This completely natural experience has a devious ability to feel like it’s uniquely affecting you and no one else.

For UXers just starting out, this feeling is practically a prerequisite. What other group of people are meant to have extensive skills in research, design, strategic thinking, data and psychology?

Oh and to add to this list, user experience designers are meant to have EXPERIENCE. Our credibility lies in our immense knowledge of problem-solving built up from seeing different scenarios unfold with varying outcomes.

But we all have to start somewhere. If it’s not the first UX job, it might be the first interactive screen we design, or the first time we deal with a product in the financial sector.

In order to gain a deeper understanding of how imposter syndrome affects people in their careers, I had conversations with four different people. These were my findings.

It ebbs and flows but never completely disappears

Something that probably shouldn’t have surprised me (but did anyway), was that the seniors I spoke to still experience imposter syndrome on a regular basis. It’s become a part of themselves they’ve had to accept use to push them to produce the best work they can.

 “Not fitting in can be a hindrance or a motivating factor,” one Experience Design Director told me. “It can be a driving force to feel comfortable. It can be the thing that defeats you, or you learn to accept it and find the right way to utilise it.”

How do they use it? They over prepare, they assess every possible outcome, they live and breathe the problem until the solution is as clear as day.  

It varies in intensity

After 6 years in the industry, one woman I spoke to has a fantastic job and a great resume behind her. Nonetheless, she still struggles with imposter syndrome.

It often occurs after she’s performed well. After completing a project that she initially feels great about, she’ll have what she refers to as a “crash” about a week later after dwelling on the details. She explains this as a period of intense self-doubt and anxiety. It often hits harder when she’s particularly happy with a project – because it takes away positive feelings that she previously felt.

Now that she’s aware of this pattern, she gets help. She talks to others, she is open and authentic about her emotions, and picks herself up time and time again. She doesn’t let it consume her and by dealing with it, it doesn’t affect her when she starts her next project.    

Remember there’s a reason you’re in the room

One person I spoke to recalled attending a meeting where he felt like he didn’t quite belong. Suddenly, plunged into a senior role, people expected him to answer difficult questions that could even impact other people’s careers. The best piece of advice he got was “there’s a reason you’re in the room”.

Just remembering that you have been hired for a reason, or put on a project for a reason is a strong piece of knowledge to hold on to. It’s a cliche, but you simply must learn to back yourself. Even if it doesn’t come naturally to you.

Oddly enough, the same people who promoted the need to “back yourself” felt they had fluked their way into their positions – “I’m in this position because I must made the right guesses along the way”. This leads me to believe we’re all a bit blind when it comes to assessing ourselves.

Starting out, everyone relies on their gut

When you don’t have the wealth of experience to guide your decision-making, you have to get comfortable trusting your gut. My boss always says to me “what does your gut tell you the answer is?” and lo and behold I have an answer. It was always there, I just never thought to ask myself the question. We don’t always have the luxury of conducting research to back up every decision we make. This is where you need to tease the answer out of yourself.

Next time you feel stuck on a problem, try suggesting your gut feeling to your team. Ask their opinion on your gut feeling rather than asking them to solve the problem for you.

Exposure to different scenarios will fast track you to comfort

Everyone wants a shortcut to overcoming imposter syndrome. It doesn’t have to take years, you just need enough experience dealing with difficult situations. One resilient interviewee assures me the only way to improve as fast as you want to is “exposure to different stuff, different outcomes, how different things play out. Mix that with exposure to different personalities and that’s what experience is”.

You could experience a situation 10 times in 6 months or 10 times in 2 weeks. Throw yourself in the deep end. If you don’t feel confident presenting directly to stakeholders or clients, put your hand up to present at the next possible moment. Make mistakes often and early. But make sure you reflect on these afterwards to continuously improve.

One leader insists that his team push themselves into contextual enquiries – “you’ll feel awkward as a researcher until you learn to ease into it and get comfortable with it,” he says. Approaching strangers to ask them questions only gets easier with repetition.  

Don’t be an email signature

Easily my favourite piece of advice I’ve received (and arguably my own personal mantra), is that relationships are the key to thriving in new situations. This works on many levels. For instance, one man in his first strategic role claimed that you should work at developing relationships with your seniors from the get-go. This allows you to show some vulnerability and ask for help when you need it.

Another manager explains that if people are unhappy with your work, they are unlikely to speak to you directly about it if you only communicate via email. They’ll probably end up going over your head to your boss who they feel more comfortable talking to. In contrast, when you’ve built up those relationships “people will let you overcome your deficiencies if they know you and have a personal relationship with you”. I can’t tell you how many people I see avoiding personal contact, which I find mystifying as nothing compares to face to face conversation.     

I can’t tell you how many people I see avoiding personal contact, which I find mystifying as nothing compares to face-to-face conversation.     

The worst case scenario actually makes you stronger

“What if someone tells me I’m wrong?” – this is usually the worst case scenario when facing imposter syndrome.

The Experience Design Director I spoke to found that when he started in UX he wanted to be referred to as a Designer. This way he could sit in the design department and make strategic decisions that could impact on the overall creative result. The Creative Director he worked with at the time didn’t want UX impeding on the “design” space, and didn’t like his team taking this term. After a couple of years mulling this over and fighting for the right to be accepted as a designer, he found that now more than ever he believes UX should sit in a design space. After all, when you look at the history of industrial design and product design, it is problem-solving at its core. He felt like this desire to define identity has really helped him define his own UX identity and would never feel like an imposter again in the “design” space.  

The UX Researcher I spoke to had someone publicly refute an article she wrote. Normally, she is so fearful that people will call her out for being wrong, but when it actually happened it didn’t bother her in the slightest, because as she put it, “I knew I was right”. The worst case scenario of being called out can in fact allow for a strengthening of character and conviction.

Final thoughts

After these conversations, I don’t believe there’s a simple cure for impostor syndrome. However, I also don’t necessarily view this as a bad thing. Imposter syndrome creates a kind of humility that motivates us to constantly source solutions we might not find otherwise. If it’s taking the form of intense insecurity and anxiety I encourage you to talk to someone about it. I guarantee you won’t be the first person to feel this way.  

What are your thoughts and experiences with the imposter syndrome beast? Leave me a comment and let’s keep the discussion going.  

Are you new to UX design? See our guide on how to get started, or download our ebook: Get Started in UX. 

The post How Experienced UX Designers Manage Imposter Syndrome appeared first on UX Mastery.

These are all ways you can take on a leadership role in UX.

Last week, we looked at the essential qualities of UX leaders. This week, our UXperts share their advice on overcoming barriers and practical tips to steer your career in the right direction.

If you aspire to be a leader in UX, read on for advice on how you can make your mark in the UX community. And don’t worry, you don’t need to be a unicorn to make it!

