What I Learnt as a UX Designer in One year at MakeMyTrip
Having recently graduated and begun my journey as a User Experience Designer, these initial months have been a roller coaster ride with valuable learning at every turn. Transitioning from being a college student to being part of the MakeMyTrip Design team has been somewhat like a lone wolf having found its pack.
My journey has been challenging yet enriching. Sharing 8 Key takeaways with anyone who is just starting out!
Do not hesitate to ask
When you are just starting out as a fresher everything can be daunting. It can be very confusing to navigate and you may be tempted to figure it all out on your own-kill that voice reluctant to ask for help. If you require a quick opinion, ask! If you require some kind of assistance, ask! Designers around you may be busy, but will definitely find the time and squeeze you in. And you may even be surprised with the ingenuity of their feedback, which may help inspire your own line of thought and ideas. Essentially it can help to tap into the depth and dynamism of your own capability as a designer. From personal experience, I can vouch for the fact that designers love to get into a discussion, be it the colour schemes, workflow, or users perspective.
Skipping major steps in the process can come back to haunt you!
Iterative processes of developing a design might seem redundant and tedious at times. For me, it has been the backbone of my work and an indispensable way to see the trial and error of my ways. But most importantly it has always given me confidence that I have explored all my options and have reached the most viable solution.
Build a business understanding
It is not all about aesthetics. Understanding how businesses operate and the company’s ethos and purpose play an important role in designing towards a common goal that both the company and the team sees. This didn’t come naturally to me, my Manager nudged me towards it as much as senior members in the Design team.
Empathize with the Product Managers
It honestly felt like Clash of the Titans in the beginning, as if they just didn’t understand the time and effort that goes into the design and wanted everything to be delivered quickly. Try and understand their point of view — they must be pressing you to deliver because maybe the developer is sitting idle, or have pressure from their superiors. They are as much human as you are.
A Designer’s superpower is to visualize
Product managers can often spell out a problem but as designers, we are empowered to visually show solutions. We can facilitate a cogent understanding of the solutions to these problems and also co-create the brief sometimes.
Don’t Reinvent the wheel
Don’t waste time, solving the same problem, a problem that has already been solved by someone else in the team! As teams are broken down into different lines of business, each having their own designers — maybe someone has solved a similar issue that you are now working on. Talk to them, understand what worked for them and what didn’t. And feel free to apply the same framework. Get the job done rather than focusing on what personal contribution or value you have added. You don’t need to shine or prove your worth every time. Your job is to deliver an effective solution.
Don’t go straight to screens
As tempting as reaching the end maybe. It is imperative to work in an orderly fashion and have a strong layout and structure in place. First and foremost it is important to comprehend the user journey, plot the missing steps in the information architecture to create a seamless flow that is knit into the current design, instead of directly jumping onto creating screens. Because most of the time we are so focused on the end interface that we miss out on the basic framework.
Improve navigation & find-ability not just for users but also for yourself and your peers.
After a few months, having delivered numerous projects, I found myself lost in my sea of files. Make sure to develop a method organize files and figure out a naming convention that works best for you. Other than your design, the way you store, organize and label things — layers on sketch, files on your laptop, project name on zeplin.
It is always easier said than done. I’d say I am still work in progress, but I can confidently say that I am working in that direction. Looking forward to applying and learning more!
