5 Ways My Liberal Arts Degree Makes Me a Better UX Designer
I am currently a graduate student at University of Washington’s Master of Human-Computer Interaction + Design program. When I tell people my background, they’re usually a bit confused as my undergrad degree is in Political Science (with a healthy sprinkling of sociology, history, and economics courses). For a time, I was embarrassed to come from the non-STEM world, but the further into the world of HCI I’ve gotten the more I’m convinced that the Social Sciences and Humanities have a lot to offer HCI & UX. The following are a few of those reasons.
1. Understanding the H in HCI
The technology part is usually not the issue we face as designers. It’s humans. Humans can be complicated, irrational, and frustrating. They say one thing and do the other. They are uncooperative. They lie.
As designers, we need to understand our user’s motivations and needs, but knowing those things requires an ability to think beyond surface-level analysis.
The humanities and social sciences are all about developing critical analysis skills and learning that the things we think we know — some of our most deeply held beliefs and assumptions — are often not what they appear to be. The ability to work with people across disciplines, something deeply practiced at a liberal arts school where you are encouraged to take classes across disciplines, is also an acutely needed skill in UX and HCI.
2. “I know that I know nothing.”
In the design world you’ll find things like The “5 Why’s” technique. We know that going into a scenario without a design solution already drawn up in your mind can be important. Just take in the world around you without assuming cause and effect. Check your assumptions at the door.
One of the earliest examples of someone personifying this goes back (many, many) years and is taught in any intro level political philosophy course, Socrates’ statement of, “I know that I know nothing.”
The Socratic method — meant to draw out ideas and underlying presuppositions — would feel at home in many design research method, especially during the synthesis phase. In philosophy class, the deeper you dug into a concept, the more you realize you have it wrong. The same should happen in design. It is, of course, uncomfortable to confront the limits of your knowledge, but if you don’t, you’ll never adequately design for any user other than yourself.
3. Context is everything
You’re not designing in a vacuum. Everything you design will be used in a context, oftentimes outside a context you’re familiar with. I think the biggest thing studying political science gave me, was the appreciation that complex problems do not have simple answers.
Take the healthcare space. You can’t just design an app that “fixes healthcare” by making finding a doctor easier. Understanding issues like American’s long history of tying healthcare to one’s ability to work, pharmaceutical and hospital lobbying efforts, or African American’s traditionally (and very valid) high level of distrust in the American health care system will seep into how that app is used. I’m not saying each designer needs to become an expert in every sector their design touches, but having a healthy skepticism that technology can fix everything is important. You can’t ignore the policy experts or public health experts. We’ll all have to work together on complex problems that will, by necessity, be tackled from various angles. Knowing your design must fit into an existing system and the real world, with all its history and messiness, will go a long way to ensure its success.
4. Communication is key
Written communication
Writing matters — The ability to write concisely and cleanly is still needed, even in the design or tech field. A huge (though largely underplayed) benefit of the liberal arts is you spend a lot of time reading and editing papers. It’s hard to leave undergrad as a humanities or social science major without competence in writing.
Which is great because you can’t hide from writing! While we would all hope that our “design speaks for itself” that is never true. There are UI Specs, research briefs, and presentations to write.
Verbal communication
In the same vein as written communication, good verbal communication is essential to design. Whether it’s a formal presentation at a conference, an informal presentation at work, or participating at a critique, the ability to articulate your ideas is essential.
A good presentation employs many of the same devices in a debate you may participate in in a political science course: a strong story, acknowledge potential negatives and address them, don’t be wishy-washy, point to the evidence.
After four years of in-class debates, discussion-based classes, and oral final exams, I came out the other side an active listener who was quick on my feet. I learned to formulate a coherent thought and read the room as I shared it to pivot if needed, not to mention baseline comfort level public speaking and sharing my ideas.
5. Ethics
The ethics surrounding technology is not an issue that’s magically going to go away. The tech/design field is going to keep coming up against this problem.
It feels like there are lots of handwaving around this at the moment in the field, but it is likely going to take dedicated people well versed in ethics (and related disciplines) AND technology to solve these issues. It’s not enough to understand one.
While reading Aristotle’s works on ethical or moral virtue will not make you an ethical person…being able to think through normative ethic frameworks in the context of a particular piece of technology should not be an optional practice. The liberal arts teaches not just materials, but a new way of seeing the world, one that seeks to understand life’s big questions. With technology permeating every aspect of our life, it deserves the same level of scrutiny.
Conclusion
I would encourage anybody with a background in the liberal arts whose interested in solving the same issues we learn about in those fields through a new lens to consider HCI — your background is important to this field!