Cory Lebson

Cory Lebson (@corylebson), author of The UX Careers Handbook (CRC Press, 2016), has been a user experience consultant for over 20 years. He is the Principal and Owner of Lebsontech LLC, a successful user experience consulting firm he established in 1997. Lebsontech is focused on user research and evaluation, user experience strategy, UX training, and mentoring. Cory also speaks frequently on topics related to UX career development, user experience, user research, information architecture, and accessibility.

What are the barriers that prevent people from becoming great UX leaders?

I think that one of the primary barriers to people being great UX leaders is the assumption that leadership needs to take the form of workplace team leadership when there are so many additional ways to be a leader.

Not everyone has the inclination towards workplace leadership. In fact, while workplace leadership can certainly be valuable on a resume, other forms of leadership actually offer far more exposure within and outside of the UX community. In addition to a solid resume of UX experience, that exposure is just as critical (if not, perhaps, more critical) to UX professionals whenever they are considering looking for a new job. Really, though, UX professionals need to practice these other forms of leadership all the time, not just when job seeking. This helps build their personal UX brand – a critical piece of any UX job search.

Who are your role models in the industry?

It’s all those UX leaders who help build UX community – local community, national community and global community, by creating events, activities, conferences, blog posts, articles, and podcasts. It’s all those UX leaders who strive to help others grow and learn. UX is a career field about people – about people helping people – and that extends beyond what we get paid to do. We’re in a field where this kind of leadership is so common and so appreciated by so many.

What can people who aspire to be leaders do now to move their career in the right direction?

Get out there! People should go beyond their workplace and build community, build ideas, and inspire others. Find out what is missing or could be better in a given local UX community, for example, and help create it! Yes, there is enough time in the day and it’s well worth it – to the community, to the individuals within the community, and to the leaders who get to feel good about what they created while simultaneously building a name for themselves beyond what they may do on the job.

Jodie Moule

Jodie Moule is Co-founder & CEO of Symplicit, a Customer Led Innovation firm based in Australia that has focused on research, strategy and design services since 2003. Following a Design Thinking philosophy that was grounded in the psychology and industrial design backgrounds of the founders; Jodie believes that understanding human behaviour allows you to change the customer experience, and that change happens through great design. Follow Jodie: @jodiemoule @thecookapp @symplicit

What are the barriers that prevent people from becoming great UX leaders?

I guess it comes down to each individual and your tenacity. Opportunity always presents itself, it’s just whether or not you are a ‘grab the bull by the horns’ kinda person, or ‘the world owes me’ type. In my experience, it’s the opportunistic types that get shit done, don’t make a fuss, and therefore, ultimately get the gig. Proactive, persistent, and high energy wins every time in my book. In that sense, the barrier is attitude. Your attitude. 

Who are your role models in the industry?

How do I not sound like a wanker and say I don’t have any? I tended to be profoundly impacted by everyday people that I observed from my life when I was younger, and then strived to be like them in some way.  

Growing up, I was lucky to be surrounded by strong independent women who I admired. My Grandmother was fiercely independent. She supported her whole family through the war times, and was one of the first female lifesavers in Australia – which was a major coup, given women weren’t allowed to wear swimsuits and do that stuff back then. Shows how strong she was fighting the machine back in the day. Same with my Aunty – she was a high-flying airline consultant who lived, what I thought, was an incredibly glamorous lifestyle that I aspired toward. Even my Dad was a world champion Hot Air Balloonist in his spare time. These were the people I was surrounded by growing up, and they were the people I admired, and was heavily influenced by.

I also tend to admire people that do things I’m really bad at – or who have achieved something in a unique way that I think is clever or cool. For example, I walked into ‘Victor Churchill’ the other day – a crazy high-end butcher in Sydney. What that guy has done for butchery is something really different and amazing. What a vision! You can learn from that, no matter what industry you’re in.

When I got into this space, we were too busy making our own way to think about role models. I certainly read what others had to say and formed my own views, but ultimately I just got on with it. I think that was good on reflection. It’s best not to be too distracted by others, and pave your own way.

What can people who aspire to be leaders do now to move their career in the right direction?

Work hard, don’t give up, and focus on your career, because it will have to come first to everything. No really, give up on the idea of work/life balance for a long while. I have found the harder that I work, the more I focused, the less distracted by other things I was – the more successful I got.

There is no point being half-assed about it all. Success comes to those who work bloody hard to make it so. Start building a profile and personal brand.  Get yourself into positions where you are doing the things that leaders do – like have a voice in industry, write articles, present at conferences, do great work, be excited and engaged. And of course – take every opportunity you get – work hard and just fit it all in. Those who snooze lose.

James Noble

James has helped re-define, create and evolve user experiences for over two decades. Founding one of Asia Pacific’s most innovative experience agencies Carter Digital. An active UX industry advisor, mentor, radio presenter, public speaker and serves on a number creative juries globally including Australia’s first UX & Digital Craft representative for Cannes Lion in 2016. Follow James on LinkedIn, Medium, or Twitter.  

What are the barriers that prevent people from becoming great UX leaders?

Ability, knowledge, people

Some things take time to learn, evolve and perfect. Staying positive, understanding limitations helps you be honest with the team and yourself. Don’t be afraid to say ‘I don’t know’, own it. We never have all the ux suite of tools in our bag, have insight and the ability to know ‘how’ and ‘where’ to find a solution to a problem.

Some barriers are universal and difficult to shake. This is a team, leverage each member’s core skills to each task and trust they can achieve the right result. Share your knowledge and trust your team, massively reduces people who are prone to micro-managing. Leading from the front and focus on the bigger picture, adding value to your leadership, and help others feel a sense of empowerment, ownership and satisfaction. Make sure the right people are in the right seats, the right person in the wrong seat can hinder the entire team you are trying to lead. A strong leader will make the hard choices for the greater good and know when to make those tough decisions.

UX leaders are from all areas of industry, businesses and departments. Being siloed within your own comfort zone or organisation can happen to everyone. Look outside your environment and look for similarities with what you do to others. Something as simple as switching from Apple iOS to Android for a few weeks you’ll see how it affects interactions with the interface, environment and mood while you use it, help you break routine and spark new approaches to problem-solving.

Who are your role models in the industry?

This seems like an easy question, it isn’t. UX is part of a much bigger picture, and you have to look outside your comfort zone to find answer.

Staying within the standard comfort zone it would be Luke Wroblewski for his forward thinking and research articles on mobile first, Tina Roth Eisenberg (aka Swiss Miss) helping make UX mainstream and contributions to Creative Mornings, Mike Monteiro for saying what everyone is thinking and of course, the mighty Steve Jobs/Steve Wozniak combo for kickstarting the personal and digital revolution.

If I was honest, in my drive and motivations, my mind turns more towards Charles and Ray Eames, for understand and thinking outside the norm, Erik Spiekermann creating a typeface the world never knew we couldn’t live without, Wes Anderson for his beautiful understanding of the left vs. right human psyche and application of symmetry and of course NASA, without them we probably wouldn’t have Elon Musk trying to save the world, who also has a masterful plan b: MARS.

What can people who aspire to be leaders do now to move their career in the right direction?

