Beautiful and usable design can be the deciding factor between a successful and a failing business.
Great designers are treated like superstars.
And its so fulfilling to design beautiful things that people love to use.
But can you become a designer at all without a degree in design?
Will you have to go back to school to pursue the career of your dreams?
In my opinion, yes and no.
Today, Im a UX Manager and take care of a wide variety of design topics.
in computer science and two engineering degrees.
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Many people still mistake design for visual design.
But design isnt just Photoshop.
Its the entirety of the underlying process,includingwhat the final outcome looks like.
According to Alan CoopersAbout Face, this includes designingbehavior,form, andcontent.
Design is nothing one person simply makes up and thats it.
Youre always designingforsomeone by solving a problemtogetherwith other designers.
I want to give you two quotes to underpin this.
And the second one, by Ana Kras:
Design is not decoration.
Design is to make something work.
Design is a thought process, the solving of a problem.
If you want to become a designer, youll have to readThe Design of Everyday Things.
Hence, buy a notebook and scribble as if theres no tomorrow!
Basically, a good UX design can be as little as sketches on a napkin.
As forrapid prototyping, I highly recommend paper prototypes.
For more on this, read Marc Rettigs classicPrototyping for Tiny Fingers.
Moreover, you’re free to create pretty elaborate prototypes using tools likeInVisionorBalsamiq.
Since I have a technical background, I usually just prototype directly in HTML/CSS/JS.
Depending on the stage of the design process, the methods you use can differ greatly.
Early on, they tend to be more qualitative and attitudinal.
For instance, youd do some ethnographic field research to discover users pain points and everyday problems.
For a nice, comprehensive overview of user research methods, just refer tothis articleby Christian Rohrer.
Another source Id recommend for learning about the immense value of user research is Robert Hoekman, Jr.sExperience Required.
Double delivery
In 2018, I attended A Conversation with David Kelley at the University of Michigan.
Kelley is one of the founders of IDEO and a professor at Stanford University.
How can I manage to be recognized more as a designer?
This is what he calleddouble delivery.
You dont need a so-called design task to do design.
However,beinga designer takes a little more than that.
So youre interested in design?
Story byMaximilian Speicher
Max is passionate about beautiful and usable design.
He’s worked extensively on user experience, usability, & AR/VR topics, in both industry and academia.
