Designersđ¤alk #26 with Charu Choudha( UX Designer at Google)| PHASE 3 [IND Edition]
Date: 31st January 2021
Charu is working as a UX Designer at Google. Also, she worked with many other companies like Microsoft & Zomato. In this talk, she has shared her valuable opinions regarding common portfolio trends, the power of storytelling, how to stand out &, etc.
Q1. Hi Charu, nice to meet you. Letâs start with a short background story. How did you get started in design?
Always had a deep interest in creative endeavours, making and breaking things showing to others around me, and understanding their response, guess I always wanted to be a designer.
But living in a small town in India, I was not aware if there is a career choice like design till I accidentally landed at a design college, NIFT in Mumbai.
I am trained in Communication Design in college but I pursued UX design after my college because I discovered eventually that my interest lies in building products and experiences.
Q2: UX is in high demand right now and is getting more competitive. How can designers position themselves to stand out from the crowd and grab peopleâs attention?
Having an attitude to learn and adapt to changing technology and user behaviours goes a long way
Q3: You obviously spend a lot of time looking at portfolios, do you see any common trends from the ones that stand out?
A good portfolio is a thorough documentation of not just the solutions one has designed but the entire journey and process of going about it.
The trick of course is in finding the right balance between making it overly descriptive and boring and descriptive enough which keeps the reader interested.
Q4: What's the power of storytelling in design or in product and how one can achieve it?
Extremely crucial. One size (format) doesnât fit all. The key is I think in giving equal time in your process to preparing the story.
Most of the designers spend a lot of time working on the actual designs and do not consider crafting the story as a part of the design process.
Q5: How does UX contribute strategically to the companyâs success?
Extremely crucial in the changing world. In fact, I have seen a lot of growth in this space as when I started designers were included in the product design lifecycle somewhere in the middle, now designer plays a crucial role in building the foundation of the product since the beginning.
Q6: What do you think about the future of design in India?
Going to grow at rocket speed
Q7: Would you want to share a few tips with people who want to join as interns or a UI/UX or product designer at Google?
User focus is important. I see a lot of designers learning tools and keywords and forgetting about user focus.
Q8: Designers Talk: Wrap Up round(One word or Choice-based)
- Design in one word: Endless
- A product that inspires you: Whatsapp
- Favorite design blog/publication: Wait but Why
- Favorite gadget: Apple Watch
- Dribbble or Behance: None
- Linkedin/Twitter/Instagram: Insta
- DesignersTalk in one word: Fun
- Favorite Design Series/Video/Movie: Abstract, Parasite, The Breadwinner, 3 Idiots
- First Choice(Website/App): App
- Favorite Design System: Material Design
- Android or iOS: iOS
- XD/Figma/Sketch/Invision Studio: Figma
- Go-To Tool for you as a designer: Books
- Taking Design Inspiration from: Books
- Design Hero: Paula Scher, Steve Jobs
The motto for this DesignersTalk is to âBridge the gap between Industry Standard Designers and New Designersâ.
Why text-based? Because itâs precise, to-the-point opinions and it also gives freedom to those designers who want to share but not comfortable in front of the camera and who donât want to give their too much time but still wanted to contribute.
If you like it, please follow this publication and share it with the design community and help them to learn from the experience of the great designers without investing your and their tooooo much timeâŚ
Akash âď¸đ