Consuming information in all its forms, regardless to the likelihood of remember it. Learning is more than the user experience industry, startups can be a constant source of information and inspiration. Never stop learning.

Improve communication skills, and know public speaking comes with the territory as exposure grows within the ux community.

Voice your opinion if you have one and try to write articles on these observations, a difficult ask (I know). Don’t be afraid to be wrong, you can’t be, it’s an opinion right?

Create what makes you happy, the rest will take care of itself.

Dan Szuc

Dan (@dszuc) is a Principal Consultant at Apogee, as well as the co-founder of the UX Hong Kong conference. He has been involved in the UX field for 25 years, and has been based in Hong Kong for 20 years. Dan has lectured about usability, user-centred design, and user experience globally. He co-wrote The Usability Kit, an implementation guide providing best practices and guidelines for usability teams, and he holds a Bachelor of Science in Information Management from Melbourne University in Australia.

What are the barriers that prevent people from becoming great UX leaders?

The barriers to great humanistic leadership are the very systems that people work in that promote toxicity and lack of care. Where rewards systems are given priority and where people are incentivised to show a continuous lack of respect. Where people are treated like numbers and speed is considered the constant routine at the detriment and degradation of work itself.

So in order to consider the barriers to being a great leader, we in fact need to consider the barriers that get in the way of answering – how do we make meaningful work? One major barrier to this is that people do not have a common space, language, process, toolset and practices in order to make meaningful work. So people end up clawing at each other to gain access to the top of the summit that is a myth to begin with.

Who are your role models in the industry?

My role models primarily come from diversity of publications we read as we seek a holistic and diverse understanding of what drives behaviour and this also helps us seek clarity on themes and patterns that influence thinking.

If we could describe the characteristics of our roles models it would include: openness, connectedness, a willingness to challenge own bias and assumptions, one that is not driven primarily by digital or technological solutions for all that ails society, a yearning to understand people more deeply to better understand their needs and issues and dreams and people who encourage a more respectful, considered and reflective discussion and debate as grounded in evidence and a willingness to challenge that for an enlightened plateau as we all learn together.

The role models would be too big a list to share here but they are easy enough to find and reach out to as we are lucky to be part of a community we generically call UX that encourages people who do care about the well-being of other people and who get disappointed when they do not see as much progress as we should be seeing in this instance of futures.

What can people who aspire to be leaders do now to move their career in the right direction?

Consider the skill sets needed to be a leader and consider that not everyone who thinks they are a leader, is a leader, and that people who may not think they are a leader are in fact good leadership material.

Think about the leadership style that suits your personality. If leadership is about helping others be successful in order to have a greater sense of success for teams, business and community, under what circumstances have you exhibited those traits and what are those traits?

Fundamentally, an important part of any leadership role is clear communication and the ability to express where you would like to take people and why. This implies the need for a vision and the openness to iterate on that story or narrative to get you there. It also means you need to learn from people and see how those learnings assist the iteration of your direction.

The question also implies the notion of a career and consider a view down the path. Break this down into 2-3 year chunks and then think about the why you do what you do in the first place and then consider the implications on your direction. It also helps to have more experienced and diverse views around you to help shed light on that direction.

David Travis

Dr David Travis (@userfocus) holds a BSc and a PhD in Psychology and he is a Chartered Psychologist. He has worked in the fields of human factors, usability and user experience since 1989 and has published two books on usability. David helps both large firms and start ups connect with their customers and bring business ideas to market.

What are the barriers that prevent people from becoming great UX leaders?

I think there are two main barriers. The first is that many organisations still don’t get what user experience is about. For example, there’s a common belief that it’s only about visual design or making products that look cool. As a consequence, the people assigned to a leadership role may not have the right technical skills. Although those skills aren’t enough on their own to create a great UX leader, it will be very difficult to lead a team effectively without them.

The second barrier is having senior management support for some of the tough decisions that need to be made. Everyone loves user experience when it doesn’t impact delivery schedules or drain too much of the development budget. But when the user research shows that the product is a dog and needs to be redesigned from the ground up, our UX leader needs a supportive chain of command. If user experience doesn’t have a voice in the boardroom, the best UX leader in the business won’t be able to have an impact.

Who are your role models in the industry?

My role models in the industry are Jared Spool and Jakob Nielsen. They are both fine examples of UX leadership and both of them spend serious time growing the industry as a whole.

What can people who aspire to be leaders start doing now to move their career in the right direction?

You should certainly ensure you have the foundation level, technical knowledge that I’ve described in the previous post. You can develop those skills through training courses (such as on my course on Udemy) and through day-to-day practice on projects. But to become a UX leader, you also need to develop yourselves in two other spheres of practice.

I call the first sphere of practice “process skills”: these are the activities a practitioner uses when managing stakeholders and managing projects. This includes:

• Active listening: really seeking to understand the design problem and providing a solution that will fix it.
• Helping the organisation implement change: in many user experience activities, the real work begins when the activity (such as a usability test) has finished.
• Making appropriate ethical choices: in some organisations, the pressure to do your research a particular way can be overwhelming.
• Project management: good leaders know how to manage their time, manage the work of the team, and manage the projects that they work on.

The second sphere of practice is marketing. Typical marketing activities that user experience leaders need to master include:

• Explaining the cost-benefit of usability activities. A good user experience leader will be able to ground the main benefits of user experience in the organisation’s domain.
• Formulating a proposal and a research plan for the work you will carry out.
• Generating new work. As a leader, you need to keep your team busy and you need to identify the next big enterprise project, ensuring that the user experience flag gets flown.
• Leaving a legacy. Great UX leaders will grow their team, their company and the industry as a whole.

Catch up on part 1 of our leadership series: The Essential Qualities of a UX Leader.

What do you think makes for excellent leadership in UX? Let us know in the forums or leave a comment.

The post Finding Your Path to UX Leadership appeared first on UX Mastery.

Usability testing comes in many forms: casual cafeteria studies, formal lab testing, remote online task-based studies and more. However you choose to carry out your testing, you’ll need to go through these five phases:

• Prepare your product or design to test
• Find your participants
• Write a test plan
• Take on the role of moderator
• Present your findings

That’s it. A usability test can be as basic as approaching strangers at Starbucks and asking them to use an app. Or it can be as involved as an online study with participants responding on a mobile phone.

Usability testing is effective because you can watch potential users of your product to see what works well and what needs to be improved. It’s not about getting participants to tell you what needs adjusting. It’s about observing them in action, listening to their needs and concerns, and considering what might make the experience work better for them.  

Early on, usability tests in computer science were conducted primarily in academia or large companies such as Bell Labs, Sun, HP, AT&T, Apple and Microsoft. The practice of usability testing grew in the mid-1980s with the start of the modern usability profession, and books and articles popularised the method. With the explosion of digital products, it’s continued to gain popularity because it’s considered one of the best ways to get input from real users.

