Interview With an Information Designer
The main part of this individual research was to hold an interview with an information designer for 30 to 60 minutes. I interviewed Shannon virtually, and we talked about her current position and what she has been using for application and software.
But wait, who is Shannon?
Shannon is
- An information designer who graduated from Mount Royal University in 2018.
- After graduation, she started working for Critical Mass.
- She worked for T&T as a client for Critical Mass for about a year.
- She has been working for Apple for over three years now as a client for Critical Mass as well, but she has been relocated to California.
We know her title is an information designer, but what does she do?
Shannon has been a UX designer since she started working for Critical mass.
UX designer…. hmm ,What is a UX designer?!
UX designer means user experience designer who creates an evidence base process that will help the user use a product or website. The decisions made by the UX designer will be driven by research test results ( prototyping) and work flow analysis.
A UX designer will start with a research that can includes but not limited to filed research, desk research, know the user by interviewing them and creating a mood board and a persona sheet to learn more about them and create a full picture of the user for a better workflow.
UX designer has to think sharp, leaves no shady spots behind, have a very strong technical and problem-solving skills to over the user the best experience that will suit them.
When I asked her “ Have you always known you want to be a UX designer?”
She said, and I quote
“ No, information design is really broad, but in my second year, I got a marketing internship, and I knew that wasn’t the right field for me, user experience design bring the good in me and makes me design for people with empathy. It is a passion, not a career at this point”
So I asked her, “Can you please tell me more about your role as a UX designer?”
She stated that a UX designer or at least for her job because she has a whole team working together for the final product, but in each project she should:
- Do a research ( or there could be a research team to help).
- Prototype and wire framing.
- Present.
What product/ software has she been using for the steps listed before?
It all depends on the company she was/is working for. But it is stricter with Apple as all the employees are using software powered by Mac, and it would be the easiest way to use a Mac product.
To start, let’s break down the software she used with T&T for a year.
But wait… there is a spoiler alert before we continue.
All the software she has been using, not a single product was an Adobe creative product, which is extremely odd because me as an information design student at Mount Royal University and Shannon as a graduate student, all what we have been using during school time was from the Adobe Creative Suite.
T&T prototyping
- Axure RP.
- Figma.
What is Axure RP?
It is a very designing tool that will create a highly interactive HTML prototypes for web, mobile or any desktop application. It can build very rough ideas into something very complex and professional to show to your client. Furthermore, it can be used for a diverse range of projects like healthcare, finance, sports and education.
What does the RP in Axure RP stand for?
The RP stands for the rapid prototyping which is the main focus of this powerful tool.
So is it just a wire framing/prototyping tool?
There is more to that to Axure RP. Axure can take the UX designer from the research phase to the design then wire framing and finally rapid prototyping. So here are some of the deliverables that can be created with In Axure:
- Sitemaps.
- Personas.
- User workflows.
- Customer journey maps.
- Wireframes.
- Prototypes.
- Specification documents.
What’s very interesting is
All the listed above deliverables are DOWNLOADABLE. Very useful!
What is Figma?
Figma is a prototyping tool that is primarily web based. It is available for Mac’s and Windows’ users and the app version will allow viewing and interacting with the wireframes and prototypes crated by Figma in real time on mobile devices.
Is there anything special about Figma?
Absolutely!! Figma is more than just a prototyping tool! There are a lot of the features that can be used offline, but there is more to it….
Figma is a powerful platform that will let a team work on the same file together! And in the same time in the same document!
How could that be?
Figma linked all team members in the creative process. A team can work on the same document together, and it will let the clients and stakeholders give the designers some feedback by adding comments on the wireframe right on the work to make it easier to understand and adjust according to the needs of the client.
And it all we be used and saved in the cloud.
Once the prototyping process is done, How did Shannon use to present her work to the team or the clients?
Shannon: “ Presenting is the most important step because you need to be clear to deliver your ideas.”
Shannon tended to be not very complicated with what she uses for presentations. As she said “ A great idea will sell itself”. So she used PowerPoint and the interactive wireframes.
Now with the Apple!
What prototyping tools has Shannon been using with Apple?
As Shannon answered this question:
“ Well to be honest, ALOT” every project will be unique in its own way, and it needs a different prototyping software, so you have to go along with that.”
But some prototyping methods she mentioned was
Sketch
It is a very collaborative way to design, prototype and wireframe. But it is powered by Mac.
Sketch gives the designer all the tools they require for a truly collaborative design process. From early ideas to pixel-perfect artwork.
So what is the difference between Sketch and Figma?
It was the first question that came to my mind when she mentioned that Sketch is a collaborative tool! But I hold the thought, and I decided to do my research and find out.
So here are my findings
Another useful tool is
OmniGraffle!
Shannon has been using it for the past three years and not surprisingly, it is macOS and iOS users, but it is powered by the Omni Group.
OmniGraffle is a powerful visual communication tool when you get something to explain, it will be the go-to tool.
The OmniGraffle will let the user create very detailed diagrams, rapid prototyping and design to create a professional grade vector graphics.
How about the presentation part with Apple?
“ it is a high-end company with a lot of important stakeholders, how do you present your work?”
That was the question I asked, and it made her pause for a moment. Her answer was hesitates as she couldn’t find any difference between both T&T and Apple for the presentation part.
However before we moved to the other last part of our interviewed she told me that she uses Keynotes for presenting with Apple as it is powered by Mac. But she mentioned something very interesting about a print presentation.
How did Apple use to do?
Well, Apple used to print all the wireframes on a very large scale paper print and present on it so the skate holders can right, comment and give some feedback. But since most tools has the rapid testing function which will let the client interact with it, there has been less need to print a large scale wireframes unless it is for sitemaps or something that would be beneficial to look at it in a bigger scale than the presentation screen.
“ it was very expensive and kind of extra! I am so glad they stopped wasting papers.”
Over all
“ How did you get to learn and use all of those tool in such a short period of time?”
“ Google is your best friend”
It was very impressive to see that in a short period of time she moved to California to work for a large company such as Apple just a year after graduation. So I wanted to know her secret.
Well, it turns out nothing, if you are confident, hard worker and always to try to prove your self you will be able to reach your goal. Everything is a learning process and with Google it is getting easier because somewhere a person in the world had the same question as you, so you will be able to find an answer.
The conversion was beneficial because I learned a lot about new tools I had no idea it excites, and she was nice enough to tell me that I could contact her anytime if I have any questions.
