Recently I was designing a new product from scratch and created a design system from the beginning. This has proven to be beneficial when a new member joined the team and immediately managed to start contributing to the project. This inspired me to share my experience.
Where to start?
While developing a new product, there are two obvious choices in terms of a design system:
- Use an existing one
- Create your own
For the project, we needed the flexibility of defining our own elements. I started looking for a ready design system but the ones I found were either too simple or too complex for our needs at that time. I finally decided to go with a third option: use basic elements such as buttons, checkboxes, and input fields from an existing design system, that I later customized while the product evolved.
The Start — Colors and typography
In the beginning, I started with a…
Recently I’ve been working on a design sprint, where we were testing the communication between a company and its customers. We ended up using quite unusual prototyping tools and I thought that this experience is worth sharing.
The goal of the testing was to understand which medium of communication people would prefer as a follow-up to physical mail: email or a chatbot on the website. A part of the journey would be done only on the website so we included that part as well. Here is the whole testing journey with the 2 potential flows the participant could follow:
Letter
The company was introducing a new virtual assistant feature. We wanted to know if the customers would prefer getting in touch with the assistant using email or the company’s website. During the prototyping process, we learned that all…
Spoiler: It works and it’s really easy to use. Here is what I learned and some tips to get started.
As a UX designer, I was both curious and critical about no-code tools, so I wanted to try them out. I decided to create a Pomodoro timer app based on an idea I had earlier this year while working on a Daily UI challenge. I set a 3-day time limit for this project and decided to go with Thunkable as it seemed best for my use case. So here are my thoughts on this experience:
It works and it’s more powerful than I thought
I managed to create an app that works across the target platforms (iOS, Android and Web). There are some limitations that you can’t go around…
Coming from Architecture, I see the user experience as more than what’s happening on the screen. As I always thrive for simplicity, I was fascinated by these amazing low-tech solutions I encountered during my trip to Japan last year.
1. There is a way to rethink everything
I have seen many “physical” questionnaires asking for customer feedback. They are always a piece of paper with a pen lying next to it. I haven’t seen people filling those in. You need to sit at the desk to do so.
I saw people giving this questionnaire at the tram stop, so everyone waiting for the tram just started playing with it and filling it using their fingers. I’m guessing that the rate of people giving feedback is much higher than from a “normal questionnaire”.
My favourites, that helped me discover the world of User Experience. This list covers a broad overview of topics such as design, strategy and psychology.
1. The design of everyday things
By Don Norman
The classic. Every recommended book list starts with it for a reason. After reading it you will see the world differently and start noticing the little design decisions around you. Whether it’s the design of the door handle or the temperature control panel. The message of Don Norman’s book is how to make “good design”.
2. UX Strategy. How to devise innovative digital products that people want
By Jaime Levy
My biggest takeaway was discovering how Design and UX Strategy can influence businesses.
- If you are a designer, it will help you “talk business” and design for business goals.
- If you are an entrepreneur, it will help you validate…
My recent move from London to Zurich made me realise that there are fewer UX Designers per company in Switzerland than in the UK. That discovery made me reflect on the reasons behind the existence of UX, and how it can contribute to businesses.
McKinsey examined the business value of design. Their team collected over 2 million pieces of financial data and 100 thousand design actions over 5 years. They defined the McKinsey Design Index, which rates companies by how strong they are at design and how that links up with the financial performance of each company. Here is what they say:
“Companies with top-quartile McKinsey Design Index scores outperformed industry-benchmark growth by as much as two to one.”
McKinsey, like many others, correlates the investment in design with the growth/revenue of your company. So how can a UX Designer add value to businesses?
1. Achieve your business goals
Trying to find myself in the new field that is at first glance very different to what I was doing before, I’m exploring the many similarities in these two fields. I studied and/or practised architecture in 5 European countries, so my experience might differ from others.
The famous Design Thinking process is something you will hear about while diving into UX. It became so famous that a lot of companies started giving workshops and presentations on that topic. To my surprise Design Thinking is something I’ve been using from early on at the university but didn’t know its fancy name. Here’s what its process looks like:
Empathise
I need an anchor point to start designing, so I had always conducted a lot of preliminary research. The two architectural projects I am particularly proud of — one designed to help the refugee crisis in Germany (2014) and a…
“I’m an Architect” sounds so cool when you introduce yourself to people. I always loved designing so why have I changed my career to something most people don’t know exists?
The following points are my response to all the questions I got from my family, friends, recruiters and even my classmates from UX Design course. If you are also frustrated with your architectural job for the below reasons, you might consider finding a career that is a better fit for you.
The speed
Architecture
I love working fast and crossing out items on my to-do lists. During my architectural career, everything was always…
Aleksandra Walczak
ux designer, idealist, trained architect, mountain lover, improv practitioner, www.olka.design
