A Bucket List for Interaction Design Students
Things you should do while still in school
While students are given the freedom and protection of an academic sandbox to explore their full potential without the fear of client expectation, there are things that academia is not set up for and yet essential as part of your career later on. Here’s my suggestion for what you need to do while you are still a student…
Take risks and make mistakes
There is no paycheck on the line. There is no client on the line. There is no “You’re fired!”
The only thing on the line is how much you learn. You are not taking the class to appease the instructor. You are taking the class to push your comfort zone and learn new skills. The instructor is not your boss. The instructor is there to offer you guidance and assistance along the way. Don’t be afraid to speak to your teachers about what you’d like to try as long as it falls in-line with the course syllabus.
School is also a great time to try out different technology: programming languages, software, Sketch vs Photoshop, Wordpress vs designing something from scratch, etc. Push your boundaries. Perhaps as a challenge to yourself, try to go through a class without fear of judgement and grades next semester.
Set realistic constraints with at least one project
A trend I see in student portfolios is an abundance of what-ifs. What if we have a 3D printer fused with a hologram that can print chocolate* on demand? What if we have a hovercraft that can get you from LA to NY in 3 hours? What if… what if…
Yeah that’s great. Most projects people will hire you to work on will have a limited budget and limited resources. As a student, you should explore both ends of the spectrum and see what you enjoy the most. As a second challenge to yourself, try to go through a class with these questions in mind:
Can this product be built today?
What type of resources/materials do I need to build this?
How do I need to bring this product to market?
If the technology I need is not available today, what are the alternatives that I can use in the meantime?
Not only does having both practical and experimental works show your dimension and range as a designer, the outcome will certainly come in handy when it is time to decide what type of company you want to work for: is it bringing human touch to emerging technology (e.g. wearable devices? implants?) or is it improving what we have already (enterprise UX)?
*a Willy Wonka invention, totally want it!
Design with your users in mind and be open to change
What value does your product have if people don’t use it? In my class, I pushed my students to go find actual potential users, conduct surveys or interviews, and perform usability tests with. There are many names for it, but it’s what we call user-centered design (UCD). Digital products, especially websites or applications, are complex. There are many factors involved, not just aesthetics.
It is easy to come up with an idea, but it is not easy to get out of the building. I’ve been there. I get it. When you talk to users or see them going through the products you create, you see the delights and frustrations first-hand. Your projects are suddenly more interesting because as you improve, you become thoughtful and conscious of how people respond to the things you’ve created. The end result is amazing, even more effective than some of the lectures.
As a student, you have the best reason to get into places and get some great insights from people. People are more open and willing to speak for educational purposes, so don’t let it go to waste.
Learn to critique and receive feedback from others
Constructive criticism is a key component in a collaborative environment. Good collaboration requires you to convey your thought process and get everyone on board. You need to make recommendations to clients and guide those who are less creative on the team to a better execution of concept. From personal experience, being a designer requires more soft skills than I thought: talking to users, discussing strategies with colleagues, or responding to clients who may sometimes be very challenging. In the end, it all goes into building your interpersonal communication and leadership skills.
Yes, some feedback can hurt a lot. It’s upsetting to see that your work is not being recognized or is swallowed up in the company politics. For the sake of yourself, it is a good practice to step away from your work and learn to not take feedback personally. When you are able to criticize your own work objectively, it gives you more leverage to communicate. It also increases your value as a designer who can take on more responsibility.
I have not reached the level of communication zen master yet. It’s definitely a learned experience.
Document everything… EVERYTHING!
There will always be someone who’s better than you at creating wireframes or interfaces. An idea can be executed hundreds of ways. Your strength as a designer lies within your thought process and how you arrived at that particular design decision. I cannot stress how important it is to document everything you do.
As someone who has interviewed others and has been interviewed by others, walking through your decisions and process is always more interesting than seeing still images of the end product. When you work on a project, take pictures of your meetings, your work in progress, your interview participants, your ugly sketches, your pretty sketches, your work station during finals, and your final presentation feedback. EVERYTHING!!!
When you include process photos in your portfolio or show them to prospective employers, they will make you stand out among fellow candidates.
If you have a phone with camera, you have no excuses not to document your process.
Befriend people from other majors, internships, everywhere
School is a great environment for fostering some of the best longterm friendships and social circles. From a personal perspective, some of the friendships established in school extended long after graduation and some have helped open doors to many places, and vice versa.
Collaboration is a key component of working in tech, and I wish the academic environment can provide more of that. I highly encourage taking transdisciplinary courses and being involved on-campus outside of the curriculum (clubs, events, etc) if available at your school. Whatever you did not learn in school, you will continue to learn in work and in life.
Aside from school, it’s also a good idea to befriend coworkers and fellow interns during internship. For obvious reasons, there are some things that are best not to share in a work environment. #NSFW However, these people may become your long-term friends once the internship/job has ended. These people may introduce new opportunities to you down the road, and these people may work with you again in the future.
As an introvert, I know how difficult and uncomfortable it can be to talk to strangers when you just want to go home and hang out with your cats. Remember that networking doesn’t have to be insincere or sleazy. Go with your own pace and strike up a genuine conversation one person at a time.
Find a voice for your portfolio, find your path
As you venture through your exhilarating student career there comes a time when you have to sit yourself down and think about what you want to do, where you want to be, and how you can get there in 3 years, in 5 years, or even in 10 years.
If thinking 3 years ahead is too much for you, think about what you want to do exactly a year from now and start from there.
Where do you want to live?
What type of place do you want/don’t want to work at?
What type of people do you want/don’t want to work with?
What type of work do you want/don’t want to do?
This is what I’ve learned from Petrula Vrontikis, a professor at Art Center, on the eve of my own graduation which I still use as a way to evaluate my own quality of life. She said that a job must contain 2 out of the 3 components: time, money, or love. If you don’t have 2 out of the 3, then it’s time to make some serious changes. GTFO!
Time: do you still have time for yourself outside of work?
Money: are you being compensated fairly for your work?
Love: are you passionate about what you are working on?
Use internships as an opportunity for you to try out different types of companies. If you love the work, start building relationships and see if you can continue your career after graduation. If you hate the work, it’s a lesson learned. Now you know what you don’t want to do for the rest of your life, and start applying elsewhere!
Make sure you are damn happy with what you’re doing
User experience, interactive design, wearable devices, Internet of Things, etc… so many buzzwords you see everyday. Even though tech is one of the most popular/interesting industries to work at right now, it may not be the right thing for you.
If you find yourself unhappy in this field, don’t get discouraged and keep searching. Just because you might not be on the tech/VC/startup bandwagon, it does not make you any “less cool”. Life is too short to chase after buzzwords and doing something you don’t enjoy. The end of school is merely one of the many milestones in your life. The important thing is to be content… or strive to be content at every stage of your life! Cheers!
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Further Reading
Special thanks to my former Art Center students who made this article much better: Samuel Gates, Pearlyn Lii, Irene Kim, and Michelle Fong.
