Sarah Doody
One of the top questions people ask my is how they can get a job in the user experience design field when they don’t have any experience? It’s a classic problem that most people early in their industry face. To be honest, I think this question is lazy talk.
By asking this question, you’re missing the point of what “experience” in a field really is. People think that having experience in a field equals having a job to demonstrate experience. This approach is completely wrong!Continue reading
* This is part of a new weekly series I’m doing on Getting Started In User Experience.
My entry into working in startups was quick, unplanned, and very naive to say the least! I was looking for an exit from my corporate job and though working for myself was an option, I didn’t believe it was possible and so I never made it happen (more on that later).
So naturally, when a friend approached me and said he was starting a company in NYC and wanted me to join him, I said yes. I literally quit my job, sold my car, packed up my condo in Portland, and got on a red-eye to New York City all within two weeks.Continue reading
* This is part of a new weekly series I’m doing on Getting Started In User Experience.
Like most people, I couldn’t stand my corporate job. It was routine. It lacked challenge. It didn’t have any soul — didn’t align with my passions. It wasn’t very creative. And, I definitely didn’t fit the culture. But, I had a window office all to myself, there was a conference budget, the campus was immaculately groomed, they gym had trainers and yoga, and at 2pm every day a lady came around with a snack cart. After initially thinking that at 21 I had somehow achieved some big “I’ve made it” milestone, I realized I was very wrong. Continue reading
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The number one thing people ask me is how they can get started in UX.
I’m always surprised at the volume of requests I get because I thought that there were a lot of resources already out there about getting started in UX. But when I commented about this to a friend, she just laughed and said there really aren’t enough resources because it’s all about voice and approachability. I guess it makes sense, sometimes five people can tell you the same thing and it isn’t until the fifth one that things make sense and you actually “get” it.Continue reading
The art of pushback is a topic that I learned about through a very personal experience. As a user experience designer, one thing you become very good at is managing input. It is your job to listen to and identify problems, design solutions, and gather and evaluate input from everyone involved.
But, what happens when the input isn’t quite applicable to the project at hand? What happens when you have to say “no” to input that some people provide?
Saying “no” to someone else’s idea is never easy.Continue reading
In October 2008 I wrote a post called Are We Really Friends where I questioned the quality of the relationships that social networking sites were creating and facilitating. Granted, this was in 2008, so a lot has changed since then. But I recently re-read the article and something stood out to me:Continue reading
Apple recently unveiled the new operating system, iOS7. Many people were surprised there was no new device, and only new software.
Nick Bilton (@nickbilton) of the New York Times recently wrote an article, Disruptions: Mobile Competition Shifts to Software Design. In the article, Bilton discusses how today, with more than a billion smartphones in market, there is arguably little that can be done to drastically Continue reading
Today I’m over on the Usabilla blog talking about how to manage feedback and why creating context is so important. As designers, we all face the challenge of gathering input and feedback from stakeholders, colleagues, and peers.Continue reading
* I originally wrote this post for Medium.
I recently spent a few days visiting family in Florida. Inevitably, a few days into the trip, I had a list of tech-related things that people needed help with. In fact, I became the family appointed Apple Genius…but I’m sure none of you can relate to that (wink, wink)!
As a user experience designer, you haven’t lived until you’ve trouble-shooted tech problems for your family or tried to teach them easier ways to do things.Continue reading
A few weeks ago, I went to an event at Google where they introduced the new Solve For X project and their initiative to encourage and connect people working on Moonshot Ideas.
At the event, the makers of the Invisible Helmet spoke about their experience in making the helmet. After the speakers told us about their projects, the attendees broke up into groups to discuss how to take these Moonshot Ideas even further.Continue reading