A common mistake in usability testing is conducting a study too late in the design process. If you wait until right before your product is released, you won’t have the time or money to fix any issues – and you’ll have wasted a lot of effort developing your product the wrong way. Instead, conduct several small-scale tests throughout the cycle, starting as early as paper sketches.

Create a design or product to test

How do you decide what to test? Start by testing what you’re working on.

• Do you have any questions about how your design will work in practice, such as a particular interaction or workflow? Those are perfect.
  
• Are you wondering what users notice on your home page? Or what they would do first? This is a great time to ask.
  
• Planning to redesign a website or app? Test the current version to understand what’s not working so you can improve upon any issues.

Once you know what you’d like to test, come up with a set of goals for your study. Be as specific as possible, because you’ll use the goals to come up with the particular study tasks. A goal can be broad, such “ Can people navigate through the website to find the products they need?” Or they can be specific, such as “Do people notice the link to learn more about a particular product on this page?”

You also need to figure out how to represent your designs for the study. If you’re studying a current app or website, you can simply use that. For early design ideas, you can use a paper “prototype” made from pencil sketches or designed through software such as PowerPoint.

If you’re farther along in your ideas and want something more representative of the interactions, you can create an interactive prototype using a tool such as Balsamiq or Axure. Whatever you create, make sure it will allow participants to perform the tasks you want to test.

Find your participants

When thinking about participants, consider who will be using your product and how you can reach those people.  

If you have an app that targets hikers, for example, you could post your request on a Facebook page for hikers. If your website targets high school English teachers, you could send out a request for participants in educational newsletters or websites. If you have more money, hire a recruiting firm to find people for you (don’t forget to provide screener questions to find the right people). If you have no money,  reach out to friends and family members and ask if they know anyone who meets your criteria.

Be prepared. Participant recruiting is often one of the lengthier parts of any usability study, and should be one of the first things you put into action. This way as you’re working on other parts – like writing your tasks and questions – the recruitment process will be progressing concurrently.

You might also wonder how many participants you will need. Usability expert Jakob Nielsen says testing five people will catch 85% of the usability issues with a design – and that you can catch the remaining 15% of issues with 15 users. Ideally then, you should test with five users, make improvements, test with five more, make improvements, and test with five more. (As a general rule, recruit at least one more participant than you need, because typically one person will not show up.)

No matter who you’re testing, you’ll want to offer some sort of incentive, such as cash or a gift card, for participants’ time. The going rate is different in different parts of the world. Generally, you should charge more if the test in-person (because participants have to travel to get there), and less if it’s remote, through a service such as WebEx. Audiences that are hard to reach – such as doctors or other busy and highly trained professionals – will require more compensation.

Write a test plan

To keep yourself organised, you need a test plan, even if it’s a casual study. The plan will make it easy to communicate with stakeholders and design team members who may want input into the usability test and, of course, keep yourself on track during the actual study days. This is a place for you to list out all the details of the study. Here are potential study plan sections:

• Study goals: The goals should be agreed upon with any stakeholders, and they are important for creating tasks.
• Session information: This is a list of session times and participants. You can also include any information about how stakeholders and designers can log into sessions to observe. For example, you can share – and record – sessions using WebEx or gotomeeting.
• Background information and non-disclosure information: Write a script to explain the purpose of the study to participants; tell them you’re testing the software, not them; let them know if you’ll be recording the sessions; and make sure they understand not to share what they see during the study (having participants sign a non-disclosure agreement as well is a best practice). Ask them to please think aloud throughout the study so you can understand their thoughts.
• Tasks and questions: Start by asking participants a couple of background questions to warm them up. Then ask them to perform tasks that you want to test. For example, to learn how well a person was able to navigate to a type of product, you could have them start on the home page and say, “You are here to buy a fire alarm. Where would you go to do that?” Also consider any follow-up questions you might want to ask, such as “How easy or difficult was that task?” and provide a rating scale.
• Conclusion: At the end of the study, you can ask any observers if there are questions for the participant, and ask if the participant has anything to else they’d like to say.

It might help to start your test plan with a template.

Take on the role of moderator

It’s your job as moderator – the one leading usability sessions – to make sure the sessions go well and the team gets the information they need to improve their designs. You need to make participants feel comfortable while making sure they proceed through the tasks, and while minimising or managing any technical difficulties and observer issues. And stay neutral. You can do this!

The test plan is your guide. Conducting a pilot study – or test run – the day before the actual sessions start also helps your performance as a moderator because you get to practice working through all the aspects of the test.

Observe and listen

As you go through the study with participants, remember that it’s your job to be quiet and listen; let the participants do the talking. That’s how you and your team will learn. Be prepared to ask “why?” or say “Tell me more about that” to get participants to elaborate on their thoughts. Keep your questions and body language neutral, and avoid leading participants to respond a certain way.

During the sessions, someone will need to take notes. Ideally, you’ll have a separate note-taker so you can focus on leading sessions. If not, you’ll need to do this while moderating. Either way, set up a note-taking sheet in a spreadsheet tool (I use Excel) to simplify the process both now and when analysing the data. One organised way to do this is to have each column represent a participant, and each row a question or task. Learn more about writing effective research observations.

In addition to taking notes, plan to record the sessions using a tool such as WebEx or Camtasia as a backup, just in case you miss something. You’ll find a useful list of tools here.

Make sure you prepare for things to go wrong (and something always does). Consider the following:

• Some participants will be a few minutes late. If they are, but you still want to use them, what are the lowest priority tasks or questions that you will cut out?
• The prototype software could stop working or have a bug. Try to have a backup – such as paper screenshots – if you think this is a possibility.
• In a remote study, some participants will have difficulty using the video conferencing tool. Know in advance how the screen looks to them, what they should do, and common things that can go wrong so you can guide them through the experience.

Remote testing

If you’re conducting a remote unmoderated study, a remote tool – such as UserZoom or Loop11 – takes the place of the moderator. Because of the extra distance, you need to write your introduction to set the tone and provide background information about the study; effectively present the tasks; and keep users on track. It’s important to do as much as possible to test remote studies before launching them to prevent technical difficulties as well.

Present your findings

As you’re going through your sessions, it’s a good idea to jot down themes you notice, especially if they’re related to the study’s goals. Consider talking with observers after each session or at the end of each day to get a sense of their main learnings. Once the sessions are over, comb through your notes to look for more answers to the study’s stated goals, and count how many participants acted certain ways and made certain types of comments.  Determine the best way to communicate this information to help stakeholders.

Consider these methods of documenting your findings:

• If your audience is an agile team that needs to start acting on the information right away, an email with a bulleted list of findings may be all you need. If you can pair the email with a quick chat with team members, the team will process the information better.
• A PowerPoint presentation can be a great way to document your findings, including screenshots with callouts, and graphs to help make your points stand out. You can even include links to video clips that illustrate your points well.
• If you’re in a more academic environment, or your peers will read a report, write up a formal report document. Don’t forget to include images to illustrate your findings.

Where to next?

