South Florida — The State of UX
Whether you are a local, or someone considering Florida for you next move, here is a primer on what to expect down here.
UX has evolved a lot in the past 2 decades, and it is a field of practice that is maturing in South Florida. At least, this is what I have observed in the past 3 years of being actively involved in the local UX community, all while growing the SapientRazorfish UX team in Miami.
From the big name influencers to the not so famous UX-peeps, our community is characterized by being open and constantly sharing knowledge. This in combination with organizing a UX meetup (IxDA Miami), is what inspired to write this article. So, here we go!
Local Groups and Meetups
This is mainly how I went from not knowing any local UX designers, to being more connected than ever in my life!
SoFLUX — The oldest group around here and has been active since 2008. They host a great variety of events, and it is now the official UXPA chapter in the area.
IxDA Miami — Established in 2014, is one of the main UX groups and it covers the Miami metro area. I had the pleasure to serve as leader between 2015–2017. This is mainly how I got to scope out the scene after being a lone wolf practitioner for years.
FLUXyeah — The only (at least active) UX specific Slack group uniting UX designers in Florida. It tends to be a great venue to get advice from other seasoned local UX designers.
Action Design Miami — This is the local chapter from Action Design which focuses on the application of behavioral science and design to the improvement of people’s lives. They’ve had a wide variety of great speakers including design leaders and influencers.
Companies Embracing the Power of UX
In general, the travel/hospitality and health-tech are by far the ones with most demand for UX.
Companies of all sizes are also gearing up and either hiring consultants/agencies, or establishing their own in-house teams. Below are some of the UX teams that I’m aware of. This list is not meant to be exhaustive, but complete enough to give you a sense of what you can find here.
UX Focused Agencies — Levatas, and Key Lime Interactive
Digital Agencies and Consultancies — SapientRazorfish, PwC, Nebular, Arrow Digital, Wayfinder, and Fantasy Interactive (virtual office)
Tech Services and StartUps — Magic Leap, Citrix, and Ultimate Software
Travel and Hospitality: Royal Caribbean Cruises (including Azamara, Celebrity, and other sister brands), Carnival Corporation (Including Carnival Cruises and 9 other sister brands), Virgin Voyages, and Spirit
Consumer Goods/Services and Retail: ADT, OfficeDepot, Zumba Fitness Chewy, AutoNation — all these are headquartered in sunny SoFlo (our official cool name!). Motorola is here as well.
Health Tech: MDLive, Modernizing Medicine, ChenMed, and CrossCountry
Finance and Banking — Visa recently established an innovation lab, and American Express relocated their regional headquarters to Sunrise
Key Local Influencers and awesome people!
Here are a few UX comrades that are helping further the community.
Lauren Schaefer organizes SoFLUX and is part of the UXPA board as Director of Marketing and Communication. Mike Donahue also organizes the SoFLUX meetup and has been a speaker at multiple local event including UX+DEV SUMMIT.
I’ve had the pleasure to know Marcelo Paiva for a while now. He is very active in the community; you are likely to see him at a lot of the different meetups, and speaking at local conferences.The IxDA Miami chapter, and Sketch 305 are both led by him. Marcelo has also contributed to shape up the UX curriculum at IronHack, and served as an instructor/mentor.
Entrepreneurial wise, Joel Mena represents UX very well advocating for the craft. He works independently now, but has done consulting for several startups and is an entrepreneur himself. Joel is also a speaker and has taught at IronHack.
Monica Cleves from our team at SapientRazorfish is a gem. I’ve heard people call her the Queen of UX :). Monica exemplifies how to sell design to clients (even at a c-level), while always pushing for the right experience. I’ve been fortunate to work alongside her, and have see her grow and influence many aspects of our work at the agency. Lastly, she just started teaching a UX class at the Miami Ad School last spring. Kudos Mon!
Kim Grinfeder leads the Interactive Media program at University of Miami. He has been a great partner when it comes to hosting events at the university, curating content, and making introductions with key speakers for IxDA Miami.
If you are looking for Design Thinking knowledge, Kiran Carpenter is your lady. She has a keen interest in design strategy/research and all things UX, that’s her area of focus at SapientRazorfish. Kiran organized Design Thinking Miami for two years (now dissolved), and then transitioned to co-lead IxDA Miami, which could not have existed without her. Girls Who Code, SheSays among other things are initiatives she supports as well.
