Why UX? a Designer's introspection

I recently listened to a UX Podcast where the guest questioned the reason why people transitioning into UX. Over the past year, I have undertaken a shift into the wonderful world of UX design and I decided to do some introspection to answer this question for myself.

In the beginning…

I was a curious youngling, always wondering about how things worked. When my toys reached “the end” of their lifespan, they usually ended up being taken apart and studied. Luckily, my parents encouraged this and weren’t that upset about me taking my stuff apart. This fascination grew with age. If I did not understand how something worked, I figured it out by reading about it, doing research, and asking a lot of “but why” questions. You see, this was in the days before “YouTube” was a thing. I was fortunate enough that my mother worked at the local library. Knowledge was at my fingertips and reading was always encouraged.

Enter the digital age… My dad was a TANDEM Computer Specialist and for most of his life worked for ABSA. We were surrounded by computers and technology and our interest in computers was always encouraged. I remember the days we accompanied him to work, we got to play “Dig dug” and play around Towers South. We got to experience early internet sites like Disney. I was a massive Mickey Mouse fan. The primary school that my sister and I attended was one of the first schools to receive a “Future Kids” computer lab. The labs were equipped with the latest in PC technology like Packard Bell desktop PC’s, Windows 95, Microsoft Office, color printers, and the PC even had a mouse. Yes, those were the days. We attended lessons and were taught the ins and outs of MS Office, the internet, and how this “strange” contraption worked.

Being a curious chap, I obviously took my assignments very seriously and explored the wonderful world of clipart and animation, adding music and everything else that MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint could provide at the time. Later, serving a stint in high school, I was fortunate to have a wonderful teacher for Higher Grade Computer Studies. She taught us all about computers and programming and always encouraged diversity in the way we solved a problem. She once confessed to us that she was under a lot of pressure from the Department of Education to change our syllabus to Delphi but that she believed that Turbo Pascal afforded us a better understanding of the principles of programming languages and that if we could understand Pascal, we would be able to understand and learn any programming language easily. Later, while attending University, I understood what she meant when we were learning about HTML and web page design.?

?And then?

My curiosity grew and manifested itself in strange and sometimes annoying ways. If something didn’t work, I needed to know why. When, in my opinion, something felt inefficient or odd, I would ask why. I needed to understand what the motivation was for doing something a certain way. It was difficult being a kid with so much curiosity. While I was always encouraged by my parents, not everyone took to my comments, questions, and opinions with the same eagerness to engage. Back in those days, children had to be seen and not heard after all… ?

So why Architecture?

In 1990, my parents took on the mammoth task of building an addition to our house. I remember playing in the excavated trenches of the addition, curious about what these secret passages were all about. My dad was a handy guy and seemed to have a bit of a flair for coming up with solutions to problems. Same with my grandfather and two of my uncles. In fact, I recently learned that my grandfather had aspired to become an architect but unfortunately was never able to do so. I was surrounded by construction my entire life. Building a bar from scratch in the living room, helping my dad build new burglar proofing, tiling the add-on, and doing some odd carpentry and plumbing tasks. This was how I spent many weekends. Aiding and abetting various projects around the house.

When the time came for subject selection in Standard 7 (Grade 9, for those of you who believe I am talking foreign), I was divided between a career in Information Technology and the Built environment. So, I chose technical drawing and computer studies, to cover all my bases. At the time, options to study design were rather limited and things like UX were not even on our radar yet, at least not in South Africa. But my creativity tended to manifest itself in spatial reasoning and I finally decided to study architecture. I believed this would be the answer to the many, many, many questions floating around in my brain.

So then, what went wrong?

In 2005 I started University. My first two years were incredibly turbulent. I had some personal setbacks and the coursework, and my lecturers failed to inspire me. The answers I was hoping for, illuded me. I ended up failing to advance, twice. Luckily, I was afforded a second chance by another University where I met an inspiring lecturer who re-ignited my passion and curiosity again. As my studies were winding down, I started seeking gainful employment. This was during the recovery stage of one of the worst global recessions. Although I had relevant work experience, having worked in architectural offices as an intern for several years, offers were limited. I ended up spending time as “The reception guy” at a local hair salon with some of the most interesting and amazing people. I answered phone calls, booked appointments, and really got to know the ins and outs of many of the clients and staff who were so happy to share their life stories with me. I even got to work on clients with blow waves on many a busy Saturday rush.

I finally received a job offer and started my career in Architecture in January 2011, but something wasn’t quite right. The illusion that finally, you get to apply what you have learned shattered into a million pieces. This was largely due to a lack of mentorship, but the lack of interesting projects did not help either. To make matters even worse, during my time at the company, the money dried up and so did my salary. With student debts to pay, I was forced to start my search again. I received a few offers in other related fields but I was not quite ready to give up on the whole thing. At the time, I felt that I had not experienced everything that the industry had to offer me, so I kept looking, and eventually, in 2013, I was appointed to a junior position at a company that specialized in residential architecture. For the first time, I started to understand what it was all about. I had the opportunity to meet and speak to the clients, listened to them and their needs, and tried my best to interpret those needs.