These resources can serve as excellent references on usability testing:

• Don’t Make Me Think and Rocket Surgery Made Easy by Steve Krug
• Observing the User Experience by Mike Kuniavsky
• Handbook of Usability Testing by Jeffrey Rubin and Dana Chisnell

Once you master the basics of usability testing, you can expand into other types of testing such as:

• Remote moderated testing (same as lab testing, only your participants are somewhere else, and you communicate through WebEx or a similar tool and a phone)
• Remote unmoderated testing (usability testing with hundreds of people through a tool such as UserZoom or Loop11)
• A/B testing (testing two designs against each other to see which performs better)
• competitive testing (pitting your design against your competitors’ designs)
• benchmark studies (testing your site or app’s progress over time)

Usability testing is a critical part of the user-centered design process because it allows you to see what’s working and what’s not with your designs. Challenge yourself to get more out of your sessions by using at least one new idea from this article during your next – or first – round of testing.

The post How to Conduct Usability Testing from Start to Finish appeared first on UX Mastery.

When I learnt that I needed a portfolio, I was living in a small, remote town – very different to a major city. There were no startups I could approach, and most small businesses didn’t even have a website (everyone knows everyone so why bother?). As a recent immigrant in a fairly closed society, my network of family and friends was limited, and there were precisely zero meetups of any kind in the region. It was these challenges that led me to look for experience remotely.

Volunteering for a non-profit startup

I decided that volunteer work would be my first port of call. After attempting to find something locally, I searched websites such as volunteermatch.org for remote opportunities, using “UX” as a keyword. I found an interesting listing from the enScholar Educational Foundation and applied. enScholar is a small non-profit startup that develops websites to help youth explore career options. It’s run entirely remotely and staffed by volunteers from around the world. We communicate via Slack, hold meetings on Hangouts, manage tasks on Trello, and choose our own hours.

At first, I worked on optimising a new landing page targeted at the US market. Shortly thereafter, we launched a project to develop a new website, and I was asked to join the development team as Scrum Master. I enjoyed working with the development team – I learnt how developers work together to build a new site, discovered the complexities of managing and pushing code, and developed a new vocabulary. I also helped out with a wide variety of UX and non-UX tasks, from QA testing, to documenting the site structure and workflows, usability testing, monitoring the site analytics, writing content and even responding to users’ questions via live chat.

Volunteering at enScholar hasn’t been without its challenges. The UX-related work can be scarce and quite disjointed at times, which made it difficult to build portfolio pieces demonstrating a process. Accessing users is tricky in a remote organisation with no budget for incentives. As the only UXer on the team, there’s no one on the team to learn or get feedback from – so I hope I haven’t been developing bad habits!

What’s been great is gaining real-world UX experience while contributing to a good cause. I’ve created two portfolio pieces based on the projects I’ve completed. I’ve also learnt a lot about UX, web development, scrum, startups and remote teams, worked with some wonderful people, and confirmed a career in UX is for me.

Participating in a UX bootcamp

In the meantime, I had completed Dr David Travis’s excellent course User Experience: The Ultimate Guide to Usability, and joined the Facebook group for students. As an optional add-on to the course, David conducted a “bootcamp” for group members, in order to road test some new design exercises (now included in the course). Participants worked their way through a complete design process, including research, analysis, paper prototyping and usability testing, finishing with the development of a portfolio piece. Mine was a GPS-tracking device for pets. We shared our work, provided each other with feedback and had extra support from David as we worked our way through the exercises.

I found that the well-defined structure was very helpful for a newcomer. I had clear guidance and templates at each stage, and could ask questions to David and the group if I was feeling unsure. It forced me to leave my comfort zone to complete tasks I might otherwise have avoided – for example, in the research phase we were required to observe a minimum of five participants. Doing this in French (not my native language) with complete strangers was very daunting – but ultimately rewarding as I learnt many unexpected things about my users.

David designed the exercises to help students build their portfolio, included tips in his videos and even provided a portfolio template. I previously struggled to create a portfolio piece on my own, but found filling in a template far less intimidating than building a portfolio from scratch. Once I had a base portfolio, modifying it and adding a personal touch and was far easier.

The best thing about the bootcamp was the group participation and sense of community. I learnt an enormous amount from seeing other people’s different approaches to a task. The participants who came from a visual design background produced beautiful work, which inspired me to learn the basics of graphic design and put additional effort into the presentation of my work. I also benefited from constructive feedback on my work from David and other participants.

Completing a course with a capstone project

In addition to David’s course, I completed the Interaction Design Specialization run by the University of California, San Diego on Coursera. This is a series of 8 courses, which concludeds with a capstone project where we applied the principle we’d learnt.  

For the capstone, we were provided three generic briefs but could narrow in on a topic of our choosing – I chose job seeking. We followed a full design process, with an emphasis on building an interactive prototype and testing it with users. There was a peer-assessed assignment each week for 10 weeks, and with many hours of work required at each step, the pace was relentless.

There was no hand-holding in this course. We were expected to choose our own tools, make our own templates and to learn new tools or skills on our own to complete the assignments. I hadn’t previously done interactive prototyping, so I had to find, select and learn a software package, and quickly. The advantage of a flexible approach was that I could be more creative and interpret the requirements according to my own interests. While I had enough experience under my belt by this point, many less-experienced students struggled.

The peer assessments were a good opportunity to learn from the work of others and practice the skill of critiquing work. Occasionally I got some helpful and constructive comments on my work, but unfortunately many peers didn’t take the time to do this. The course included a discussion forum, however, as the group was larger and with little leadership or support from course staff, the community felt less close-knit. There was no mention of portfolios during the course, but the final assignment involved writing a Medium post explaining our design process, which made a good starting point for a portfolio piece.

Final thoughts

After several months of volunteering, bootcamping and capstoning, I was able to put together a portfolio which demonstrated varied skills. Even more importantly, I’d learnt a whole range of new UX and soft skills, gained insight into the industry, obtained real experience, and found a great support network.  

So which would I recommend? Well, it depends on your skills, previous experience, interests and personality. Think about whether you want a lot of guidance or prefer to figure things out on your own. Do you want to work on your own or with a group? Are you happy working on a hypothetical project or prefer to contribute to real one? Do you want to focus purely on learning UX skills, or develop a wider skill set?  

I benefited from all three activities in different ways, but I particularly appreciated the group settings where I could discuss ideas, obtain feedback and learn by seeing the work of others. Finally, my advice would be to just get out there, find something (even if it isn’t exactly what you want to do) and give it your best – remember, you get out of it what you put in. You’ll be amazed by how much more you’ll gain than just a portfolio entry!

The post How to build a UX portfolio when you have no experience appeared first on UX Mastery.

Then, a post popped up in the UX Mastery forums that caught our attention.

Forum member Inca431 posed the question: “Does this job exist?” Almost at the end of an intensive online course, she was feeling upset and frustrated at not being able to find a job she felt she was qualified for:

“Now that I’m starting to look at a ‘real’ career, I’m worried that it might not exist? I’m not an expert at anything, I was never a graphic artist (my background is broadcast video editor), I am a ‘generalist’, I love working together with a group to come up with ideas.”

