Voices of UX
7 UX lessons I learned from traveling
How exploring shaped me as a UXer
I was fortunate enough to be able to travel while working remotely this year. My lease was ending and I decided I wanted to take advantage of the flexibility working from home provides. So, after talking with my manager about working from different locations, I started planning.
In the past 4 months, I’ve been able to travel internationally to England, Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, and Portugal. I’ve also traveled within the United States, visiting New York City, Richmond, and North Carolina beaches and lakes. It’s been an adventure, to say the least. As I traveled, I realized the life lessons I was learning were applicable to my work in UX. Well, a lot of them anyway. I’m not sure “make sure to sample the unique gelato flavors before committing to a whole cone” would be applicable.
7 UX lessons from traveling
1. Adaption is necessary, often.
One thing I can know for sure is that travel plans will inevitably go awry. Trains will get delayed, luggage will be lost, or you may come down with that nasty stomach bug. You’ll need to be prepared to change your plans pretty quickly.
On my way to London, my flight first flight was delayed on the tarmac, causing me to miss my connecting flight. I landed in Toronto around midnight and was told the next flight to London was the next evening, a full 24 hours later than my original plan. Flight delays or cancellations aren’t uncommon, so avid travelers know their plans may have to change, which is exactly what I had to do. I made sure my friend in London knew I’d be a day late, ensured my hotel had stable wifi and spent the day working from my hotel room.
Just like a traveler needs to be prepared for plans to change at a moment’s notice, a UXer needs to be prepared to change their designs with new information. Iteration is a good thing. Designs should reflect your stakeholders’ feedback, testing, and new data. Change doesn’t mean your designs aren’t good, it means new information is presented to you that you need to adapt to.
2. Expectations determine satisfaction.
When I was in college, I went on a cruise with some of my friends. Being students, we opted for the cheapest room available, which was a tiny room with no windows. Right before the cruise began, we asked if they had any empty rooms we could get a free upgrade to. We ended up getting a free upgrade to a room with a window. The only difference between the two rooms was a tiny window, but we could not be happier about our upgrade- we had natural light!
However, if we booked a room with a balcony and showed up to that room, we would have not had the same reaction. Our expectations would have been higher, so the reality would have fallen short.
Your users’ expectation of what is going to happen determines how satisfied they will be with the product. You need to make sure you meet their expectations or go above them. In UX, this looks like labeling links correctly and bringing the user to the page they think they will go to. It looks like using clear language, so they know what they are doing and using common icons that are familiar to them.
3. Consistency is important.
While traveling to different countries, English isn’t always available, so sometimes I’ve had to use context clues to figure out what certain signs were communicating to me, such as using the gender signs on bathroom doors to figure out which one the ladies’ room is.
Using words and symbols that your users are familiar with will help guide them and make their experience easier, such as using the magnifying glass symbol to indicate the search function. Check out these 25 universal icons by UX Planet to get a better idea of symbols to use.
4. A bad experience can ruin a place for you.
All it takes is one horrible experience for you to decide you’ll never return somewhere. While I am fortunate enough to not have anywhere I’ll never return to, I know lots of people who refuse to go back to a place because they didn’t feel safe, didn’t like the food, or found a couple of people to be rude there.
People will react the same to experiences of a website. If they go onto a website and can’t figure out how to accomplish their goal, the site is taking too long to load, or the site isn’t accessible, they may find an alternative website and never return. I’ve already done that several times today. Either the page takes forever to load, or I can’t find what I want quickly, so I seek out another website to use.
5. The best experience isn’t the best for everyone.
When I went to Venice, Italy, my friend and I woke up early, wandered around, and got lost in the city. If you’ve ever been, you’ll know it is a bit of a maze. We spend the day purposely getting lost, finding new views, tasting delicious food, and of course eating as much gelato as possible. We had the best time. We met up with two of our other friends in the afternoon, who had also been exploring Venice. However, they had a horrible time. While my friend and I found Venice to be beautiful, they said it all looked the same. While we were marveling at the amazing croissants and pasta, they said they couldn’t find anything they liked to eat. We were in the same place, at the same time, but our experiences were very different.
Not everyone will enjoy the same experience. Just like my friends didn’t enjoy Venice, some people won’t enjoy your website. That doesn’t mean it is bad. It means it isn’t designed for them. You can’t create something that everyone will like because people are so different, so you need to make sure you understand your users and what they would like. Conduct research studies, run A/B tests, talk to your users, and put yourself in their shoes. Understand what they like and dislike and why so that you can build an experience that feels personally made for them.
6. There is always more to learn.
Every time I travel, I learn something new. Whether it’s a packing tip, historical fact, or something about myself, I am constantly learning. I think that is part of the beauty of traveling, no matter how much I travel, I can still learn more. In the past few months, I’ve learned the history of Portugal and Croatia, how to surf, and the importance of really good walking shoes.
As a UXer, I think it is important to have the mindset that everything is a learning opportunity. Your product failed. Okay, why? What can you do next time to ensure it does well? Your product was a great success? Awesome, why? What connected with users and what does it tell us about them? Both positive and negative experiences are opportunities to learn from your work. Take time to listen and learn from others. Even if you are the most experienced or the expert in the field, new perspectives are learning opportunities.
There are also studies being conducted constantly that you can learn from. Whether it is user studies specifically for your product or general UX studies, you can use research to learn. The Nielsen Norman Group is a great resource to find new information on all things UX.
7. Practice doesn’t make perfect, but it does help.
Like most things, traveling gets easier every time you do it. When I first began traveling on my own, I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t know to validate my train tickets in Italy or how to change subway lines in NYC.
Now, with the experiences I’ve had, I know more of what to expect and can plan better. I know the questions to ask and how to prepare. Does that mean things will go perfectly every time? No, but it does mean I have more of a chance of things going smoother.
I don’t think I’ll ever be the perfect UXer. I don’t even believe it is possible to be one. However, I think the more I experience, the more studies I read, and the more I collaborate and learn from amazing UXers, the better my work becomes.
I believe traveling and meeting new people with different cultures and perspectives helps you become more empathetic and open-minded. I am so grateful for my opportunities to travel and the privilege I have in being able to do so. As I hopefully continue to explore the world, I expect to find more and more lessons, some of which I’ll be able to incorporate into my career in UX.
If you’ve been able to travel, let me know what UX-related lessons you’ve learned, or your favorite travel spot!
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