Are you the person you are now, or have you always been this way? 11 years of traveling, discovering, and strengthening a discipline.

This is a response to a very special request from a group of people I deeply respect and have had the privilege of sharing with for over a decade. They have recognized me on many occasions for various reasons, including my recent activity in courses on their platform, where I find myself among the top 10% of outstanding courses at the Interaction Design Foundation. This is why I want to start this personal reflection article with a question that comes back to my mind from time to time, thanks to Marshall McLuhan and his old book 'The Medium is the Massage.'

Let me start with a memory

I always tell a story that sounds like an 'existential crisis,' but, in reality, it was a constant question I had even before entering the field of design. You see, I wanted to be a psychologist, but a professional told me, 'Do you think it's good for a psychologist to empathize too much with every client? You'd end up dead in a month with so much drama. You should empathize and gain perspective but not get too attached. You're supposed to be a support, not a burden.' After thinking about that, I decided that Design was the right career for me since I came from the world of Graphic Arts.

I studied Graphic Design in high school and fell in love with ink from a young age. As I progressed in university, I put in a lot of effort to create good deliverables, and I mastered Swiss Modular Design, where mathematical formulas and theories of color balance, psychology, semiotics, and gestalt played a significant role. But, no matter how well I mastered them, design met those standards but failed to establish an 'emotional connection with people.' You can tell when someone is genuinely fascinated by your work versus someone who barely acknowledges its existence.

In university, some professors told me, 'No one will pay you to talk to your psychologist, journalist, or specialist friends', as I often tested my designs with different profiles without knowing that it would have value in my future. I did it because I valued their perspectives different from mine. After my thesis, fully immersed in the world of publishing (I worked for a newspaper and freelanced while studying to pay for university) and with some initial flirtations with agencies, I realized that the concern about 'subjective value' was still there.

• What makes an exquisitely printed book, with special inks, die-cuts, laminations, bindings, a mix of materials, high-quality papers, etc., have less value than a youth magazine?
• Is it the same for a mass-printed magazine that costs $200 and sells for $750 on newsstands to end up on a teenager's wall idolizing a 4/4 print as it is for an art lover to buy a Bosch book in the museum?
• What gives an object value?

The answer remains the same: the subjectivity of each person who assigns that value.

Since my passion was still in psychology and philosophy, which I cultivated despite my undergraduate studies, I delved into a subtopic of my thesis. This led me to a fascinating concept from semiotics: Emotional Design (IxDF have a good article for it). This, in turn, brought me to the Emotion-Driven Design of the Delft School. So, I set out to delve into this concept and connected with incredible people who helped me explore other concepts like Neuro-Linguistic Programming and User-Centered Design. After studying with Human Factors International, I ventured into HCI (Here another great article) and, consequently, ACII.

The Value of Interaction Design Foundation (IxDF) in the Region

When I joined IxDF, I did so with curiosity, enthusiasm, and nervousness, driven by the uncertainty that 'the new' always brings. Back in 2012, the Foundation was just structuring its Global Design Ambassadors model and recruiting profiles to represent them worldwide. Out of more than 500 professionals who applied, I was the first to be selected and honored. Not only was I the first to join the institution from Chile, but I was also the first from the Spanish-speaking world and the region.

Few pieces of news have surprised and delighted me as much in my life. At the time, I was just an Interaction Design (another amazing lecture) enthusiast with a few books in my head, a UCA certification in HFI, and was looking to earn a diploma in the field to legitimize my knowledge in the country. It was a different Chile, a different UX industry, and a different professional context, one that was evolving. Looking back, I feel like I played a small part in helping things improve for everyone in the country and the region, all thanks to the opportunity that IxDF gave me by selecting me.

Those early meetings with the Global Design Ambassadors were intense.