As a newcomer to the field, she wanted to do a bit of everything – research, wireframing, interviews, graphic design and problem solving. But she wasn’t sure whether this was what she was supposed to do, or whether she needed to focus on just one area.  

The issues that Inca raises are common struggles for many new UXers. Particularly while there’s a debate currently raging about UX education. Are students being promised too much from relatively short training courses? It’s tough when you’ve been told you have the right skills, yet when you go out into the world to look for a job, you’re not as prepared as you thought.

As always, the ever-supportive UX Mastery community rallied behind her. In doing so, they raised some of the major themes we talked about in August.

So, we’ve collected some of the most helpful responses for everyone’s benefit. The thread is still open if you want to join the conversation.

The strongest theme of all was the importance of perseverance and persistence. Keep trying and you will find your way.

Here are a few more helpful tips from our community.

UX Unicorns are few and far between

The role of the UX designer is famously undefined. This becomes very clear when you start searching for jobs. As in Inca’s case, you’ll find some recruiters advertise for an extensive list of UX skillsets – everything from research through to design and coding.

And while there are few so-called ‘unicorns’ who have the skills to do it all, they are few and far between. These job ads are a result of a poor understanding of the industry.

Amanda Stockwell explains that most UXers “a big, driven, smart group of kick ass people”, aren’t experts in everything. It’s much more about knowing a little about a lot of things, and learning as you go.

“That’s one of the best parts of being in UX – there is ALWAYS new stuff to learn, new technologies to adapt to, new methods to try. And, people come into UX from all kinds of areas – library science, engineering, journalism, graphic design – heck last year at UX Australia there was a story about someone who came to UX from truck driving!”

maxflyer adds that most people get frustrated at some point, but that “if you love UX don’t give up, ever. Use this time to develop the fighter inside you.”

“Everyone can learn concepts and everyone can practice. Those two things, in my experience, make all the difference…. Once you start understanding those solid concepts, it will show in everything you do; your interviews, your designs, your advice, blogs, etc. You WILL get there if you fight.”

It’s fine to be a generalist, just keep learning

Although new UXers tend to feel stressed about a lack of specific expertise, it’s not necessarily unusual or unwarranted. A sufficiently developed general skillset can make you a more valuable designer than someone who only knows a very narrow specialist skillset.

Did you know that Joe Natoli, with more than 25 years’ experience in the field, considers himself a generalist? It’s kind of the deal, he says, because you need broad knowledge across so many subjects. From product design to development, psychology, communication, and more. He adds:

“Forget the fact that you’re not an “expert” at anything — focus instead on what you DO have to offer in a problem-solving situation, because that’s what design of any kind (including UX) is. It’s not what you do with your hands — it’s how you think and why you do those things. Your mind and diversity is what’s most valuable, both to you and any employer or client.

Hang in there and keep putting one front of the other.”

Steve Crow also considers himself a generalist. His goal, he says, “has always been to be proficient, to add value when and where I can.”

“There’s a famous quote from someone I can’t remember advising folks in our position to just ‘jump off the cliff and build our wings on the way down in order to eventually soar’ or something like that. Now I assume they were talking about jumping off a symbolic cliff of indecision and self-doubtt, not a literal one.”

Look after yourself

Take care of yourself and connect with your community. Whether that’s meditation, yoga, or just making sure you take regular breaks – not looking after yourself is a recipe for disaster.

Leo Vogel points out that UX Meetups happen all over the world – there’s bound to be one near you. If you’re struggling with depression or anxiety, Leo recommends the guided meditation app Headspace, or When Panic Attacks.

And lastly: “Go for a walk, get some sunlight, get some exercise.”

We love to see the UX Mastery community help each other out with a pep talk and practical advice. There’s always someone there to help, and nudge you in the right direction when you need it.

I’ll leave you with these parting words from Amanda Stockwell:

“Keep practicing the things you’re already good at. Be honest about your weaknesses and work on those too. And keep relying on the support of this awesome community!”

What are you waiting for? Head over to the forums and start a conversation. 

Just starting out in UX? Launch your career with UX Mastery’s Get Started in UX guide.

The post This job does exist: Persist to find your way in your UX career appeared first on UX Mastery.

The history of product design shows countless examples of misguided decisions. Apple’s Newton produced in 1993 is the perfect example. The handheld personal assistant device was highly innovative and ahead of its time. So ahead of its time, in fact, that it couldn’t deliver on what it promised.

But what appeared to be a substantial failure at the time has clear links to the modern day smartphone, deftly illustrating how the concept grew and developed into something successful due to the acknowledgement of its failures.

In the UX industry, everyone is well aware that admitting to mistakes is the fastest way to improve. Once you understand your mistake, you can avoid making the same mistake again. However, on the other hand, a user experience designer is effectively a consultant, brought into a project to bring their knowledge and experience to provide the best possible solution to a problem.

So my initial question isn’t quite as straightforward anymore, is it. When push comes to shove, should you protect your reputation or offer complete transparency. I believe there is a middle ground between the two. But you’re going to have to use a bit of that special UXer’s intuition to find your balance.

Don’t let imposter syndrome trip you up

When starting out, every UXer probably knows all too well that old friend ‘imposter syndrome’ – feeling like you’re a fraud and just waiting for others to figure it out. Don’t worry, you’re not alone. I don’t think I’ve met anyone in this industry who didn’t feel the same when starting out.

People tend to have two different ways of coping with imposter syndrome. One is to feel very anxious about their decisions and need approval from others before going ahead. Personally, I’m still trying to knock this automated reaction out of me.

The other is to put on an air of overconfidence. It may not be intentional, but this can come off as arrogant if not kept in check. This is often just a way of covering up insecurities in front of others, but this isn’t the kind of person most people want to work with.

I’d like to suggest that next time you make a mistake, try and follow these three steps and see if they help ease the fallout.

Learn who to own up to

Before having an epic meltdown, schedule in a conversation with someone at your workplace that you trust. This might be your boss, a co-worker or someone who understands your role.

Have a conversation about your concerns and talk through the next steps. Often things seem worse than they are, but getting a second opinion helps to put things into perspective. By getting another honest opinion early on, you could save yourself sleepless nights worrying about something that turns out not to be as significant as you initially thought.

By having one person to confide in, you also confine your worries to one person. Your whole company doesn’t need to find out that you’re doubting yourself.

Always offer a solution

You are going to make mistakes, this is a fact. Especially in a UX role where there’s not always the budget to iterate testing and prototyping before coming to the ideal solution.

The only way you can learn from your mistakes is by offering up a solution. Try to dissect down the reasons things went wrong, and how you could fix the current problem or do it better next time.

A solution doesn’t mean you can get back the time and money spent on the mistake, but it does mean you will improve over time by knowing where you could change the process. Or think about it from your boss’s perspective: they’ll want to know you’ve made the error, but they’ll be even more interested in how you can fix it.

