Must know facts about UX Design that nobody tells you

The world of UX design is often glamorized, with images of sleek interfaces and happy users. But for those on the inside, the reality can be quite different. If you’re considering a career in UX design, here are 5 things you should know before you decide if a UX design career is right for you.

Truth #1 :It’s not always about the user.

While users are undoubtedly important, UX design thrives on finding the sweet spot between user needs and business goals. In reality, your solutions need to be not just user-friendly, but also financially viable for the company and should be easier to execute for the developers as well.

Truth #2 : There’s no perfect UX Process.

Many designers (including me) started off with rigid frameworks to showcase the best UX processes for hiring managers. But in reality, It’s all about how well you adapt and understand the business needs and the problem that the product solves for the user.

There is no one-size-fits-all all approach to your design process. Your approach needs to be tailored according to the problem you’re working on. Regardless, it’s not like you have to try a different process every time some steps might be repetitive in your process.

Truth #3 : You’ll spend most of your time designing… something

This is purely coming from my observation and a little bit of personal experience but there will be rare instances where you will have an opportunity to design a feature or a solution end-to-end. (This does not apply to folks working in a small team or early stage startups).

As a UX gatekeeper, you can expect to spend most of your time to collaborate extensively with CEO’s, product managers, developers, researchers (could also be you), and UI designers. This means that you will need to be prepared to navigate and schedule timely meetings, workshops, and feedback and testing sessions to keep the ball rolling.

Truth #4: You will always receive a clear feedback

As a designer, feedback is your next step towards making your product better. But this totally depends on how you gather and decode feedback into actionable insights. Most of the time you will receive a very generic and vague comments like “I don’t like it” or subjective opinions on color. Unless, you structure your feedback collection process and be specific about what you want to know. This also includes finding the right persona of users that could be ideal to give you the most relevant comments.

Truth #5: You might not always get to see your design go live

Let’s say you’re working on a product feature and you have iterated 5 designs. But maybe due to technical limitations, your solutions might be hindered by outdated design libraries or development constraints or just might not work for the “not so tech-savvy” users. Be prepared to adapt and iterate, keeping both usability and feasibility in mind.

P.S. Don’t get discouraged! While UX design has its challenges, the rewards are real. Witnessing a user interact seamlessly with your design and achieve their goals is an incredibly satisfying experience any designer could have.

Join the Discussion!

What are some other harsh truths you’ve encountered in UX design? Share your thoughts in the comments below!