I remember speaking with Mads and Rikke in Denmark, with professionals remotely connected via Skype from Sweden, Japan, South Africa, Italy, and Australia. The only thing we had in common was our passion for promoting the discipline in our regions, connecting with people open to our intentions, and fostering the industry. It was intense years. In 2014, after many activities in the region, the Foundation congratulated us on our achievements and recognized us with a new phase. We transitioned to Continent Managers, Country Managers, and Local Leaders, opening up space for a thriving community that challenged us all and led us to connect with people even more passionate than ourselves.

The meaning of IxDF

So, just as it is today, IxDF meant more than just a study platform because its approach was different. They weren't (and still aren't) an organization focused solely on selling courses, nor did they follow the pattern of knowledge reserved exclusively for their members. Before joining, I belonged to other entities, paying an annual membership that barely gave me access to a couple of papers and the occasional discount for the organization's events. They followed the structure of professional organizations, guilds, or groups that established themselves as alliances or associations, often taking a very closed view of dissemination.

IxDF offered something different, something we all Continent and Country Managers, as well as Local Leaders, could agree on: to bring HCI education to as many people worldwide as possible, always voluntarily and for free, both for members and non-members. They didn't ask us to push membership sales because their vision is centered on spreading knowledge freely. It's no surprise that paying members have access to the vast library that the Foundation maintains, which has become a kind of bible in my HCI classes. But they also have access to all their events, organization, and a great UX Design Community. IxDF has more to offer, a high-value list of top-notch courses co-created by experts and industry leaders.

One of the biggest advantages of being an IxDF member is the networking opportunities with your local community

Here, you can find beautiful and valuable courses for the discipline, such as 'User-Centered Design,' or unique ones like 'Emotional Design,' 'Accessibility,' or 'Human-Computer Interaction.' Courses that few institutions can boast of having. Add to this the wonderful free and open books, such as the 'Encyclopedia of Interaction Design,' 'Gamification,' or 'Bringing Numbers to Life,' all written in technical English, comprehensible for any level of language proficiency, with practical examples on their own learning platform.

UX is a thing that never is, but should be

I have always admired the work of Huidobro, his readings, and advances. I dare to rephrase him because I see in his story that of many professionals who immerse themselves in something different, live it intensely, integrate it into their lives, and when they realize it, Chile doesn't want them, and they find themselves in other nations, giving their best, following their intuitions, achieving dreams and hopes. This is when the courses of the Interaction Design Foundation, as well as their books, encyclopedia, and articles, carry great weight for those who want to professionalize their passion, acquire discipline, and develop the career they desire, live, and fall in love with.

If you aspire to become a self-taught UX designer with the support of the Interaction Design Foundation (IxDF), it's essential to understand that there are no shortcuts on this path. Learning in this field is continuous, and the key is to combine technical training with practical experience. If you don't yet have a job as a UX designer while studying at IxDF, you can offer your skills for free to local companies to build a portfolio and gain experience. Even if you don't find immediate opportunities, redesigning elements in your environment will help you gain confidence and understand how design works in the real world. Being a UX designer involves not only being an interface creator but also a mediator between different stakeholders, such as investors, engineers, and users, which will require negotiation and communication skills.

Self-learning is natural. We are always applying it in our daily lives to things that pique our interest, like learning a new video game, a language, mastering a technique, or building a relationship with something/someone. It is heavily fueled by the reward system, constantly reacting to stimuli that give us pleasure. Nowadays, the desirable skill is the ability to learn something you don't like, that annoys you, or challenges you to abandon old constructs. This requires discipline, and that makes it a must-have; a condition you must have, even at a basic level. You need that push from your self-determination to work on what surrounds the human experience to adapt and respond 'under certain conditions' to its needs. If you don't have it, life tends to lead you to develop it out of survival, but it's not the same as developing it by choice as opposed to it being the result of a chance situation. Working in this discipline without discipline is like trying to solve problems with a single tool. You get results, but not optimal ones for a particular situation.

