. To key here is to use the skills of a very designer in a way that you are not just dividing work between your team but that you are actively using your team to do more work by using the right skills in the right place at the right time.
• The trickiest group of people to work with will usually be managers, supervisors or even the CEO. The reason of course is the fact that they make decisions that can influence your routine but do not necessarily need your permission to do it. So you might think, these decisions are completely out of my hands, well, it turns out they’re not. It might seem daunting to talk to a manager or even the boss-man/woman, but voicing your constructive (keyword!) criticism can most of the time actually be a very good thing. It shows that you think about what is being done and implemented, it shows you can think critically about something and it mostly shows that you care enough to speak up about it if you think a decision was a mistake. A good manager, supervisor, CEO does not shy away from this criticism as long as it is constructive and it has some thought behind it. It might reveal an angle which they forgot to think about. If this reveals a problem, your criticism was helpful and you prevented an issue further down the line. If not, a good manager, supervisor or CEO will tell you why your argument is invalid, which means you get a lesson out of it. So it is either the prevention of an issue or a lesson, which means: you cannot lose!
• Lastly I want to talk about frustrations at work and dealing with them. You’re a designer; you are going to deal with issues, sometimes a lot of them all at the same time. Don’t be afraid to take a step back from problems and focusing on something else entirely (given that the issue is not super urgent). Very often you will stare at something for way too long and you think there isn’t a way to solve it. There is, but you just cannot see it yet. So take a step back, keep it in the back of your mind and bring it up later again, maybe with another designer, the solution might come very quickly. This way you will not have struggled so much, you will have spent your time productively and you won’t go home feeling like you didn’t accomplish anything that day.
• The last bonus tip I can give to anybody starting in the design/engineering field: take your breaks, preferably going for a walk. It is very tempting to work on something straight through all your breaks but it is hard to keep up and might make your job less enjoyable. Going for walks, I found, not only clears your head but it also gives your legs some action. Turns out that designing/engineering involves sitting on your butt a lot and getting some blood back in those legs prevents a whole plethora of illnesses (don’t quote me on that, it is my common sense talking).

In general my experience is a good one and I genuinely enjoy working in my field. I hope my experience portrays a good overview of what it is like to work as a (product)-designer and that my tips are somewhat helpful. Not all your days are going to be uber-exciting but your job is as interesting as you want to make it, so make it something special. Now get out there and get designing! Good luck!