Designers🎤alk #39 with Arpita Dhir ( Product Designer + Consultant, Graphic Designer @ Freelance | Ex-Headout)| PHASE 3 [IND Edition]

Date: 11 July April 2021

Arpita is working as a Product Design Consultant. Also, she previously worked for Headout. In this talk, she has shared her opinions regarding:⁣

1️⃣ role of a Mentor;

2️⃣ things to take care of before sitting for an interview;

3️⃣ collaboration as a skill & etc;

Q1. Hi Arpita, nice to meet you. Let’s start with a short background story. How did you get started in design?

During my first year of engineering, I joined a student chapter at VIT university called IEEE. As a part of the chapter we were asked to build certain technical skills and I chose designing.

I started with graphic design and by my second year, I had started helping the student chapter IEEE with collateral for various events. Soon I saw myself assisting a senior design with freelance projects and a hobby turned into my passion.

I proactively went to hackathons, got my own clients. One thing led to another and I saw this as something I’d enjoy doing. After a couple of years as a graphic designer, I figured that my passion is to design to solve solutions and help people and that’s another story of how I started upon UX design after graphic design.

Q2: What is the role of a mentor especially for someone who’s starting their design journey? How to choose the perfect Design Mentor for the UI/UX Design Career?

When I started I had no mentor as such, but trust me I really wanted one.

After 6 years, I realized if a person really wants to learn they don’t need the “perfect” mentor but rather the “perfect” mindset to keep learning.

A mentor’s role is to guide and it can exist anywhere, it can be your friend or teammate or even a random person you met yesterday. When we find the perfect mentor, our learning process just accelerates.

Q3: What’re the qualities you look for if you want to hire one designer in the pool of N no of designers?

For the field of product design, I look for a few things in the candidate

• Are they asking the right questions?
• How empathetic are they towards users?
• How strong is the reasoning?
• Do they have an open mind and are open to feedback?
• Problem-solving perspective or approach
• Last but not the least, how genuine and feasible is the process and solution?

Q4: What challenges did you face while shifting from the engineering to the designing field? How to switch to UI/UX design or product design from a different discipline?

The challenge was more personal, a mental block. I felt I lacked some technical knowledge or certifications to switch from engineering to graphic design. Even if I freelanced in college I never felt I can ever get a full-time job in design. I was prepared to first do a master’s in design and then get placed hopefully. Getting this out of my head was my biggest challenge.

Once I overcame this thought for graphic design, I found a full-time role with Happy Mcgarry Bowen, Krafting Networks and then, Ola till the end of 2020.

Now I was making the switch to UX/UI from graphic design, I faced the same mental block — I learned that certifications don’t make a difference but what if I don’t know everything — the technical know-how. This time while I was working I simultaneously did a 3-month weekend course on UX/UI. The course didn’t teach me everything, as UX is such a vast field and I was prepared to learn every day, but it confirmed that I have everything I need to start.

If you want to switch to UX/UI or product design:

• Design can be self-taught, so take some time out to first learn. There are various publications and youtube channels that help you learn for free.
• If you don’t feel confident you have options of short-term and long-term courses.
• Compile your relevant work in a portfolio.
• Make sure you get multiple reviews of your portfolio, you will only learn.
• you can refer to Q3 and Q5 to understand what can help you stand out in my opinion.

Q5: What’re things one can take care of or prepare before sitting for a UI/UX or product designer interview?

1. Have a portfolio.
2. Be original and genuine.
3. Put thought and reasoning into your work.
4. Make logical and functional designs.
5. Always look for feedback.
6. Don’t Overthink!

Q6: How do you work with engineers/Product Managers/other designers?

I have a few things when I follow when I work with engineers, product managers, or designers:

1. Keep them in the loop from an early stage of ideation
2. Create proper documentation with a relevant nomenclature
3. Understand each other's dependencies and prioritise problems together
4. Get reviews as often as possible from the design team. The milestones can be a multi-team review.

Q7: How mentoring designers help you grow as one?

• The best part about UX design is that it’s so dynamic, ever-changing and we have to unlearn every day to learn more.
• When I mentor, it’s not about teaching them, it’s more about learning more myself.
• When I see their attempts and the process they chose, I learn a great deal as everyone has a unique way of problem-solving.
• Each human has a different perspective and being a mentor helps me find new perspectives regularly. And perspectives help me become a better designer.

Q8: Designers Talk: Wrap Up round(One word or Choice-based)

1. Design in one word: Logic
2. A product that inspires you: Apple
3. Favorite design blog/publication: Toptal Design
4. Favorite gadget: Macbook Pro
5. Dribbble or Behance: Behance
6. Linkedin/Twitter/Instagram: Linkedin
7. DesignersTalk in one word: Self-Introspection
8. Favorite Design Series/Video/Movie: Abstract. Nah! Haven’t followed any as such
9. First Choice(Website/App): Depends on what I need. I have both handy at all times!
10. Favorite Design System: Atlassian (Keeps changing)
11. Android or iOS: iOS
12. XD/Figma/Sketch/Invision Studio: Figma
13. Go-To Tool for you as a designer: Figma & Adobe Illustrator
14. Taking Design Inspiration from Pinterest for life
15. Design Hero: Too early

Thank you 🙏 Arpita💚⁣⁣⁣ for giving your precious time
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The motto for this DesignersTalk is to “Bridge the gap between Experienced Designers and New Designers”.

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