In fact, I’ve heard a lot of UX professionals say that when they hire someone new they always ask them to describe a mistake they have made in the past. This really illustrates how owning up shows maturity and growth.

Be confident in the decisions you make

I know I’ve just said a lot of things that may appear to contradict this thought, but let me explain why this is still an essential skill.

As a UXer, you must run through all possible scenarios before coming to a solution. I like to think that I am only ready to make a decision when I feel like at that moment, barring more testing and extensive research, I could not think of a better possible answer to the problem.

Be sure to do this because regardless of how short a turn around you were given, people will still question your result. If you had any worries along the way, others will have those worries too and it is important to learn how to back your decision.

If you have done your due diligence in weighing up all the options, then you should have absolute confidence that you chose the best option given all the information you had.If you’re new to UX, just remember – if you’re not making mistakes, you’re probably not learning. And how can you improve if you don’t learn? Keep these tips in mind so you strike the right balance and learn from your mistakes without compromising your standing in your job.

Have you ever made a huge mistake at work? How did you handle it? Let’s chat in the forums.

The post The importance of being humbly confident: Learning to own your mistakes in your UX career appeared first on UX Mastery.

Job interviews are nerve-wracking at the best of times. Whether you’re just starting out in UX or need a little inspiration, here are five ways you can prepare to nail your next interview. 

1. Your portfolio is everything (well, almost!)

Portfolios are the standard for showing work for designers. But the trouble with creating a UX design portfolio is that so much of what we do isn’t strictly visual. This makes it hard to showcase your work in a portfolio in the same way as a graphic designer or UI designer.

Because many UX designers come from a UI or graphic design background, many employers still expect to see a portfolio of your work. They often expect UX designers to have traditional design skills.

This attitude is starting to change, but even so, you need to a way to show your previous work. You just might need to get a bit creative. Here’s how:

Write about what you do

Blogging about UX design shows your knowledge of the field in a creative way that potential employers can easily understand. It demonstrates your passion for the field and helps you learn (and teach) difficult or new concepts. Try guest blogging for other UX design sites to boost your SEO and make your blog easier to find.

Create a website

A website is essential for employers to find you, and a platform to talk about the work you’ve done for previous clients. If your work wasn’t visual, present it in an engaging way using images, logos and photographs.

Wireframes

Wireframing is a visual element of UX design work, even if it’s not the prettiest or most polished part of what you do. Upload project wireframes to your website under client projects. This way you can show your interviewer the ‘back end’ of design – the thought that goes into the navigation, information architecture and user flow for each site.

2. Know what UX design means to you

It’s common to be asked about you define UX design in an interview, as it gives a clear insight into how you work, and how you’ll fit in with the rest of the team. If you’re a junior, you need to be able to work effectively with the company’s senior UX designer. For senior roles, your approach to the field shapes the company’s approach.

Where do you sit on the UX/UI debate?

A commonly used definition of UX design is:

“The process of enhancing user satisfaction by improving the usability, accessibility, and pleasure provided in the interaction between the user and the product.”

Compare that against a common definition of UI design:

“UI design is focused on the design of the actual interface elements that the user interacts with to accomplish a goal within an application.”

It’s useful to understand both, and where you sit on the continuum, as it helps to place you within the existing skills of the team. If there’s no UI designer, for example, you might be expected to work in this area too.

3. You are not an island

Teamwork and communication are core skills of a good UX designer – we work with lots of different types of people in this job. Interviewers need to see that you can explain complex concepts simply and clearly, and that you’re a team player.

If you’re the sole UX designer at a startup it’s likely you’ll be working with everybody – from the copywriter to the CEO herself. You’ll be responsible for seeing projects through from end to end, with the help of user groups, of course. If you’re lucky enough to be part of a large UX team, you’ll probably work with user researchers, UI designers, graphic designers and content strategists.

Whether flying solo or in a team of UXers, you’ll always have an ongoing dialogue with the web development team. They’ll work with you to scope out your ideas, plan your timelines and ultimately implement your designs.  

4. Describe your unique process

Because there’s so much ambiguity surrounding UX design, it’s a good idea to talk your interviewer through how you work.

Try speaking on their terms, and explain (based on your research of the company) what you’d do if you worked there. This helps your prospective employer visualise you working there, which is handy trick that can help you land the job.

If you’re new to the field, a standard process can guide you until you’ve figured out exactly how you like to work.

The general UX design process involves:

1. User research: Collating information from your target persona via interviews, user groups, surveys and questionnaires to understand the needs and behaviour of the user.
2. Design: Structuring, labelling and organising content on the site (information architecture), wireframing, prototyping.  
3. Testing: Usability testing (observations, questionnaires, surveys), A/B testing, remote user testing.
4. Implementation: Working with web developers and UI designers to get your design built and functioning.

5. Engage with your field online

Show your interviewer that you’re passionate about what you do. They want to see that you’re in it for more than paying the rent. In addition to blogging, make sure to mention blogs you read, influential people you follow and sites you admire for their UX design.

Need some inspiration? Here are a few of my favourites:  

Blogs

• UXMastery
• CareerFoundry
• UXBeginner
• UX Motel
• UXReview
• UXMatters
• UXMag

Sites with great UX:

• Medium
• Herrlich Media
• Harry’s

Influencers on Twitter

• Abby Covert @Abby_the_IA
• Jared M Spool @jmspool
• Whitney Hess @whitneyhess
• Karen McGrane @karenmcgrane
• Peter Merholz @peterme
• Liz Danzico @bobulate 
• Doug Collins @DougCollinsUX

The post 5 ways to ace your next UX design interview appeared first on UX Mastery.

Chances are, if you’re interested in user experience design, you’re probably some type of hybrid. A hybrid in the way you think – equal parts creatively and intellectually. A hybrid in the way that you don’t want to be given a brief, but you want to help design the brief. And a hybrid in the way that you’re interested in far too many things to tie yourself down to being purely a designer, developer, researcher, and so on. This feeling of being pulled in so many directions has led me to interaction design.

Before I continue, I should probably explain what I mean by “interaction designer” (or IxD for short). The term is somewhat arbitrary, as are most role titles under the UX design umbrella. In short, it refers to a designer who focuses on interactive mediums such as digital devices, websites and apps. An interaction designer does this by using UX skills to create a design that puts functionality and usability at its core. From there, they might either pass the creative design onto a digital designer to craft, or in a more entry level job they will more likely do the design themselves as well.

An interaction design role is sometimes mistakenly referred to as a UX/UI Designer. This is often used in job ads a little too liberally, in the same way that companies sometimes unknowingly ask for a designer/developer. UX and UI are different skills, and to be experts in both areas takes many years of diligent experience.

Are you still interested? Want to know more about becoming an IxD designer? Excellent! Read on for my top 5 tips on how to transition into this type of role.

Seek out the skills you’re missing and fill those gaps on your own

I often hear people complain that they can’t get a job in interaction design because all jobs require a minimum level of experience. There’s a simple way around this: start to incorporate UX processes into your current graphic or digital design work. Then, when you see a job ad that requires the experience, you’ll already have that talking point and folio.

