Beyond the px —IBM’s Mina Bach on self care, podcasts, and community
Happy July everyone! This month’s Beyond the PX article is with IBM’s Mina Bach, who found her feet as a designer having worked previously in the comic book and graphic novel industry.
She’s got some brilliant insights into her work life and also the importance of looking after yourself.
Enjoy.
Which team at IBM are you working on?
I’m currently working at IBM’s CIO studio in London.
We are designers, researchers, behavioural scientists, developers, business and data analysts that operate more like a start-up hub over cross-functional squads on products such as a search engine, data insights tools and onboarding experiences.
What has been your design journey up until now?
I come from a fairly traditional design background which is actually not very common with designers at all!
My uncommon story is that I studied a BA in Book Design where I learned all about typographic detail, composition and even how to bind books. Book binding taught me a lot about interaction design and how every aspect of every design decision affects the overall experience for a user.
I then went on to work designing comic books and graphic novels at a small independent publishing house in East London. At that point I started getting more and more interested about users, the readers of those comics. Who they were, when, where and how they interacted with the books. Would they prefer uncoated or coated paper, how would they feel holding the book in their hands? With all these questions in mind I started a Masters where I was lucky enough to get involved in UX projects for the first time learning from great practicioners in the field.
I started working in tech pretty much straightaway and I have never stopped asking questions about users since!
Where are you based?
I live in North London surrounded by books and plants. Like a lot of people in recent times, I’ve been working remotely and it has made me realise the effect your surroundings can have in your mood and ultimately your work.
Creating a space where you can work, live and have time for self-care and switching off is not easy especially when you live in a tiny flat!
I try to keep my small space as bright, tidy and positive as possible which gives me the mental space to feel more creative and ready for the day.
What does your typical morning look like?
My routine has changed a lot since I started working from home.
Instead of commuting to our studio in Waterloo every morning while listening to a podcast (I recommend Hidden Brain, the Unusable podcast and Everything is Alive) I have taken back that time and now use it to make proper coffee in the kitchen which is one of my favourite parts of the day, there is something so soothing about dedicating your attention and care to making the perfect cup.
I also have time to check emails and play some music before I open Slack and my work day can truly begin.
What does your design tool stack look like?
I tend to use Sketch, Figma, Invision, Marvel, Adobe CC and Zeplin.
I also find I spend a big portion of my day on Slack or creating Mural boards for workshops with stakeholders which has now partially replaced a stack of sticky notes and dozens of sharpies, the original design tool stack!
Do you have any smart design processes?
I really enjoy creating flows and seeing other designers’ approach to flows has become a bit of an obsession. GOV.UK has recently made their Design System Flow Diagrams openly available and they are an absolute joy to use!
I would always create flows for complex tasks but only to inform the next step and would rarely ever share them. They have now become an indispensable part of my process and I share with my design team, developers and stakeholders as a way to have rich conversations around processes.
Do you find it hard to define what you do to your friends?
If you were to ask any of my non-designer friends they would probably tell you I’m a web designer or I work in tech making apps. And that is totally fine with me. I think as a profession we spend too much time arguing over job titles or obsessing over what skills we should learn so it’s refreshing to be around people who don’t really care if I can code or not.
I absolutely love being part of the design community but we need to get better at calling out gatekeeping and toxic behaviour that can be damaging to less experienced designers or those looking to enter the field.
Everyone is welcome and there is not one way of being a good designer.
Do your career aspirations encroach your life?
This is such a great question! I think being a designer can help you have an appreciation for the craftmanship in furniture, fashion or objects and to appreciate when a service runs well and is truly human centric.
It’s what Ben Terrett used to call ‘the Design Disease’, you look at everything through your designer eyes and for every time you pick up a kerning catastrophe there are ten other things to celebrate.
Good design is everywhere!
How do you design ‘for the future’?
As much as I like the romantic ideal of designing something that will last generations, I believe the reality is that users’ needs, behaviours and attitudes evolve and designs should evolve and change with them.
I’m not advocating for trends — which have a space and are valid — but rather to have a deep understanding of what your users need and solve for that when and where they neeed it.
Keep iterating as those needs change and make users part of your process so you never lose touch.
What was it that attracted you to working within this space?
The one thing I love most about my job is having constant contact with users. I always try to make time to join as many user sessions with the research team as possible.
Having conversations about where the product fits in their daily lives or hearing what works and doesn’t work during usability testing is so rewarding. The first time you hear a user completely destroy your design is tough, not going to lie, but you learn that it’s never personal and all the feedback you get is an opportunity to improve.
What’s your team dynamic?
Our teams are cross-functional which means I get to work with people who are not designers all day, every day. I spend a lot of time working with stakeholders aligning on vision and roadmaps and with developers on the implementation.
I don’t believe in the concept of design “hand-off” where a designer packages their designs and send them off to the development team to implement. I think designers and developers should collaborate at all stages of the process, my developers love getting involved in ideation workshops and leading guerrilla user testing in the kitchen area.
All my designs are improved by working with all these people who are not designers and our users hugely benefit from this way of working too.
What advice would you give for those interested in kick starting a design career?
Go for it! I always tell people who reach out with that question and are worried they might not have relevant education or lack experience to find a problem they have observed and believe they can help with.
Start by talking to other people who have experienced the same problem and really understand it deeply before you try to come up with a solution. Spend as much time as you need as once ready, that can become your first portfolio piece to apply to your first role. For a junior role, a hiring manager will want to see your potential and passion for the field, not your years of experience.
It is a shame that some agencies have a “senior only” policy, they are missing out on a lot of talent and new perspectives. I think it’s on us to make sure juniors are given an opportunity. If you have the capacity to mentor a junior designer, speak to your leadership team and let them know you do. Juniors can be a huge asset to your team.
Do you have any side projects?
I love going to hackathons and having a million and one side project going on at the same time.
Most of my time outside of work is taken up by volunteering at Design Club, a non profit teaching children aged 6 to 17 design thinking as a life skill. We have been running workshops with children for a couple of years at places like the Tate Modern, the Science Museum or Kingston University.
During the sessions we take children through every stage of a design thinking process including exercises like empathy mapping, building personas, prototyping and even coding their own apps.
They say you only understand something when you can explain it to a 6 year old and I can tell you these kids have taught me more about design than all my years at academia!
Thank you for reading, I really enjoyed Mina’s honest and direct thoughts on trying to encourage an industry that caters for junior designers.
See you next time.
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