Switching Careers, Part 1 — From Graphic Design to UX Design
This is a multi-part series around a designers leap from being a visual designer to a product designer. Hopefully sharing this amazing journey will be helpful for those thinking of also making that change to their careers.
After making the leap from a comfortable 12-year stint in graphic design, I’m now in my 5th month as a UX designer. This is something that I had been dreaming of for a little over two years. It started at my previous company, which allowed me to work closer with their product designers on an almost weekly basis. This was partially because I was the only graphic designer in the company, and also because it helped bridge a gap between marketing and product.
If it wasn’t for that exposure and understanding what product design was from an incredibly talented team, I never would have paid it any attention and just continued up the path in my marketing & branding career. But I became obsessed with product design — the process, the tools, the thinking — everything about it was fascinating. I began to understand what UX really was, where UI played a role, and more importantly I realized the power product design has.
Don’t get me wrong, I love marketing & branding and I was becoming pretty damn good at it too. I’ll always have a special place in my heart for them, but product was where the real impact was in my eyes.
Side note: I’ll often refer to UX as “product design” and vice versa. That’s an entirely different article to write about: which is what when it comes to UX/UI, Product, Interactive, etc. In the meantime, I’m curious what your thoughts are around that debate?
I had some experience by being involved as a brand liaison for things like mobile app design, website redesigns, and thanks to the collaboration with the product team I worked with in years past — insight on the process and importance of user-centered design. However, making that leap from graphic design to product design is not easy and seriously terrifying.
Why make the change?
One word: impact. To me the most impactful thing you can do for a consumer is creating the actual thing they’re going to use every day. Yes, marketing plays a key role in driving consumer behavior, and developing a brand is a key component in keeping someone infatuated with your product — but the actual product itself is what keeps the consumer hooked. I wanted to have a bigger impact on people’s lives. I wanted to design the product they were using.
How do you prepare to make the switch?
Understand your skills: As a graphic designer I was involved in digital & print campaigns, but the digital ones were more of an “experience” design than anything. You need to think of what you can use in your current experience as a lesson in user-centered design. Spoiler alert: good visual design IS user-centered design, so you shouldn’t have a problem finding skills that cross over into UX.
Passion projects: The next thing that helped me was passion projects. If there isn’t much work you can look at with the eyes of a UX designer, then create some projects that help you grow those skills. I did that with a few things, mainly pie-in-the-sky product ideas for the company I was working at. Not every project saw the light of day, but it got me into the habit of following a good design thinking process.
The Internet: Do I really need to point this out? There’s a plethora of information out there around product design. Whether it’s blogs, books, online training, or podcasts — you can easily get into the mindset of a product designer by diving into the endless information around what it takes to design products people love.
The Invision blog is a daily read for me, and helped me really understand what matters the most in the product designer’s world. Books like “Hooked” and book series from A Book Apart are a great reads to dive into the nitty-gritty of UX design. Search for “UX” in any podcast app and find a boatload of great series there. Finally, use tools your company may even offer. The company I’m with now gives every employee a subscription to LinkedIn Learning, and holy moly does it have some great sessions on UX design, UX research, testing — the works!
Ask for advice: I even went as far as to ask for advice from Stephen Gates, the fantastic host/creator of The Crazy One podcast. Aside from asking about advice on how to break into product design, I also wondered if passion projects would hurt or help the skills I needed to build out more. His answer: just get started because there isn’t going to be a better way to learn. He’s right! If we are always waiting for the right opportunity, it may never come. Sometimes we need to create those opportunities.
Tell your boss: The final big push was support from my own boss. At the company I’m with now, we were encouraged to create Personal Development Plans — “personal” because it doesn’t always have to relate to work (mine did though). I created a 12-page document around three different paths I wanted to grow in as a designer. Product design was at the top of the list, but the other two were a close second and third. I then took that plan to my creative director and had an open conversation with him.
We had every intention of me pursuing a path in marketing & creative, but because I was clear about my passion in product, he knew to keep an eye out for any new opportunities that came up on our product team. Sure enough, a few weeks later the UX designer position was posted. Though he didn’t want to lose anyone from his team, he still passed along the information and encouraged me to apply. I figured the worst thing that could happen was I wouldn’t get the job but would at least have insight and experience on interviewing for the position. Long story short: I applied, interviewed, and got the job.
I’ll pause here for now. In the next post I share how to truly understand what you’re getting into, what it was like to actually go through that process of applying, and how to build out a UX-worthy portfolio.