In a later article I will talk about how to unpack job ads to find your missing skills. But in the meantime, I highly recommend reading UX Mastery’s Get started in UX ebook. In particular, the sections on peers and mentorship echo a lot of my own experiences.

In addition, I recommend doing online courses with the Interaction Design Foundation, for a small yearly fee you can do as many online courses as you like.

Use instinct and a fine-toothed comb

New designers often find that they get to a point with their design where they can’t progress any further. It’s a special skill to learn how to keep moving and iterate your designs for the better. This might include conducting rapid prototyping to find the flaws, followed by user testing in the later stages of design. Ask your boss to build in research, prototyping and testing into the project.

You may need to work some overtime initially until the experience pays off and you can get to a better solution faster.

Meet as many people in the industry as possible

Get over your insecurities and reach out to people via email or Linkedin for a coffee and a chat. Be mindful that if you decide to do this, it’s important to do your research first. Have a good understanding of their role and where they work before you meet with them. That way, you’re able to demonstrate your understanding of the industry and their particular place within that industry.

Make sure you prepare some questions so they don’t feel like they have to lead the whole conversation.

Another way to meet people is to sign up to email newsletters for UX or other related groups in your city. Make a pact with yourself to go to any talk or meetup that they hold.

Some good ones I go to are the UX Book Club, Ladies That UX, Carlton Connect (Melbourne) and General Assembly.

Learn to verbalise your thoughts on the subject

Learn how to talk confidently about UX. User experience designers are known for their communication skills. Practise verbalising your thoughts on the journey you took to create your work and why you have designed something in a specific way.

It’s very natural to start off by standing back and allowing your boss or client to interpret your work for themselves. For instance, you may think that it doesn’t need any explanation to be able to understand it. But as an interaction designer, your role is to combine research, thought, design and intuition into a functional solution that answers the core problem. It’s important that you can explain your process so that others can understand why your solution is the best possible solution.

This is a skill that can take years, so start working on this as early as possible.

Take criticism openly and humbly

This one is incredibly important, but doesn’t come naturally to a lot of people. If you are lucky enough to find a mentor, allow them to speak frankly with you about your work and take on board everything they say, at least until you have given their recommendations a try. You may find their suggestions don’t work for you, but more times than not you’ll learn something from the process. Remember, IxD design is a specialty that comes with experience.

If this resonated with you, let me know in the comments! I’ll aim to answer any questions about how to utilise these skills in your own career.

The post 5 tips on moving from graphic design to interaction design (from someone doing just that) appeared first on UX Mastery.

As we’ve mentioned before, the academic path—while not the only option—is a legitimate path to follow, whether you complete a tertiary degree at a Bachelors, Masters, Postgraduate Certificate or Postgraduate Diploma level.

Unfortunately, User Experience as a discipline is not yet well-established in many universities, although it is increasing in credibility. However, there are quite a few other related fields that you can study at a tertiary level: Interaction Design, HCI, Product Design, Information Architecture, Digital Design, Interactive Arts, and others …

Enter our comprehensive list of UX Degrees.

Our UX Degrees resource is a global list of tertiary education degrees currently being offered in these fields. You can enter keywords into the text field to filter courses, or sort by country, city, institution, or course name.

• View the big list of UX Degrees

Let us know if you are aware of any others—we are keen to keep this list as up-to-date and comprehensive as possible!

The post 6 Degrees of User Experience (Actually, More Than 70…) appeared first on UX Mastery.

Ever since launching UX Mastery, the single most common question we’ve been asked is: how do I get started? This ebook is a thoroughly researched response to that question, with pages of practical advice to help you launch—and maintain—a successful career in user experience design. We truly believe this is the most comprehensive guide ever written on how to break into user experience.

Writing a book that we believe will help people isn’t enough though—we also like to make sure what we’re offering is an amazing deal. To that end, here’s the list of bonus content that comes bundled with this book.

• UXPin.com 60-day free trial, exclusive to customers of this book
• UX Process poster. An A3 PDF poster of the popular process diagram introduced in our resources section
• UX Self-assessment kit. The kit includes:
  • UX Sundial chart—for assessing your knowledge of the many different fields that make up User Experience
  • UX Soft Skills chart—for assessing your ability to operate as a team player and communicator
  • Environment & Strategic Thinking chart—for plotting the different environments and levels of strategic thinking that you’ve experienced throughout your career
• UX Portfolio & Resume Template pack. The pack includes:
  • An editable UX portfolio template, in InDesign, EPS and PDF formats
  • A sample resume prepared by Patrick Neeman (usabilitycounts.com), a recognised expert in the UX job market

All up, there’s over $100 worth of bonus content alone, not even including the ebook itself! Plus if you’re not completely satisfied that this ebook and bundle is incredible value, we stand by our money-back guarantee. However, this amazing bundle will only be available until the end of March 2014, so grab your copy now to avoid missing out.

Buy the ebook now: $18 (AUD)

We shared an early preview of the book with a handful of beginners and senior designers alike. Here’s what they said:

This is an excellent book. It’s thorough & clear and I’ll have no hesitation recommending it to everyone who asks me “how do I get into UX”.

—Donna Spencer, UX Australia

As a UI Designer looking to expand my career options, Get Started In UX is a very thorough and useful guide that prepares all the necessary ingredients to becoming a UX Practitioner, and presents them as deliciously digestible bite size chunks. I highly recommend it for aspiring UX practitioners from all backgrounds.

— James Harvey

What Matt and Luke have put together here is not only great reading, it’s a comprehensive and, more importantly, realistic instruction manual for launching into a UX career. I not only highly recommend it, I wish that I’d had this when I was starting down my own path. Thanks to Matthew and Luke for adding this treasure to the UX treasure chest!

—Lis Hubert, Hubert Experience Design

Get Started in UX, the new eBook from Matt and Luke at UX Mastery, is a delight! It strikes the perfect balance of theoretical learnings and practical, ‘roll up your sleeves and get doing’ advice that I’m certain will be useful for absolute beginners and more experienced practitioners alike.

—Ben Tollady, Thirst Studios

You only need one book to get into UX, and this is it. Get Started in UX is your roadmap to a career in UX. It takes you through a complete journey from gaining experience, creating a portfolio and even how to tackle your first interview. You get insight into the minds of professional UXers as well as recruiters on how to land a dream UX job. This book is a must have to landing that job.

—Ben Adonis, Symplicit

Who is this book for?

This is a book for newcomers to the field of UX, although senior practitioners who are looking for a new role will find much of the content useful.

That said, “newcomers to UX” aren’t always newcomers to the world of work. In fact, most UX Designers I know began their careers in other roles—industrial design, computer science, graphic design, even filmmaking! If it’s a career change you’re looking for, Get Started in UX is the book for you.

Find out more.

The post The Complete Guide to Getting Started in UX appeared first on UX Mastery.