10 QUESTIONS I GET ASKED ALL THE TIME
What is your design process?
In approaching the design process, I recognize that it is a dynamic endeavor, contingent on various factors such as the company, project specifics, and prevailing priorities. Crucial elements like the organization's culture, design maturity, and digital landscape significantly influence the methodology. I am adept at adapting my approach to suit the unique context of each project and company, ensuring a tailored and effective process. For a more comprehensive understanding, I would be delighted to discuss this in detail during an interview. Broadly, my design process encompasses crucial stages including rigorous research, creative ideation, precise wire-framing, iterative prototyping, comprehensive testing, and extensive collaboration. I draw inspiration from industry-leading design entities like IDEO, Nielsen Norman Group, and Interaction Design Org, whose methodologies resonate with my own.
What are your design tools?
Sketch + Invision (popularly used together), Figma (gained popularity in the past 3 years, easy to collaborate), Axure RP, Mural (for workshops), Adobe XD, Proto.io, Zeplin, Abstract, Balsamiq, Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign), Powerpoint, Google Slides, Keynote, Jira (Atlassian), Confluence (Atlassian), Miro, Lucidchart, MS Excel, MS Word, and others.
How did you get involved with UX Design?
Creative Background: Always been a creative thinker, so something along the lines was natural to me. Went to OCAD University (Toronto) for Art & Design.
Career & Personality Tests: With a view to aligning my personality with my career, I wanted to know what I am naturally good at and inclined towards. What can I not get bored of for a very long time? I took the Strengths 2.0 test and it suggested my top skills were: Futuristic, Big Picture Thinker, Creatively Gifted, Problem Solver, and People Person. Design covers all those and more.
Networking: I networked with 100 + people in my LinkedIn connections and set up conversations with them, asking them questions like “What does day to day life of a UX Designer look like, what do you need to be good, what do you enjoy about design, what do you least enjoy.”
How do you keep up with the current trends?
Attend Tech Conferences: Collision (every year), TechTO, and Design meet-ups.
Speak to Design Gurus: Jared Spool, Willy Lai, follow DesignX, etc.
Have friends and network in design & tech. Surround myself with the right people.
Download a lot of apps and analyze their UX behavior on mobile and web.=
I live, eat, and breathe this space.
What have you learned during COVID (2020-2022)?
The pandemic underscored the significance of health, fostering greater empathy, and the directness in communication. Additionally, it highlighted the efficiency gains of leveraging AI for automating routine tasks, allowing for more focus on creative endeavors and quality time with loved ones.
What is your personality type?
Extrovert (E): Between an introvert and an extrovert, I lean a bit more towards an extrovert.
Intuition (N): I make intuitive decisions based on gut feeling.
Feeling (F): I mostly make decisions based on my gut feeling.
Perceptive (P): I like to perceive a variety of perspectives, and then make a wholistic decision. In my approach to decision-making, I adopt a Perceptive stance. I relish the diverse array of perspectives that exist and believe in crafting a comprehensive, all-encompassing solution. This holistic approach ensures that my decisions are well-informed and considerate.
What do you do if you don’t have enough time on a project, what are you willing to give up on?
Depends on how much less time. I will be able to go less in-depth and rather focus on delivering it on the deadline, and trade off the perfect product for for a good enough design that is delivered on time. I will identify key priorities that are “must haves”. Certain processes might have to be skipped, but I will try not to compromise on key stuff like user testing. But "might not take an as long and in-depth approach in deciding which user testing method to pick and just pick one based on experience. I also might not create a very long & accurate testing script, just a rough one might do. I also might have to jump into mid-high fidelity directly.
How do you persuade business stakeholders on design concepts and design thinking?
Involve business in every step of the design process and create an environment of empathy between us and them. When business stakeholders feel a lack of control over product decisions, they feel uncertain about the importance of design. I like to have business involved in design workshops, ideation, design reviews, discussion of findings after user-testing sessions, etc.
How do you balance business expectations & user needs?
Business Expectations: Design Workshops are great. Lately, I have been using Mural for this. I even share the prototype early on with the business so that their inputs can be captured before user testing sessions.
User needs: Conduct user testing (quantitative & qualitative) and understand their pain points through observational studies, surveys, feedback forms, 1-1 interviews, A/B testing, and using usertesting.com.
What is your leadership style?
I like to empower the people I work with. I do this by forming trust and creating an environment where if someone has made a mistake, they can openly talk about it. Provide encouragement, and room for growth, and provide constant feedback. In order to be a good leader, I also need to be led by the right people, so I am careful when deciding which company to work with.
A DEEPER INSIGHT
Why UX?
For me, UX is the nexus of clarity and creativity. Armed with an artistic background, I approach challenges with a problem-solving mindset. I firmly believe that every problem carries within it a solution waiting to be discovered, and over the years, I've distilled an effective approach to simplifying complexities.
UX = Flow State
My truest self emerges in conversations about design. It's in these moments that I relish the process of reimagining perspectives and uncovering the core issues. I find my state of "flow" when I'm immersed in iterating design variations, reveling in the boundless potential of creation.
Simplicity is My Guiding Principle
The elegance of simplicity holds an enduring fascination for me. I thrive in structured environments, where a clear path forward is laid out. While I embrace spontaneity in creative pursuits, I ensure there's always a method to the madness.
For me, the design process is not a destination, but a continuous journey of evolution.
Thank you for your inquisitiveness.