Meet the keynotes: Vivianne Castillo
🗺 EuroIA is Europe’s premier Information Architecture & User Experience conference. After travelling through Europe for the past 15 years, for its 2019 edition, EuroIA goes to Riga, the capital of Latvia.
🎤 We’d like you to meet one of our amazing keynotes this year: Vivianne Castillo! Read further if you would like a sneak peek into who she is and the talk that she will give. What better way to tease out your curiosity and convince you to join us this year in Riga?
⬇️ We’d like our readers to get to know you a bit better, so how did you transition from a trauma and addictions counsellor to a UX researcher and designer?
The short answer into how I got started in this field is: being in the right place at the right time. I was actually looking up online programs to teach me how to code (it was something I was dabbling in at the moment) and started noticing that online programs were also teaching this thing called UX Design!
As I started to read more about it on Google, Medium, etc. I was able to learn about UX Research and fell in love with the idea that I could bridge my love for technology and people in one career. So I started gobbling up any and all material on UX design/research and establishing relationships with mentors in the field.
My love for UX Research is deeply rooted in my past experiences as a Human Services/Counseling professional and I’ve always loved working closely with people and creating the intimate space needed to connect as individuals.
💥 We all have a love-hate relationship with our profession: what is it that you like most about your profession?
What I like the most about my profession is the opportunity to influence, shape and impact businesses and experiences to around the people and the ecosystems they live in. I’m constantly exposed to new ways of thinking or people from different cultures and experiences, so there’s rarely a dull moment, especially in a work environment where I’m constantly learning.
🔋What about the least?
What do I like least about my profession? The endless debate over the same topics — e.g. user vs human, what is empathy? etc. — and the lack of diversity in UX leadership. But I’ll speak a little more about that in my talk 😉
🔥 We would like to get to know you outside of your profession, would you like to share with us some of your passions?
I love learning and so I’m always reading or listening to a podcast or hopping on the phone with someone to learn more about their experience or perspective!
I’m also very justice-oriented, so I’m always looking for ways and opportunities to advance equality, equity and justice in the workplace. I’m passionate about working out, playing basketball, Korean food, trying new food, travelling, and quotes and proverbs from different people, cultures and perspectives.
💡 Can you give our readers a sneak peek on your talk — why should they come to hear you speak; what can they expect?
I think if you want to hear something that’s not really being discussed in our field but has serious implications on you as a person and you as a professional, come to this talk. You can expect me to challenge some industry-held orthodoxies, stories from UX’ers that I’ve interviewed about the personal risks in this profession no one talks about, and tools to begin addressing them. We’ll think, laugh, and cry together but more importantly, you’ll leave with some ideas on how to move in a different direction: forward.
🍎 The topic of health and wellness, wellbeing and vulnerability has always been important to you. Why should it be important for us, who claim to put the user first?
Simply put, how can someone apply a human-centred approach to others when they haven’t paused to understand how to apply a human-centred approach to themselves? As someone who has counselling and human service background, it still startles me how much of a truncated understanding we have of people and of ourselves. I hope this talk will begin to challenge and change that.
🗣 How could we as UX researchers make sure that we keep the conversation going in this space?
I think the first part is to just start having these conversations in the first place! I think when it comes to learning and growing as UX professionals, we need to broaden our topics/issues pipeline. There is a time and place to read on and listen to podcasts on methodologies and frameworks but we also can’t overlook how much personal work must be done in tandem with professional work in order for us to shift from a “good” researcher to a great one.
Reach out to the conferences in our industry and ask for more speakers who can touch on other aspects of UXR and hold them accountable for providing content that provides another perspective or isn’t coming from someone who is just reading out of their book on stage. UX’ers have more influence and impact on the content they consume than they think.
⚖ We often hear about ethical decision-making, but what does that even mean? Have you noticed any differences between what that could mean in Europe vs. in the U.S.?
It means making decisions that avoid doing harm unto others and while products or experiences might be different in the US vs Europe, the opportunity to make decisions that avoid doing harm to people will always exist.
💸 One of our concerns as UX designers is how to translate UX insights into business value. What are your thoughts on the matter?
I think a part of it is learning how to communicate the human aspect of a business problem. Sometimes this requires us to help prime our stakeholders to be ready to even consider and connect with the human aspect of the problem.
For example, there are times where I’ve crafted a brief activity to (1) surface assumptions my stakeholders might have about the people on the receiving end of the business problem and (2) to get my stakeholders to step outside of themselves and to attempt a new way of viewing the problem at hand.
Then I’ll try to help them connect to the human aspect of the problem that uses different storytelling methods and research insights, often using the insights as a tool to facilitate a conversation around its impact on their business problem.
And then I might follow up with an activity or conversation around the opportunity areas certain UX research insights surfaced and potential metrics to measure the impact across various aspects of the business and/or end-user experience.
Personally, I don’t think the only way to translate UX insights into business value is by articulating the amount of money the company will make if they care about insight A, B or C. I fear this could turn into a lengthy blog post, so more on that another day.
🕰 If you could travel back in time to the first days of your journey, what advice would you give your younger self about getting started in UX research?
I would have encouraged myself to connect with people who were in more senior corporate positions who were also black women on how to navigate this industry. I’ve learned that some advice that well-meaning, white men give me don’t take into consideration the complexities and issues black women face in corporate America.
🙌🏼 Thank you, Vivianne, for your time and for your wonderful insights.
📌 If you would like to hear more thought-provoking ideas, be sure to join us this year at EuroIA19 in Riga, Latvia. You will find all the necessary information on how to do that on our website.
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