IxDF offers a wide range of courses that cover everything from the basics to design team management. Plus, you'll have access to learning materials to keep your knowledge up-to-date. Being a UX designer requires a special mindset, as this field is an infinite game with ever-new horizons and innovation challenges to explore.

The South American Industry

The region is constantly developing, with each country adopting best practices in different industries for the same purpose: to focus on the customer. Some teams do this from a 'mobile-first' perspective, while others focus on task completion (goal conversion), and a few emphasize information delivery. This is evident in financial inclusion, insurtech, fintech, e-health, digital government, e-learning, travel, e-commerce, etc., impacting immersive customer travel experiences and corporate culture. The region has a duality, where innovation is constantly sought, but there is also a tendency to replicate 'what works.' This can be confusing to many, but gradually, it is changing the culture of each country, strengthening them while expanding their horizons.

For IxDF, the region represents a constant opportunity for change, one that does things at its own pace and with its own identity. That's fascinating in perspective but also a bit anxiety-inducing because we have great professionals who, when they try their luck in North America, Europe, or Asia, excel. That's very valuable, and every industry should focus on retaining them or rekindling their love for their ecosystems.

Personally, I believe the region has enormous adaptability, thanks to political contexts and social phenomena, but it's also a cultural heritage of integration where progress is made in affinity groups sharing local interaction rituals. Different industries innovate at their own pace for seasons. In recent years, the feeling of 'connection with other humans' has been refined to embrace different currents, such as Design Thinking, then User Experience, Service Design, and Customer Experience, achieving a blend of processes with enormous potential.

Being an IxDF member is not just 'paying for courses,' nor is it about 'collecting titles.' It means immersing yourself in a community that lives to 'share experiences.' We have many local communities in the region, we speak Spanish, and if you travel to Europe, Asia, Africa, or North America, there will always be someone willing to share a coffee plus their design experiences.

Every time I travel, I coordinate a local meeting in the city I'm visiting to meet more people and strengthen my networks. It's free, and you'll definitely take good stories home.

The Future of Human-Technology Interaction Depends on More UX Professionals

I'm not sure if you play Magic, but I think 'All will be one' is one of those visions that tend to bias people toward technology but also reflects how inevitable it is to merge with it. It's an ongoing audit term that comes and goes like waves in art and philosophy.

At some point, we came to believe that technology is a computer, an iPhone for sending WhatsApp messages, or a trendy programming language that fuels artificial intelligence. But the reality is that those are just one aspect of technology. Language is technology, and we integrate it into our concept of self and societies to the point where we must learn other variations to communicate with other people.

Today, we must also learn them to make ourselves understood by machines and make them do what we need. For McLuhan, technology was an extension of our senses, and as a proponent of self-determination, increasing my abilities with technology is as old as that ancient primate who used a stick and a stone as tools for defense and hunting. We've integrated technology ever since we could transmit ideas and knowledge.

In the future, we'll have many more opportunities to interact with others with less resistance. In this regard, service design and user experience share a destiny because both will focus on making a living being (or not) perform a task effectively with little or no friction. UX will focus more on the 'What and How,' while SD will focus on the 'When and Where.' If I go further, CX will focus on the 'Why and for what'; all aiming to facilitate interaction, whether with a human, an animal, or an AI.

Today, a programming enthusiast can enter the maker world and create their own extensions of senses because they have self-determination, freedom of choice, and action. These people make the 'future' happen today while refining it so that everyone can enjoy it tomorrow with fewer hardships than today. Ten years ago, I programmed my Arduino to create my own EEG, and then companies improved the technology and made it much more affordable with higher accuracy. Today, we have experimental AI’s in papers that can read a rat's neural noise and decode it to recreate what the animal sees. Imagine what Neuralink will be able to do in the future. It's simply fascinating, and it's our duty as professionals linked to the human experience to give it everyday use, making life easier and more enjoyable for everyone.

Thank you for share this minutes with me :)