Ignacio Garcia-Huidobro hosts and organizes the UX+DEV SUMMIT, which is probably the only one of its kind here in South Florida. Currently, he is the Director of Product Management & User Experience at RedZone Map.
Gessica Tortolano was part of our UX team at SapientRazorfish. She’s now back in Miami after spending some time in San Francisco, and serves as the head of the UX program at Wyncode Academy.
Another awesome person that stands out is Jaqueline Stetson. She moved from Boston a while ago, and brings tons of consulting experience. Jacqueline is a regular speaker, owns a UX research consultancy. She recently launched UX Gofer (a user testing app)
Passionate and high-energy people are rare to come by. Tracey Jackson is one of those. She’s part of the experience design group at PwC in Hallandale. Tracey is also a speaker — she’s presented at the UX+DEV SUMMIT , and will be speaking at the Grace Hopper Celebration in Houston , and ConveyUX in Seattle.
Slack wise, Sarah Nohe and Jordan Santos are doing an awesome job at keeping the conversation alive locally. Join FLUXyeah and see it for yourself!
Finally, Daniel Brito is the placements manager at IronHack. That means his job is to help students land UX gigs coming out of their bootcamp program. Him and the IronHack team are always putting interesting events together. Check out their meetup page.
FL Natives UXing it
David Farkas — A Miami native representing in Philadelphia. He specializes in UX research and recently published a book. Kudos David!
Big shout out to my boss Eddie Gomez head of UX at SapientRazorfish Miami!. I’ve had the pleasure to work here with the rest of the team under his leadership. He has played a big role in my career the past few years, and was the one to give me push to lead IxDA back in 2015. Eddie has also taught UX courses at the Miami Ad School, FIU, and UM.
Shane McWhorter, Ph.D. (born and raised in Miami) is the Director of User Experience and Strategy at Levatas.
Andrew Barrocas recently left the SapientRazorfish family (sad), and is now at Fjord in Atlanta.
I feel like this section really lacks a few folks. So please, add a shout out in the comments area if you know any FL natives in UX :)
Educational Programs
I’m only aware of the bootcamps UX programs at Ironhack and Wyncode. These are UX specific.
SoFLUX and the Miami Ad School are also brewing their own programs focused on UX.
University of Miami also offers the Interactive Media program. It tends to cover UX related courses such as research and prototyping.
Salaries and Opportunities
Salaries down here are not up to par with other comparable metro areas in the South East such as Atlanta or DC. Mastering the art of negotiating is the key when entering any field, or when you are making a move. IMO, getting better at this is how we can shape a market that’s better for locals and newcomers joining this awesome field.
For now, South Florida seems to be dominated by Jr. and Sr. Associate level designers (2–5 years of experience). This is what I have observed after scanning job boards for the last 6 months. Mid-level (manager/lead) positions are starting to increase more and more. This is definitely an indicator of companies willing to invest in establishing and building in-house teams by enabling leadership roles within.
Director level openings are rare. I’ve noticed local openings are the ones that stay unfilled for the longest. For example, the ADT UX Director role kept popping up on my LinkedIn for more than a year. I’ve seen similar director level postings, and after speaking to people, the pool talent is even more scarce in this area. BTW, check out this series of interviews with some of the most senior design leaders at well known companies such as Facebook and Uber. — This aligns with the trend of UX becoming a more influential role at the executive level. This poses a challenge for seasoned practitioners to keep stepping up, and work together with the often business-driven folks at the c-level table.
Other interesting facts
For those familiar with the father of IA, or at least the first person to coin IA, Richard Saul Wurman recently made Florida his permanent residence. I had the pleasure to meet him in person during World IA Day back in 2016. I dare you to take him out for coffee, but beware, he’s a brilliant mind that will get you thinking on your feet.
We are also on the top 20 list for Amazon’s 2nd HQ location. That says a lot on my book at least!
Conclusions
Miami is not comparable to the major UX/tech hubs (like NY, DC, Boston, and the Valley), but it is a neat place that technology and design professionals are increasingly considering.
The community overall is showing very positive signs, and the UX footprint is getting larger. We are now more connected than ever, companies are investing in UX, and educational programs are being shaped. These are three key ingredients that are contributing towards a promising future for UX in South Florida.
