Day#166: Previous company experience with UX
Hi Uxers, today I want to discuss some past roles at companies I have worked at and discuss how Ux practises and simple communication could have been implemented for a more productive process as well as a more sound final product.
Company A
At company A I was in a pure design role, marketing would brief designers and instruct them on tasks. Often marketing would have chosen artwork that they even want used and designers would not be explained on thought process or background of the task.
Advantages: This saves the company time, tasks were a lot more structured and the process was more waterfall with projects being shown to marketing after completion.
Disadvantages: I felt personally like I would have liked more background on projects, however it did not seem like a issue for all designers. Projects after a lot os time and resources were spent could still be rejected, this was negative for creative as well as marketing
UX?: There was no UX at this company, there was a UI designer however no research on users was ever shared with the design team, so if it was done then it was not communicated across teams
Company B
At company B I was more in a design and marketing manager role and decisions were left with me, however it was more about understanding the market than the specific users. The company had agencies do their websites and most digital collateral
Advantages: Less red tape for decisions because it was a smaller company, the company had a lot of freedom to come up with ideas
Disadvantages: The owner was very unwilling to spend money on steps that would advance the company, freedom was often given to work on ideas however when it came down to spending the money on said ideas, the owner would back down
UX? : No research on users was in the archives etc
Company C
Company C, I was hired for UX, design and design management of the company digital media as well as their mobile applications
Advantages: Very open to research practises and modern designs that suited the user
Disadvantages: Research was allowed to be carried out but then not followed by senior management, the company was not focused on user centered design. Despite motivation, the company decided to go with designs that they felt comfortable with
UX: UX research was factored in, however decisions were made in an abstract subjective manner
I think it has certainly got better with venturing into the UX industry for me, however I think companies really struggle with designing for the user even though they may hire UX to do just that. It takes a large amount of tenacity to be able to discuss and approach the topic in a professional yet convincing manner. I often practise my thoughts before hand and often opt for presenting data in a convincing fashion to establish decisions with stakeholders so that they see the logical process that goes into UX design, happy researching until next time Uxers!
Bye for now