The Myth of the UX Unicorn

The fashionable and rather endearing term for a do-it-all designer  - ‘UX Unicorn’ – always makes me chuckle.

But… is it just me, or is a Unicorn just a horse with a horn stuck to its head?

Surely a better comparison to draw would be to mythological Sphinx, with the body of a lion, wings of a bird and head of a man? Also I think there are some scales on there, somewhere. Anyway. My point is that a true UX all-rounder is an amalgamation of many things in equal measure. They are not just a UI Designer with some Axure experience. They are not a UX Designer who knows a bit of HTML/CSS.  They are not just a horse with a horn.

I know what you will say - the point of the analogy is that the Unicorn, like a multi-disciplinary designer, is hard to find.  It’s elusive nature means it camps out in the woods and only appears to those who know what they’re looking for.

But, from my experience, these Unicorns (or Sphinxes) are rearing their heads more and more frequently as designers are up-skilling and taking on more responsibility on projects. I have personally noted an increase in this type of profile over the last year or so.

Would you identify with the Unicorn, or the Sphinx? Which UX creature are you?

 

Please contact me and let me know!

UX Designers - How Do You Start Your Mornings?

As I’m sure you will agree, coming into work after a four day Bank Holiday weekend is universally seen as ‘The Worst Thing Ever’. As I sort through the weekend’s enquiries and attempt to cast my mind back to where it was on Thursday afternoon, I’ve started to query how our minds gear up for work on a daily basis. In particular, I want to look into how the creative designer brain may differ from someone in a less creative profession.

One school of thought is that you should tackle the heavy-duty, brain power consuming tasks head on, first thing in the morning. This is when your mind is at its most focussed, and able to take a fresh stance on a hard problem which may have been troubling you for a couple of days.

For me, I like to get the easiest possible emails out of the way first, as a sort of ‘warm up’. So if you are waiting on a ‘Thank You’ or a ‘Great, I will talk to you then’ from me, you are likely to receive this at 7:30 in the morning! Plus, a clearer inbox makes a clearer mind for the day ahead.

I wonder how this works for UX Designers? What kind of tasks do you feel inclined to approach first thing in the morning? Do you feel particularly creative, or do you need to warm up with some admin? Do you feel like you need to spend some time organising your thoughts and to-do list, or can you jump straight in to the hands-on work?

Do you prefer to get your head down and keep yourself to yourself (and your sketchbook) or do you find this time is best spent talking with users or other designers?

As I’ve been musing on the topic, I thought I would throw it out there to you. It would be really interesting for me to understand how the creative mind approaches a day of work, and whether there is any difference in inclination from someone like me who works in a recruitment environment.

 

As always, I would love to hear from you.  Please do email me.

Recruitment in Pre-Digital Times

This morning, the most terrible of things happened at IC Creative.

For two and a half hours, we were transported to pre-historic (well, pre-digital age) times when the local internet connection went down, and along with it, our server capability.

Now, working out in the sunshine-soaked sticks is usually an uplifting and soul-soothing experience. However, our bucolic location (and lack of technological back up) worked against us on this occasion as we were plunged into digi-darkness, having to rely on pen and paper, telephone conversations, and our own memory to get things done.

Without knowing whether our messages were reaching their recipients, how were we to know if we had successfully booked in that interview or imparted the details of a great role? More importantly – how could we tell if the jobs we matched to designers were hitting the spot for them?

Having this kind of time delay is something recruiters aren’t used to. By nature, we want to ensure that everything moves as seamlessly as possible – if someone wants their details sent to a hiring manager at their dream company, it is beneficial for all parties to get that done as soon as possible!

Timing is everything.

The next question is – information – where can you get it, if Google is off-limits? Did recruiters visit libraries every lunch break, or simply keep an Encyclopedia close to hand? Did they have a Rolodex and a Yellow Pages on their desk at all times? Imagine flipping through scores of company and candidate details to get names, numbers and addresses every time you needed them. Information was once a tangible thing which felt like turning the corner of a page and running an ink-stained finger down a printed list of facts. Today it is as readily available and fleeting as the air we breathe.

It really is mind-boggling to me that recruiters functioned perfectly well before the internet.

Now, as our emails from the  early hours of the morning slowly filter through and we can load up LinkedIn and G+ to catch up on the news, it is back to the modern world with us. The morning’s break was refreshing, but in its’ wake we feel a certain creeping dread that we may have missed out on urgent messages, rescheduling issues, or even a flash Twitter trend.

 

As always, please feel free to contact me.

The Path to a UX Career

As with any decision to start out on a new career path, a fledgling UX’er will face the conundrum that Experience breeds Experience. That is to say, if you don’t have any commercial experience to your name, it is sometimes pretty hard to get your foot in the door.

