My brain has been rewired — The UX Mindset
Here I sit, on week 9 of my immersive course at General Assembly at NYC feeling excited and hopeful of what’s yet to come.
Here I sit, for the second time in my life I’m experiencing like my brain has been rewired to think a certain way. The first time it happened I was in college studying Video Production, and it wired my mind to live life thinking of framing shots or how a camera would move at a specific day in my day. I stopped watching films for their content and became more critical on how the film had been edited, critical about the different type of shots, how the color affected the film, how the score fit the movie.
I became critical and observant about everything. I went into the movies with friends that didn’t have this knowledge, and they came out saying how good the movie was while I was ready to list all the things that made the movie bad. On the other hand, they complained about how slow the movie was, and I was already drooling over how the shots told the story how the color gave the mood and how much of a masterpiece that ‘slow’ movie was.
I became critical, in the right way. And till this day I still have this mindset. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not an expert by any means, I don’t go to the movies to be critical of films. I still enjoy going to watch a ‘bad’ film and have a good time, enjoy the popcorn and soda and have a great EXPERIENCE.
Which reminds me, I am here to talk about the User Experience Mindset (sorry got a little carried away). For the second time, my brain has been rewired to think a certain way. It is crazy just how much it did in such a short time.
I grew up breaking things apart to figure out how they worked inside. I wasn’t always successful putting them back together, but I found it fascinating. It is very fitting seeing myself doing this now, now that I think of it.
It was probably week 4–5 of the course when I walked into a new restaurant down the block where I live. I walked in because something caught my eye. It was late at night, there was only one customer, and he was ordering from a tablet, I got curious and took the bait. It took me probably 17 minutes to order a bowl of rice with chicken and four vegetables. A process I could’ve done in less than a minute If I could’ve walked up like one does at Chipotle. I gave it the benefit of the doubt and waited for my order. The guy in front of me got served and left the restaurant with his food, so I struck a conversation with the guy working the kitchen that night who happened to be the owner. So I did what any other person in my position would’ve done! I introduced myself as UX Designer! WILD I know! The student who thinks he’s an expert.
He wasn’t very familiar with the term, so I came up with an analogy and said:
I’m like a modern-day detective.
Who am I kidding that was all Tyler Hartrich, but thanks to him, explaining UX to the family in this years holidays will be much easier.
We had a good conversation we exchanged stories and politely suggested how the ordering process could be improved from my point of view, but most importantly the WHY it would improve it. He acknowledged a lot of the stuff and thanked me for the opinion. He also told me some of my observations where already being worked on in the next build of the system used to order. So hey I was thinking about the ‘right’ things.
But the biggest take away from this experience is, I got home and realized that five weeks in, I was already thinking differently, I had the tools to defend my ideas properly, and for the first time in a couple of years, I found myself passionately talking about it. It felt rewarding, exciting, and hard to explain.
Back to the present, just like this situation, I find myself observing. Observing things that work well, but could work better. The metro system, ordering food online, buying groceries, ordering a ride-share, booking a doctor’s appointment, there are so many things out there, and this course has put me right in the center of the action. Look here! Look there! Fix this! Fix That! Looking at everything with a new mindset is fantastic.
Here I sit, writing this because I feel like I a machine that got a new software update and needed to share. I write this because I got ‘blackmailed’ for a 1:1 talk over coffee. I don’t even drink coffee; I’m a fake Colombian. Maybe a beer will do.
