Design School vs Design Reality: A Letter to Emerging Designers
Dear Emerging Designers,
You’re probably wondering what it’s like to be in the “real world,” applying what you learned in school. Or, perhaps, you’re a career changer who’s new to design. I have a perspective as someone who recently completed one year as a full-time product designer for Salesforce Commerce Cloud. I was fortunate to have been an intern on the team and then transitioned to full time after I graduated university. I thought I’d share some “pro tips” on how to navigate school versus reality.
Similar, Yet Different
Our school journey starts with us putting together a degree plan to acquire design skills over a specific period of time. Multiple courses are part of the degree plan and each course ends with a final exam or project that marks the completion of the course. For each course, we get a syllabus at the beginning of the semester that outlines what to expect from the course, contact information for the professor and teaching assistants, key projects, grading rubric, and such.
In industry, we have a product roadmap that provides a vision for what we’re trying to achieve longer term. A product roadmap enables all stakeholders to have a unified view of the vision, direction, and priorities over a period of time and helps everyone stay aligned around short-term and long-term goals.
Like taking multiple courses in college, a designer can design multiple features. Each feature has a final deliverable which is the feature release. A feature release is like a course final exam/project submission. Releases are exciting since it’s the big reveal of all our hard work and now gets into the hands of our customers.
Similar to a course syllabus, we get a one-pager for each feature that we work on during a release. One-pagers often come from our product managers who collaborate with the engineering lead and lead designer, and include the overview, key personas, scope, use cases, and success metrics. The key difference here, from my personal experience, is that one-pagers can often be a bit more high-level in terms of the desires of design. Note: this can be a good thing for our creative juices to flow :) Depending on the project size, the UX asks can be vague and focused more on what the user needs. Other times, it may simply specify requirements for a component (i.e a button, text field).
As a designer, it’s important for us to understand the product roadmap, the features we’ll be designing for each release, and the release schedule to ensure that we are producing good quality work on time.
TL;DR:
Tip: Create a highlights doc for quick access to the product roadmap, one-pagers, the work you contributed to, who you collaborated with, key learnings, and any decks, Figma files, or presentations you gave around the project. This can help you reflect on your own progress and it also makes it easier to assess whether you’re ready for taking on larger impact projects.
Certainty vs Ambiguity
While having product roadmaps and one-pagers are helpful, are the plans set in stone? Change is inevitable, but it’s how we embrace it that sets us up for success in the real world.
In school, the requirements of our assignments don’t really change. At work, while a one-pager outlines the goals for the release, new learnings may pivot the plan. For example, code can break, research may lead us to new learnings, the competitive landscape may change, or shifts in prioritization may occur. Unlike school, in industry we’re creating leading-edge work, so expect the unexpected.
Embracing ambiguity is a skill that takes time to develop. But it’s important to be comfortable with it, because this is where creativity thrives. Having to adjust designs to reflect changes in the plan can feel like a rollercoaster. But, this is where innovation magic happens. Not knowing is okay. In fact, as designers, we start out on a project not knowing what the “right solution” is. Get comfortable being uncomfortable. A learning from school that I have brought into industry with me is that there are no dumb questions. The worst thing we can do is not ask any questions and think we can figure things out on our own. When details are vague, use that opportunity to ask questions and delve deeper into the space. This leads to our brain muscles churning, our hands rapidly ideating on paper, and eventually designing a solution.
Explore various versions of design ideas early. This allows us to consider the primary use case we are solving for, as well as any edge cases. Live in the uncertainty of supporting two flows in opposition of one another — why? Because this allows designers to acknowledge the pros and cons of each design and think through what use case the design is really solving for. Designing a solution is an end goal, however the process to get there is not linear — we can create mocks, host ideation sessions, conduct competitive and customer research, seek feedback from stakeholders, and more.
Tip: Embracing ambiguity and owning the process can keep you calm as you deal with uncertainty. Share early and often to get feedback. Once development starts, it may be too late and/or expensive to change the direction of the design.
Collaboration is Key
My biggest realization from joining the “real virtual world” is that there isn’t much opportunity for cross-collaboration in school. In the professional world, cross-collaboration is essential to success as a designer. On the job, I’ve worked closely with engineers. It’s important to collaborate with them early on in our projects to make sure we, for example, learn about any technical limitations and gain access to a sandbox. Setting up ideation sessions with our product managers and engineering partners can be beneficial. I’ve found that when we do have these meetings, I learn more about the long-term roadmap, understand in greater detail where the feature is headed, and how our priorities get aligned for upcoming releases.
I’ve begun to learn more about the crucial role our accessibility engineers play. Designers need to advocate for all types of users and practice designing with people who have disabilities. Reaching out to accessibility champions with questions, reviewing accessibility handbooks, and discussing with our teams contribute to a better design. Here are some resources that have helped me:
- Get Started with Web Accessibility Trailhead
- Working with accessibility engineer
- Mismatch: How Inclusion Shapes Design (Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life) by Kat Holmes
Tip: Work closely with your colleagues as it will allow for stronger designs because you will learn more about technical feasibility, as well as be able to build strong relationships with folks that ensure trust.
Growth & Acceptance
In my time as a product designer, I’ve taken on leadership, mentorship, and projects at a much faster rate than I did in college. There’s less hand-holding, but that’s OK. It’s a good thing, because it helps us get out of our comfort zone and grow as a designer. This is where we thrive. Now, that isn’t to say folks aren’t there to provide guidance. If we’re organized and get the work done, stakeholders aren’t as likely to micromanage. My first manager advised me to “share early and often.” Getting feedback is important.
Speaking of my first manager, folks leave the company (sad), go on family leave, etc. It’s part of life. This doesn’t mean goodbye. Rather, it’s see you later. These friendships you form at work are so SO important. The people we work with are not just online acquaintances, but our cheerleaders who want to see us do well and succeed. When one leaves a company, takes a sabbatical, takes family leave — reflect on their courage to prioritize their career, self, and family to do what’s best for them. Special shoutout to those of you I’ve crossed paths with at Salesforce — you know who you are ❤
Tip: Reflect on your growth of where you started and where you are now. Thank those that have supported you on your journey, and every now and then set up some time for a coffee chat or meet up, if possible.
Work is Fun
As I mentioned, I was an intern on the same team that I joined full time in the summer of 2020. My cohort was the first to be fully remote. My team and I met in person for the first time four months after I joined full time, and it was one year later that I went to the office with some colleagues. It was a lot like my first day of school. I felt like an excited golden retriever being stimulated by the various coffee stations, stickers, number of monitors, large windows, so many people, the badging in and out, the list goes on. Salesforce has made going into the office — even for first-timers — seamless and easy. There are folks to help show you around and tell you what’s going on that day. The Ohana floor is totally worth the hype — the view, energy, matcha — oh my! My co-workers were even COOLER in person, if that’s even possible. It was so energizing to get together in person and have spontaneous chats. And to top it off, happy hour was fun and a great way to get to know one another on a deeper level outside of work. This isn’t standard for all companies. But look for the fun.
Tip: Corporate life doesn’t equate to mundane and boring. Rather it can be exhilarating — take the opportunity (if possible) to meet your colleagues, explore the office, schedule fun VTO events.
Best Wishes
I hope my reflection on professional life after graduation provided some valuable insights. Now that you know these things, I hope you’re excited about joining the “real” world and I look forward to potentially crossing paths with you someday in the future. Thanks for taking time out to read this, and have a great day! :)
Simran
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