Back to craft: for UX designers

Where are my tools and meticulous self-scrutiny I from my years studying graphic design? How can these help shape my UX craft?

Lately I have been reflecting on my design roots. I studied in a very traditional graphic design program, which was all about Massimo Vignelli type and Polish Film posters. I constantly competed to be my professor’s favorite in class (stupid idea, BTW.) In that world, if your ‘exact-o’ wasn’t sharp enough the first time, you printed all of it again at 3:23 am, mounted it again and cut it all down with a fresh blade. The spray-mount brand definitely mattered, and I had sketchbooks filled with hand-drawn type. Craft was everything.

“Design stuff to sell stuff and ship it on time.”

I did it! I masochistically survived three sleepless years, and got a job! I began thinking about how design could solve real problems … for a startup run by four men. I designed tshirts, a website, packaging, a new logo, hired models, photographers and took product photos, which I then edited myself. Those guys — they didn’t give a single shit about design thinking, consistency, craft or strategy. Make stuff to sell stuff and ship it on time! They stood behind my desk and told me to move things “a little to the left,” and I hated working for them.

I made the shift to digital product. I “transitioned my role” to UX — visual design and interaction design became my reality and started calling myself something different. I had learned new craft skills.

I have thought about product strategy a lot in every job I’ve had since then. At some places I’ve communicated those thoughts well, and some places not so well. I have sometimes helped other people generate good ideas. I’ve workshopped enterprise software for healthcare, wireframed for financial traders, and hypothesized how much a cute meerkat could make you more comfortable with buying home insurance. Sometimes people cared what I thought, sometimes they didn’t. Sometimes my ideas were good, but my delivery was bad. Sometimes my craft pushed my ideas a step further than I would have anticipated. Sometimes good visual communication actually helped me sell an idea (not always mine) that solved a problem, and consequently made someone else a lot of money.

What is UX craft?

Google and the dictionary say craft is “an activity involving skill in making things by hand.” So where has all my craft gone? Where are my tools, and my meticulous self-scrutiny I had during my college years when redesigning a magazine cover? What is UX craft? What does a good product/UX practitioner need in their “toolbox” to craft an amazing experience? Admittedly, I am not yet a veteran in architecting award-winning experiences, but I believe that designers practice exemplary UX craft all the time on lesser-known platforms and interfaces. It is in the deliverables, and work we do day-to-day, “thinking it out” with our colleagues. It is craft that sells your idea to your product team. There is craft skill in a presentation of product strategy which makes a product owner think it was all their idea. A beautifully crafted sketch could be the final thing that causes an investor “dribbble” enough to give you 10 million dollars for your app. Craft matters, still. Interaction specifications and running a great workshop need the same attention to detail as kerning type.

Three ways to hone your UX craft:

1. Listen more and say less, better. This is a seriously important UX skill, as we work to generate a concrete thing out of disparate requirements, user needs and design thinking. Saying less is hard when you are eager to build upon the ideas of others. It’s even harder when you disagree with those ideas. The hardest thing is that it doesn’t matter that much what one person thinks. It’s hard to be humble. This year, I’m going to try to choose when I speak and say something clearer, nicer and smarter. I’m working on my “soft skills.”
2. Sketch more and sketch better. I want to be that girl that you see her sketchbook and you envy her lines and can imagine the interface in motion. I want to be quick to sketch, and prototype faster, and test more often. I want to craft beautiful designs — with my hands, on-screen, but on paper and whiteboards more often.
3. Up your presentation storytelling game, focus on context. Storytelling as part of UX isn’t new. UX practitioners of all sorts make presentations almost on a daily basis to various members of their wider team. Developers, product managers and other stakeholders benefit from good storytelling. Context is important. Emotional connection with an idea can evoke relevance and other ideas will fade into the background of the discussion. I want to tell stories better by creating context for my audience before taking them through new design concepts.

This is my first medium article. I have challenged myself to blog at least once a week on my personal blog here. Tell me what you think — I’d love for this to be a conversation starter about UX craft.

Cover image is from an article on @smashingmag