3 Key Insights from UX Coffee Chat with Himanshu Hazarika

Laura Ang

Aug 13, 2020·4 min read

A few months ago, I’ve started this one-hour chat sessions with different designers each week. I’m really grateful to have the opportunity to do so. Talking to designers is a great way to know about other people’s stories, share knowledge, and build relationships.

Last week, I got to talk to Himanshu Hazarika, Senior Designer at Bosche. We talked about the following topics:

1. His journey in design
2. Service design at Disney
3. Usability engineering process
4. Healthcare design projects
5. How to keep learning in design
6. How to find your niche

I wanted to share what I’ve learned from our chat that might be helpful to designers and design teams.

1. Plan concretely, but never restrict

Himanshu introduced me to this concept of Usability Engineering where designers test the usability of products to users in a formal, structured and well-informed manner. Before starting any project (eg. rolling out a new feature, redesign), we should have laid out our usability test plans. This should be included in a usability validation plan.

Why do we need to have this plan?

1. We can foolproof our testing process, making sure there are no loose ends. We can avoid situations like “Oh we need to do A, B, C before we can proceed”.
2. We know what to do in each step of the way (eg. Person X should start recruiting participants by this date).

Some of the questions that this plan should address are:

1. What kind of tests are relevant for this project?
2. How many tests are we going to perform?
3. At which stage/s in the process are we going to test?
4. Who are involved in the usability test? What are their roles?
5. How do we recruit participants to test our designs?
6. What are the requirements to be considered a participant of this test?
7. What are the tasks or activities to be performed during the test?
8. What are the risks that the participant may encounter? How do we plan to resolve those risks?
9. Are there restrictions that impact the quality of the test?

Usability.gov has a great template for this. Check it out here.

This plan, although structured, should not be restrictive of the process. Himanshu mentioned that it’s an evolving document that you iterate as you run more tests, discover new insights and plan for future usability tests.

2. Communication and information gathering are key designer skills

In the healthcare space, there are driving decisions that involve the safety and privacy of users. This is very different from designing in spaces where the intention is to delight the user or persuade them to purchase something.

Therefore, as designers who create these medical devices or applications, we need to understand how to communicate to different stakeholders like doctors, medical staff, hospital administrators, patients, and families. In order to communicate effectively, you need to understand their work.

For example, how do you communicate to doctors? You need to understand the jargon they use. If you can’t speak in jargons they are comfortable with, it might be difficult for them to understand or for you to communicate.

Himanshu also gave this tip: As a designer, you won’t sit and design screens your entire life as well. At one point, you will have to leave these design tasks and gather critical information by collaborating with those above you and those whom you serve. You will be a frontliner, so you need to understand how to ask questions and drive conversations.

3. Never underestimate what you’ve learned from other fields

In our field, we didn’t all start out as designers. Some came from computer science, others from business. Himanshu advises that we shouldn’t unlearn what we have learned in those areas. These backgrounds inform how we think and help us look at problems from different perspectives.

This is why each designer is irreplaceable. We are all unique in our own ways. Himanshu says that “you can’t say that someone in your team can replace you. They may take up some of the task you can do, but the approach, views, how you think, how you solve a problem, it is still different when you do it”.

In relation to learning, Himanshu also suggests that to keep growing as a designer, you will have to broaden your knowledge. As designers, we never know what’s the next thing we’ll be working on. Therefore, don’t just read design articles and books. Read about architecture, philosophy, economics, data science, and other fields that are in the opposite spectrum of design.

Conclusion

I’ve had a great time talking to Himanshu and learning from him. To summarize:

1. Plan concretely, but never restrict
2. Build your communication and information gathering skills
3. Never underestimate what you’ve learned from other fields

I hope these insights are helpful in your journey as a designer. If you would like to join me and start chatting with other designers as well, you can visit:

1. UX Coffee Hours
2. Amazing Design People List