How does UX change my personality?
This article tells about how UX affects my personality a bit better in the last 2 years, there are 4 main things that I feel the most changes.
2 years ago I had a plan to write a series about Basic UX, but now it’s no longer interesting to me, too many people have written about it.
Then I decided to write according to my mood, whatever the topic. I really like the articles written by Yoel about how he tells his life experiences, both UX topics and other topics. For me, reading is like breathing in, while writing is like breathing out.
For your information, long time ago I studied Computer Engineering for 4 years and was actively exploring the world of Graphic Design outside of lectures. So, my conclusion is based on the comparison between myself in current and previous.
Here are things about me that got better since I was in UX world:
More empathetic
UX is about how we provide a better experience using digital products for users, to be able to achieve this, designers need to always understand what users feel and think.
There is a lot of research by talking to users in various contexts, the more often we do activities to understand users, the more sensitive our empathy will be.
In my current life, I feel that I can more easily understand someone’s feelings, problems, and character. This has allowed me to be a better listener, able to put myself in a better position to fit the situation, and to be more precise in how I act or talk to other people.
Better communication
UI/UX Designer is a profession that bridges the needs of business, users, and tech. This makes this role considered as one of the keys to the success of a product, therefore the meeting schedule and presentation of this role is very frequent. This role also often conducts research on users, there are lots of activities to talk to users both online and offline.
The more a person talks with various people, the more they will be better in terms of communication. They will know how to communicate properly with different people, how to find topics of discussion, and how to make communication more comfortable.
Presentation was a scary thing for me in the past, but that has changed now, because in the past 2 years I’ve been presenting a lot, now I feel happier and much more confident when I do it.
Bigger Curiosity
2 years ago when I decided 100% to enter the UX Design field, I told my mentor that “I want to be a person who has a lot of knowledge, UX is one of many medium to get it, in this field I think I can get a chance to understand and solve many different problems.”
I’ve always love people who have a lot of knowledge, therefore my ex-girlfriend or crush is all smart, I want to be that smart too. In this role, we are challenged to understand and solve different problems, for example:
- When I was working on a Mental Health app, then I had to be ready to learn and understand the world the world of psychology, meditation, counseling, and so on.
- When I was working on a Solar Smart System Application, then I had to be ready to learn to understand how the system works, how the characteristics of solar panels, what the current procedures and rules, how the data can be used, and so on.
The more often we are forced to understand things, the more we always learn new things. The more things we learn, the more we understand that we don’t know anything, things that trigger people in this role to always have an eagerness to learn new things.
Right now, when I’m talking to friends, I feel engaged with their world, I’m excited to explore their life experiences, very different from my old self. I read on Medium 10x more than before, i’m curiuous!!!
Think more structured and critically
When I was studying in semester 2, I used to get an RPL course, in that course I got a lot of assignments about UML diagrams. I like this course, I learned structured thinking in making a good system, how the system is interconnected and works well in each use case. In this role, we often create User Flow, Sitemap, and Wireflow which are similar to this course.
In the daily activities of a UI/UX Designer we are required to understand a lot of information from Product Manager, Business, User, Data, and Tech to be processed and simplified into a solution concept that can solve problems. Usually this process uses Design Thinking, a mindset to help us solve problems properly.
Each project is similar to when we do the Final Project in lectures. However, each project’s condition is not as ideal as the Final Project, the stages of the process can be very non-linear (Flexible) according to the context. Whatever the process, the important goal is to generate real impact, not just project reports. We always use strong reasons based on data and research in making decisions at every stage, that’s why we know very well when to move forward, stop, or step back, we do everything with a strong why and clear goals.
Let’s finish this reading
It’s just my personal opinion and experience, hopefully in the future I can continue to get good things from this profession. I also hope that you always get good from whatever you do and strive for!
From Habib who randomly writes on Sunday afternoons
