The case for an Experience Designer
Most of you are acquainted with what a User Experience Designer is; a professional with the ability to interpret user insights and transform them into usable, functional and holistic journeys / funnels — as part of products usually executed through digital outlets—that satisfy users and meet client goals. A role easier said than done, speaking from experience, in part because since the introduction of business metrics, a byproduct named user centered design was born and it has completely shifted the way we work and develop products. Users are hard to understand, even with the amount of data available to teams today. With every day that goes by and every new invention, users become more demanding and impatient as their thirst for convenience and innovation rises. In a derby scene, we race as they sip on Irish scotch and wait. Some of us get to switch places and become horseman, but most of them never come down to the tracks.
I have referred to the user nine times in the last paragraph.
In this post I am going to dethrone the user a bit. I am going to do so in order to propose the idea of a new (to some at least) role which I call simply, Experience Designer.
Through the use of my own journey, I intend to promote the idea that we may not dare to sacrifice creativity and the beauty of expression altogether, and drop it from the designer’s job description forever.
About a month ago I started to actively send out job applications to some companies in The Netherlands; that went very well and I ended up joining the super talented lamas at Media Monks. Shout out to all monks out there.
A few weeks before that happened I had a call with a local recruiter, a mustered head hunter with some 30+ years of experience who recruits freelance for major companies. She sounded dry, somewhat vexed and her tone was excessively blunt, borderline disrespectful. As we went over my resume she asked me the following question: “What are you, and what do you have a passion for?” — I must admit that I wasn’t sure how to answer that question on the spot, I gave her a flimsy answer and we agreed on a next call.
Her question got me thinking and as soon as our call finished I began to intensely ponder over it. Here is what my resume looked like:
Art Director — Groove
Lead Designer—HanaroAdCom
Creative Director—KPOP United
UX Designer—Sangwha
Creative Associate—Jack Morton Worldwide
UI.UX Designer—Knowre
As you can see in the list above, I have a mixed experience working in Creative or Art Direction roles and UI.UX Design roles. I don’t display the most logical transitions; who goes from Creative Director to UX Designer, then back to Creative Director, then back to UI.UX Designer? I did.
Why?
First, in my case those transitions were circumstantial. Two, a brother has got needs. Third, I do not pay so much attention to what my business card says as much as to things like how challenging the role is, the work I get to do and with who I get to do it. Plus, every company position their employees how it best fits their needs.
Still, for the sake of my professional future I had to find the answer to the recruiter’s question.
Agencies and startups are two very contrasting worlds. Agencies work for clients while most startups develop products. Agencies have creative teams, most startups don’t. One seems to be home to dreamers while the other hosts the realists. I could name more differences and similitudes between the two but you get the point. With that much divergence happening, I felt that I had to first choose an industry before I could define my place in it.
I didn’t like that scenario. Why does it have to be one or the other?—Are you a Creative or are you a Designer? Once you go tech, you can’t go back agency? Or the other way around? I loved my work at both, I learned from both and so I set out to find the way in which I could convey that story.
When developing a product (NPDing), most startup companies, at least the smart ones, release something called an MVP (minimum viable product) and use it as a way to gather as much information and feedback from the early adopters as possible in order to optimize the product and eventually make a full release. The life of the product is hereon connected to the user and his thoughts, emotions and desires. We (User Experience Designers) do things like defining problems, users, scenarios, flows, concepts and so on. We are required to be experts in knowing how to not think like us but to think like them. It has taught the greatest lessons in humility, but alas has in many instances chained my creativity. Users make our products better, and for that I ought to thank them. The challenge? Create the best version of your idea while satisfying your user base.
In agencies, there isn’t such a thing as a bad idea. Creative agencies are hired to do exactly that, be creative. Brainstorming sessions in a creative agency are the climax of design, at least for me. Agencies are usually pushing the boundaries, making use of new technology and the most daring minds to deliver great productions. Here, we are required to be ambitious, unrestrained in our thinking, sharp in our execution. We gamble, believing that people will appreciate and connect with what we are creating. The challenge? Deliver the best version of your idea, while satisfying the client and hoping to satisfy an audience.
When I saw things from this perspective I was able to make clearer conclusions. In product companies, the user usually calls the shots; in agencies, not so much. In one, creativity is second to data, while in the other the opposite is true.
While my analysis didn’t solve the issue with the inherent differences between these two world, it helped me realize my place in it. It made me realize that there is at least one shared goal between agencies and product companies: they both exist to make experiences.
I have grown very fond of that word. It’s so encompassing, so full, so defining. Art, design, apps, shows, concerts, products, regardless of how they came to be, they were all made to be experienced.
So, what am I and what do I have a passion for?
I am an Experience Designer (EXD).
I have a passion for creativity and for people.
My work involves providing creative ideas and accurate design solutions that will help create holistic and relevant digital and physical experiences that engage audiences and fulfill client goals.
I would love to hear what you hear about this. Please leave your love and hate comments in the response below.
Follow me on Twitter @ neilsamur.
