Q&A with the UX Designers at Later
Get to know what it’s like working on our team and what we do day-to-day as UX Designers.
Happy new year and welcome to our first blog post from Design at Later! This year, we’re planning to do a lot more reflecting, showcase a lot more transparency, and maybe we’ll even take you through some of the features that we loved designing.
Having a dedicated UX team is a luxury not many companies get to enjoy. It’s a testament to how much design matters to us here at Later. And as we grow our team, we wanted to take some time to answer the questions we often get from other designers who want to learn how we work, or even better, work with us. So, here’s what our team has to say.
How did you break into UX design?
Carmen: I started out studying computer engineering and after getting a taste of programming in my first year and found out I really enjoyed coding and using technology to solve problems. I was doing a co-op term as a QA developer and looked into joining hackathons, and in my first hackathon instead of developing I volunteered to design our app since I also dabbled in graphic design in my free time.
Over the next few hackathons, I discovered that I loved solving problems by utilizing and shaping technology in this new way. I volunteered for a term as a student UX researcher at UBC and then made the jump by joining an interaction design program at Emily Carr. After graduating from the program, I applied for an internship as the first product intern at a company called Later, and here I am, 4 years later!
Jess: I knew I wanted to get into UX when I entered my third year of university. I was studying neuroscience and loved psychology and research, but I also wanted to do something that involved creativity every day. While completing my degree, I decided to try volunteering as a UX researcher at UBC to see whether the industry was a good fit for me. I ended up loving my experience and learned a lot about user research methods and design processes.
After my volunteer term, I started designing and getting more hands-on experience collaborating with interdisciplinary teams through clubs/hackathons, and eventually found my first opportunity as a part-time UX designer at UBC. After graduating, I was lucky enough to work with a super great team at a small startup as a product design intern; this is where I saw how fun it can be to work with a passionate team, which eventually led me to apply to Later. While this is my first full-time job out of university, I feel like I’m in the perfect environment to learn and grow.
What feature are you most proud of working on?
Joey: Overhauling the onboarding experience has been a really exciting project to get involved in. We are now able to get users signed up and into our app dramatically faster, showing them much more of what Later has to offer in record time.
Carmen: Linkin.bio 2.0 (aka the redesign of Linkin.bio) is definitely one the most memorable releases I’ve worked on. It was exciting to expand the capabilities of Linkin.bio by developing our new block system which allows us to easily evolve and scale its feature set.
What makes UX design at Later different?
Joey: We take a very holistic approach to UX where we are constantly intertwined with the business and development side of every project. This brings more of the real world into the work that we do and gets us thinking more creatively and strategically.
Jess: Later has a really unique UX team structure. We have specific teams dedicated to UX research, content design, UX design, and product design, allowing us to optimize our areas of specialization, while still collaborating closely and getting feedback from one another. For the UX design team, this allows us to focus on usability and accessibility within our product, while also building the business case for our design decisions, finding a balance between advocating for our users and targeting our business goals.
How do UX designers collaborate with each other at Later?
Carmen: Although each UX designer is responsible for different areas of Later, we have regular syncs with each other to go over our work and share project updates. During our weekly office hours, anyone can share something they’re currently working on which gives us the opportunity to participate in discussions and provide feedback on design decisions.
Jess: The UX design team will often bounce ideas off one another and share work for feedback throughout the week. While we all tend to work on different features within our product, we do lots of team feedback sessions, or casually sync up 1:1 to have a more in-depth discussion. This collaborative process also helps ensure that the flows we’re designing are seen by the entire team, with the aim to have each feature in our product work harmoniously with one another.
Since Later also prioritizes growing our team from the ground up by hiring Junior UX designers, our new hires will often have a mentor on the team that they can regularly sync with. This gives our team, and future hires, the opportunity to hone in on their design skills, communication skills, or any area they’d like to grow in.
What’s your favorite thing about working at Later?
Joey: The sense of ownership in every project you take on makes the work you do much more exciting and rewarding. I feel like Later does a really good job of making you feel valued and that you are contributing to a much bigger picture than you imagine. Karaoke night is a close second.
Carmen: Definitely the people. As part of the UX team, I feel so lucky to be able to work closely with a lot of talented designers, developers, researchers, PMs, and other amazing people from different teams. I also always look forward to meeting up and having fun connecting with everyone outside of work in our socials and retreats.
How do you work with the content designers and product designers at Later?
Priscilla: It really depends on the day and project. However, I try my best to involve content designers and product designers early on in the discussion so that everyone is on the same page and aware of what to expect. There are many challenges that could be solved through content edits and interface design changes when communicated early — for example, ensuring users understand what we are communicating to them about on the page level. Getting early support from the content and product designers substantially reduces UX effort and make our workflow much more efficient.
Good news!
Looks like you made it to the end, so here’s a little treat for you. We’re hiring a Staff UX Designer to join our team! If you like what you read, make sure to apply here. And as always, we’ll see you Later.
