Start small, by volunteer

Elon Musk's X-citing Twitter Transformation: A Risky but Rewarding Move 

#neubrutalism

What do you use to break down your qualitative research?

<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*lYqk0j0NV_m0a8hYlrmf3A.jpeg"></figure>Learning design, especially for beginners, can be fascinating, but it can get to a point where you wonder why the money is not coming your way. We are always impatient with our growth journeys and ask ourselves, “wtf am I doing wrong?”
I get it; you may have started a design journey thinking it’s a quick way to join the market, but the reality is ‘mambo ni mangumu‘ especially here in Kenya. My advice, take it slow, by following the below steps:
<ol>
<li>Learn the design basics</li>
<li>Do a personal project.</li>
<li>
Volunteer — yeah, you heard me right
</li>
<li>Draft a portfolio</li>
<li>Start applying for a job</li>
</ol>
The above steps may look a bit long but trust me, it’s worth it.
For this article, I’ll talk about step 3, volunteering. It’s a crucial step to test what you have learned in the real world. Yes, it may sound harsh that you are doing real work for free, but in the real sense, you are giving yourself space to identify errors before you get involved in tight contract projects that don’t give an F on mistakes.
I’ll use myself as an example; in early 2022, I volunteered for a UX Job through an online platform, <a href="https://www.catchafire.org/">Catchfire</a>. I got lucky working with an organization that wanted to redesign its site.
<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*URABnxD1v1kwXvCZbShRKw.jpeg"><figcaption>Site redesign for a non-profit at Haitian</figcaption></figure>What I learned from my volunteer work
You can’t acquire some crucial skills via books or design boot camps until you practice them in a real-life scenario; that’s when you can call yourself a UX designer. Below are a few things I Learned:
<ul>
<li>
Empathy in the real world — The first thing you usually learn in UX is that you should empathize with your users. In this project, I had a chance to put myself in the users’ shoes compared to the dummy projects I had done earlier on.</li>
<li>
Meeting deadlines with an agile flow — I earlier thought designers had all the time in the world to do research, design, and iterations. But in the real world, it doesn’t work like that; time = money. Managers need to review your work in advance, and developers need to implement what you work on. Instead of mentioning the submission date, It’s better to outline all the work you’ll be doing on an excel sheet and share it with your team. This will help you work in an <a href="https://www.guru99.com/waterfall-vs-agile.html">agile process</a> instead of <a href="https://www.guru99.com/waterfall-vs-agile.html">waterfall.</a>
</li>
<li>
Communicating like a champ — Being a UX designer without communication skills is chaos. You’d work with teams from tech to managers in real projects. I learned how to compose myself whenever I got feedback on my designs and use different languages when interacting with managers and the tech team to drive a point home.</li>
</ul>
To cut it short, volunteering will help accelerate and sharpen your skills before getting into paying jobs. Also, adding a real job to your portfolio may increase your chance of getting hired. You may even get senior-level design opportunities, having attained crucial skills in volunteer jobs.
Nice, so where can I Volunteer?
My best suggestion is to check out the opportunities at <a href="https://www.catchafire.org/volunteer/">Catchfire</a>; they have a large pool of organizations with charming projects, from design to development, that can help you grow your career. Besides that, you can volunteer through internship opportunities shared on LinkedIn.
That’s all for now and I hope now you have a better understanding of the next step to take in your design journey.
Cheers ✌️
<img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&amp;referrerSource=full_rss&amp;postId=73b18a4aa8ea" width="1" height="1" alt="">

Start small, by volunteering

Whenever an upcoming designer asks me for advice, it’s usually: “Where can I learn Figma?” The idea that design is just about mastering Figma has taken over the industry, leading to many designers with only surface-level skills. Sadly, many only realize later on in their careers that while they know how to design, they can’t solve the problems they’ve been hired to fix.
<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*Io0EgZHBTnuMRN5zFNr8HQ.jpeg"></figure>Figma is just a tool to help showcase your UX skills. So, what else do you need to be a great UX designer?
<h3>1. Understand the Problem</h3>
Skipping this step can result in designing the right solution for the wrong problem. Many companies waste millions on new products only to discover that users aren’t interested in them.
Steps:
<ul><li>
Ask the 5 Whys — Figure out the <a href="https://www.smartsheet.com/content/problem-statement-templates">Who, What, When, Where, and Why</a>. This helps you fully understand the problem you’re tackling. Let the stakeholders answer these questions, as they own the product. It’ll save you from being told to rework everything later because it doesn’t align with their mission.</li></ul>
<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*z_TfFlH4JAcU24uFwBCBpg.jpeg"><figcaption>Image from <a href="https://www.smartsheet.com/content/problem-statement-templates">smartsheet</a></figcaption></figure><ul><li>
Customer Problem Statement —Put yourself in the shoes of the customer and define the problem. This will ensure you’re solving for the customer, not just for the company.</li></ul>
<h3>2. Do Some Research — It Won’t Bite;)</h3>
Today, any product without data to back it up is seen as risky. The same goes for design. To ensure you’re on track, you need to research to validate the solution you want to design.
For solo projects, check existing data online before diving in. If you can talk to real customers — then that’s better! You can gather qualitative and quantitative insights through interviews or surveys.
<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*B9BGkSAUqjRoWYH1RWVUMA.jpeg"><figcaption>Reviewing a transcribed interview on dovetail.</figcaption></figure>Got a big audience? Tools like <a href="https://dovetail.com/">Dovetail </a>can transcribe interviews and highlight the key insights you need for your project.
Also, if your stakeholders are slow-moving, showing them data can help push things forward!
<h3>3. Brainstorm Solutions</h3>
When brainstorming, use tools that your team can easily follow. Skip Figma for now😉. Bring out the paper, markers, and a whiteboard. Let everyone share their ideas, no matter how wild they sound! Including everyone at this stage ensures that the whole team, not just you, are aligned with the solution.
<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*g3WN5C0GYapGFidKsFNCNQ.jpeg"><figcaption>Brainstorming with colleagues at Sote Hub</figcaption></figure><h3>4. Hot Potato Handoff</h3>
You might be tempted to design the whole product and then hand it off to stakeholders. However, this can lead to designing for yourself and not for them.
<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*pzFfwpYZKM49y-pzWtIV5w.jpeg"><figcaption>Ref: <a href="https://helio.app/blog/design-handoff/">https://helio.app/blog/design-handoff/</a></figcaption></figure>To avoid this, try the “<a href="https://uxplanet.org/hot-potato-process-as-replacement-for-design-handoff-8a131e23da04">hot potato</a>” method: after designing a few key screens or flows, share them with the developer or stakeholders for feedback as you continue working on the rest. This may not work in every environment, like in fast-paced corporate settings, but when possible, it can save you a lot of headaches!
Psst!: This is just a high-level overview of what you need to grow your UX career. I’ll be sharing more tips, so stay tuned! 😉
And remember, don’t let anyone tell you you can’t succeed. Be unique in how you design your products!
<img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&amp;referrerSource=full_rss&amp;postId=41cf95888d6a" width="1" height="1" alt=""><hr>
<a href="https://medium.com/design-bootcamp/ux-design-is-not-figma-41cf95888d6a">UX design is not Figma</a> was originally published in <a href="https://medium.com/design-bootcamp">Bootcamp</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Projects

Articles

Start small, by volunteering

UX design is not Figma