My first few weeks working as a UX designer
A few months ago I got offered a position of a Junior UX designer at Threefold. I could not be happier. I finished college. I had amazing friends and family. And now I got my dream job in a fantastic company. I was about to start doing something I was passionate about. What else would you want! Between the feelings of happiness, there was also a lot of worry, stress, and uncertainty. Change can be nerve wracking, but it’s a good thing that I love challenges. As Seth Goding said:
If it scares you, it might be a good thing to try.
I left all my worries behind and when I walked through that door on Monday morning, I knew that Seth was right.
The first few days were definitely overwhelming and exciting. I was drowning in all kinds of new information our Design Lead, Shane Doyle was throwing at me. The clients, new software, new colleagues, new design process. Everything was new! Soon, I found myself in meetings. I got introduced to software I wasn’t familiar with. Not long after I was doing usability tests, wireframes, and writing problem statements. Shortly after I was designing. I was so ready for my new role and could not wait to learn more. The biggest transition I experienced was ditching my treasured Adobe, for mysterious Sketch. After a few weeks, I forgot my old ways and fell in love with Sketch.
There is a great sense of belonging in our office. From the first day I walked in, I felt very welcomed and included. That place has such a homely feeling to it. It could be because of the magical, ivy-covered 18th-century building we are in, but I would say it is the people who make it feel so warm and friendly. The atmosphere here is so easy going and relaxed. There is no unnecessary stress or pressure. This doesn’t stop the team from being productive and organised. I would even say it helps our design team to stay productive and creative. Nothing kills creativity more than tense environment!
At Threefold, we have a small design team. In my previous jobs, I was always the only designer and found myself struggling to improve my work and get constructive feedback. I am a strong believer in working as a part of a team. It is so important to be able to get feedback and have someone look at your work with a fresh set of eyes. I have also always enjoyed brainstorming sessions with a larger group of people. More people always equals more ideas. As I didn’t experience much of that up to date, it was a huge change for me to have a senior designer around. It definitely helped me to improve my design thinking and my design process. It is refreshing to have someone with experience, knowledge, and passion that you can work with. Constructive criticism and discussing our designs is a great way to improve skills.
Even though I am a junior designer, Shane makes sure we work as a team. Each Monday a design planning meeting takes place. It gives us a chance to discuss all the projects. This is great as even if I am not working on a certain project, I can still be involved in the process. During our catch ups, I get to ask any questions, get feedback, talk about anything I am struggling with. This can be so helpful, especially when it comes to discussing tasks that were hard to tackle. It’s a great time for reflection and feedback. Sometimes issues come up with ways to improve our process. We recently came up with design principles for Threefold . We also began design talks where we present design related topics that we find interesting. Both of us are doing courses that help us improve our skills.
One of the biggest things that I realized in the past few weeks is that a lot of knowledge I gained in college was not what “real life” design is. Design — as absurd as it sounds — is not always all about design. Design is for users, not for designers. Many projects that I have worked on in college would be impractical in real life for different reasons. Sometimes they would not be legible to some users, and sometimes budget to produce them would be too high. Often you need to compromise on beauty, to get a product that is more legible and accessible. And at times, what you design is not what the client wants. One of the biggest mistakes I have done in the past was basing many designs on assumptions. This was mostly due to no budget for UX research. How wrong was that! As designers we are here to solve users problems — how can you solve problems based on assumptions? I’ve learned that not everything is always black and white. Many users struggle with different problems that we wouldn’t even think of before researching!
Another thing I love about working at Threefold is that each day is different. We work on a range of different projects with clients from all over the world. In my two months here, I discovered so many different tricks to speed up my workflow. Each day, I get to learn something new, whether it is a fun fact or a new skill. I get to work with different people on a variety of projects. There is a lot of freedom to explore your skills and creativity. I have heard before that first six weeks at a new job are the hardest. To be honest, in my case this statement could not be further away from the truth! I have been loving every single day. Sure, I had bad days — like you would starting any career. It is important to remember that challenges are there to help us build a better version of ourselves, not break us. I feel so lucky to be able to grow and learn here at Threefold. I had the best two months and can’t be more excited to continue my adventure and being part of this amazing company.
