Hello Reach, Hello world…
Joining Reach’s UX & Design team as a Junior User Experience Architect
It’s likely that every junior’s story starts the same way: “It was difficult breaking into the industry.”, “I was nervous at first, I didn’t know what to expect …”
My story was no different: I’ve started as a Junior User Experience Architect in Reach PLC less than a month ago and (like any new starter) I didn’t want to disappoint my manager or my team.
First impressions…
Despite having had quite a few new members joining the UX & Design team in the past couple of months, cooperation and union seem to be part of the work ethos. Not because someone told them they had to be cooperative, but because they naturally gravitate towards it. I honestly felt I was already part of the group.
On my first day at the office, I participated in a review meeting for one of the major projects the team is involved in (and has been for several months now). On that moment, as I was listening to my colleagues going through their designs, explaining the motivations and the logic behind their design choices, the “penny dropped”. I was now working with a “real” team of designers.
One thing that struck me during that first meeting was the fact that everyone proved to be really open to receiving and providing feedback. Not just a vague opinion: honest, sincere feedback. Without fear of hurting someone’s feelings, as it would never be taken personally. In my modest opinion, feedback (the honest kind) is what sparks the biggest improvements, no matter the industry you’re in, no matter the job role you have.
The link with past work experience…
Coming from a background in Quality Management, which was inundated with paperwork and strict procedures, it is refreshing (and quite exciting!) to be part of the digital world and have the chance to make it a “better place” and improve our audience’s experience when using our websites and apps.
I have always been a continuous improvement advocate, and this is where my previous experience will come in handy: the UX process is, in many ways, a PDCA cycle in disguise. In reality this Plan-Do-Check-Act approach used in Quality Management is in every aspect similar to the UX process: Research-Plan-Design-Test (and Redesign…). The test stage of UX would correspond to the “Check" in QM, where you would analyse the results of what has been done and find opportunities for improvement. In UX, feeding the learnings from testing back into (re)design would be to “Act" and actually improve what you have done previously. In both disciplines the focus is the the same, although with different designations: the “Customer” in QM and the “User” in UX Design. They are essentially the same: the person using your product/service.
The life of a junior in the UX/D team…
I have always wondered (throughout my UX Design course) if those team sessions full of brainstorming, writings on the walls and brain-stimulating, creative activities would actually happen in real work context. A word to all juniors out there who wonder about the same thing while looking for their first opportunity: Yes. Yes, they do!
Meetings with the UX & Design team are always very interactive, one could easily find our members “playing around with papers” on the walls and drawing diagrams to explain their point of view. Recently one of my friends commented, in a cheeky way: “That seems too much fun to be a job! Are you getting paid?”
I believe this might be an intrinsic characteristic of the Design industry, but there is no doubt that this dynamism (this environment where you’re encouraged to think outside of the box, to push the boundaries of your ideas) adds a new level of excitement for me.
A couple of weeks into my job, I was part of a design competition to create a logo for a project. Everyone in the team was deeply involved and submitted their designs for evaluation.
My manager also didn’t hesitate to give me redesign tasks from week 1, and I was asked to create wireframes for elements that will be embedded in article pages in the future. For this project, I have started using a new software (Axure), which I have never used before. It has been great to learn a new tool and find new ways of doing things. I have been having loads of support and help whenever I find myself a bit stuck, which is great.
All in all, I’m finding Reach (and my team in particular) a great place to be a junior, to learn from seasoned designers and grow as a professional.
