Interview with Pamela Pavliscak
Founder, Change Sciences
This year we’re celebrating 10 years of UX London! In the run up to our special anniversary conference, we caught up with Pamela Pavliscak to hear her thoughts on the evolution and impact of UX, and how her own career has developed in this time.
On the evolution and impact of UX
Thinking back to 2009, how and where did the discipline of UX sit within the industry, and what role was it playing in business at that time?
How has UX changed in the past 10 years?
UX has moved from mysterious to mainstream, but it’s still a catch all for everything related to designing the layer that comes between people and technology. Terminology will, no doubt, change. Methods, we know, will change. Mission, I hope, will become ever-more meaningful.
How do you see UX evolving over the decade to come?
Technology mediates between people and planet, individuals and society. That’s why the people who design technology have a place in these complicated conversations about ethics and well-being and the future. Tech is not gadgets, it’s the expectation of a better way of being. To remain relevant, UX will have to evolve toward bigger goals.
What’s the future of UX in one word?
Humanity-centered (and hopeful).
On your career
Tell us about your first design/UX role. Who did you model yourself on?
Really, I never anticipated working in tech. I was studying Russian literature, thinking about an academic life. Gogol, not Google. The excitement and energy around tech drew me in. I knew I wanted an alternative to a standard issue 9 to 5 job. So far, that’s worked out.
What are the qualities of a good UX practitioner?
Humility should be at the top of the list for the next decade. We’ve spent the last decade looking at the world as a series of discrete problems to solve, fooling ourselves into thinking that we can solve everything. Now’s the time to admit that it’s more complicated.
What advice would you give practitioners who are just starting out in their careers?
Challenge the existing wisdom, everything we accept as a given was only recently invented. Cultivate empathy by engaging with people outside your regular circles, devoting a generous amount of your time to reading (especially fiction), and travelling as much as you can.
What does a typical day look like for you? Is it all meetings?
For me, work is usually fits and starts. I began my own company as a way to find balance (and get a puppy!). Now most of my work happens in blocks — the early morning block, then after kids are off to school another long stretch, then, after another pause for family (and now many pets), a bit more in the evening. It’s a kind of all-bets-off alternate reality when in the midst of a project though, since a lot of my work still involves travel and long days of fieldwork.
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Join Pamela and a host of other fantastic speakers at UX London 2018 — the 10th anniversary edition of Clearleft’s trailblazing UX conference. UX London takes place 23rd-25th May 2018 at Trinity Laban — tickets are on sale now at www.uxlondon.com
