In my previous blog post, I covered what types of UX design careers are out there. Now, I’d like to share what type of UX designer I’d like to be and why.
A UX researcher specialist
The goal of UX researchers is often to understand how a product can provide a solution to real problems users are having. They do so by conducting studies or interviews that examine how people use a product, identify pain points that users are experiencing, and explore how products can help solve those problems.
Why I would be a good UX researcher
The role of a UX researcher appeals to me as I believe I already possess certain skills and education needed for this role. I am curious by nature, I love solving problems and I find it easy to empathize with other people, another trait that is important in the role of a UX researcher. Furthermore, in my Communication studies, I had classes where I was taught different research methods that I had to apply throughout my studies on different assignments. Recently, I have been surveying in a community project where I visited over 300 addresses and directly interviewed people on their waste management. I thoroughly enjoy surveying and found that people respond very well to me so much so that I had very few people decline to answer the survey.
This is definitely a role I will aim for after completing the Foundations of User Experience (UX) Design course by Google on Coursera. I also plan to take up another course afterward at Coursera diving deeper into user research specifically.
UX design generalist
A UX generalist is responsible for a broader number of tasks such as:
- user research
- interaction design
- information architecture
- usability testing
- visual design—sometimes
- front-end development—more rarely
I am a perfectionist and I’d rather be a master of one task. Having said that, I’d still like to know enough about all other aspects of UX design as that will make it easier to communicate with other UX colleagues which would ultimately result in better UX and product. Another reason why I would like to know more about other aspects of UX design, especially about work in design tools such as Figma and Adobe InDesign is that I myself often have different product ideas and would like to try designing my own products.
Having designed more than a few WordPress websites for various local businesses, I really enjoy telling somebodies story or presenting a business and a product in an aesthetically pleasing way that users find useful so learning more about all the ins and outs of what makes an app or website successful is something I am really looking forward learning more about.