“Ah-so. The point emerges”

In 2014 I ended up going back to my first company. I was asked to deal with some of the projects I had been involved with during my first turn. At first, everything seemed good. I was busy and enjoyed the projects I was deeply involved in. I finally managed to apply some of the knowledge and experience I had gained so far. I got to work with big teams, meet new people and solve some problems. But still, something was amiss.

“Curiouser and curiouser,” said Pieter

Fast forward to 2022. You didn’t miss much… The same old, ego-driven daily design ex… Wait, what? Ego? Hah! As sure as the sun hath risen in the sky, so doth the ego of the Architect…

While picking my own brain, and trying to understand why I felt so miserable, I realized that the feeling stemmed from the fact that we were solving problems that we did not understand. The notion of “I am the professional and I have been doing this for 30 years” was prevalent in the office, and on several occasions, told to stop debating and do what I was told.

At my wit's end, I had a heart-to-heart with my sister. I have always admired her way of doing things and her judgment is beyond contestation. Eons ago, she stumbled across something called Usability. Thinking back, she did try to explain it to me once, but I may have been too up my own AAA… I digress. She sent me a few links to some courses I could audit and the rest, as they say, is history. Like Alice, I tumbled down the rabbit hole and then, questions, oh the wonderful questions. I signed up with IxDF and started devouring topic after topic.

“There is no Spoon”

I have never been able to understand why some Architectural professionals believe their designs are “The One”. The only possible option to a problem that is not fully understood. Yes, we do a lot of research to understand our design problems, and the design process is very similar to that of UX. But the Architect's Ego always got in the way.

I finally understood that it was not Architecture that excited me. It is a design that excites me. It is the process of figuring out what the TRUE cause of a problem is. It is engaging with people and learning about how they would go about their lives, and how they find solutions to the obstacles they face. It is about the need to understand, the engagement, and the feedback & iteration.

The truth was: “There is no Spoon”! ?

?The Persona.

So, to conclude my story and after a lot of soul searching and reflection, I want you to finally meet Pieter:

Pieter

Design enthusiast, traveler, and curious cat (even though he may be more of a dog person)

?Age ????????????????????????????36

Gender???????????????????????Male

Occupation?????????????????Junior UX Designer & Snr. Architectural Technologist

Marital status?????????????Married

Location?????????????????????Johannesburg, ZA

Bio

Pieter is a design enthusiast and enjoys solving problems and helping people meet their needs. Pieter, recently embarked on a journey to learn all about UX. He is excited about it, and he feels it aligns with his personal life and design philosophies.

“I enjoy observing how things work, and if they don’t work, I spend hours ideating and testing solutions in my head on how to make it better.”

Pieter’s design philosophy is to take a User-centric approach and he feels that by adopting principles of empathy with high-quality research and understanding, defining real problems, ideation, collaboration and iteration, inspirational prototyping, and finally Testing, he can create meaningful design interventions.

Motivations

• Work satisfaction
• Growth
• Family
• Learning
• Efficiency
• Process-driven

?Peculiarities & Interests

• Pieter loves movies and series and enjoys binge-watching new series. Some of the recent series Pieter enjoyed was Wednesday (Netflix), Car SOS (Disney+), and Blown Away (Netflix).
• Pieter recently took up rollerblading again and he is excited that he hasn’t fallen, yet… He used to be pretty good at it until his feet grew too big for his rollerblades. He would occasionally go ice skating but sadly not enough.
• Pieter likes gardening and is currently learning about garden design. During the lockdown, Pieter and his wife completely revamped their small garden, and they enjoy spending a day in the sun maintaining and changing it, perhaps too often.
• Pieter and his wife hope to one day travel the whole of South Africa and the world. When they visit places, they often drive around looking for the history, landmarks, and museums to learn about the people and happenings that shaped and influenced the area. They enjoy sea views and smells and hope to one day retire by the seaside. If it were up to his wife, inside a tall lighthouse on the edge of the rocks.

?Wants & needs

• Looking for an opportunity to apply his new skills and learn some more.
• Travel and see the world and meet new and interesting people and experience new cultures
• Needs to provide a stable and secure future for himself and his family
• Need for friendship and interaction with those around him
• Need to be respected and recognized in the roles he plays
• Need to hone his design skills and design with empathy and insight ?

?Frustrations

• Lack of learning & growth opportunities
• Impossible amounts of red tape and over-regulation
• Lack of freedom in design
• Lack of engagement with people and places