This week I wanted to ask whether any readers have tips or tricks they would give to Graduates/ Juniors or Designers/Researchers from a different background looking to effectively push the re-set button on their career.

Depending on their vacancy, companies can afford to be selective on the candidates they choose to put forward to interview processes. So the question remains, what can you do to make yourself stand out if you are new to the industry?

We would suggest: 

• Attending careers fairs
• Networking on social media
• Strengthening your online presence – align all online profiles with the same skills and photo, interlink effectively
• Blogging about industry topics and gaining followers
• Taking a step down in your expectations (salary-wise) – One step back for two steps forward
• Building up freelance experience
• Working for free – we wouldn’t suggest this in the long run but a client project on your CV will look good whether you were paid or not
• Ensuring your CV and portfolio market your skills well – ask an expert to check. Include lots of key words to ensure you show up in searches
• And if you don’t have a portfolio – create one – online or in PDF form
• Opening your mind to opportunities –  give that company you’re not sure about a shot. If you’re invited to a face to face meeting you will know for sure
• Keeping your CV on all possible job boards and online communities for job seekers – you never know who is looking where
• Attending workshops / UX skill training events – various agencies in London facilitate these
• Attending industry events – IXDA, UXPA, for instance

It would be great to hear if anyone has any further suggestions. Please do email me.

Signs of a Happy Designer - A Recruiters Perspective

It may come as a surprise, but here at IC Creative we often speak with designers who are politely, but passionately and vehemently not job hunting. And believe it or not, this is a very nice thing to see.

In the world of recruitment, we receive hundreds of applications and phone calls on a weekly basis from people who are no longer content in their current role. It’s really nice and refreshing when we happen upon someone who is so joyously happy with what they’re doing that they just have to keep us on the phone a little longer to tell us about it - in fact, this makes our job a little bit more enjoyable too!

Signs of a happy designer:

• Wanting to talk for a long time, in detail, about their newest project
• Recommending you check out their company / product and even download it / buy it
• Recommending their friends with similar skill sets who are job hunting
• Waxing lyrical about their new manager and how inspiring they are
• Boasting (modestly, of course) about the new skills they are developing, the training they’ve been on, the events they’ve attended
• Keeping their CVs off the job boards for a while – “just in case something better comes along,” doesn’t even figure
• Being a bit too busy to have returned your call yesterday because they were out with their new work friends
• Basically… when their job just doesn’t seem like work

So next time a recruiter you know from a few months back calls you, let them see how happy you are now. They will genuinely be pleased for you and will wish you the best for the future. And when you say, “I’ll call you when I need you” – they really will take that to heart.

As always, really would like to hear from you - Email me here.

Connected Living – Would you choose this lifestyle?

This week saw the story of ‘America’s Most Connected Man’ hit the news. Chris Dancy, of Denver, Colorado  - who bills himself as a “Data Exhaust Cartographer” on his site www.chrisdancy.com – has been tracking and recording his every move, action and purchase since 2007. Real-time data collected via 700 wearable and lifestyle technologies have amassed this information – however mundane and unimportant each increment of data may seem, imagine the picture which can - and has - been painted about modern life.

I pose the question: Would you rather spend a week without technology, or a week hooked up to hundreds of devices all collecting and collating information about your life?

 

Let me know your thoughts at sam.emmett@ic-creative.co.uk

Recruitment: A Taxi Driver's Anecdote

On my way to a meeting yesterday, I got talking to a taxi driver (an elderly gentleman) who, despite his politeness, is not one for easy 'back of the cab' conversation. He is renowned around town for hitting the hard subjects, which - whether you're on the way to an urgent appointment, or are simply a little tipsy coming back from a night out - are not always what you want to have to deal with. This is the same taxi driver who has tried to sell me his religion on numerous occasions, so I was braced for a less than relaxing conversation. However, I was pleasantly surprised when he asked me what I did, and then proceeded to talk quite eloquently about the pitfalls of trying to recruit specialists within a particular area. I told him he must have had some experience along the line, as he certainly sounded as though he knew his stuff. To this he replied yes, and told me about his time in the army - where his role was to recruit soldiers and figure out who he could put forward for promotions to higher ranks. The problems arose when he was 100% certain he had found the right person, only for them to fail miserably at the task in hand. On paper, he said, people can look great - but when they are called to action they can't live up to what they have promised. He told me all people are actors, particularly in interviews, and can fake whatever is needed to get where they want. He told me about one instance where a deaf man had managed to pass a physical examination, by responding to prompts to complete tasks and answer questions. It was only later on that they figured out he was deaf and had to ask him to leave for his own safety.

I'd like to think that in the professional design world, something like this (or the equivalent) just wouldn't be able to happen. Interview and vetting processes are stringent, whilst design tasks, challenges and presentations are set in order to ensure candidates can back up the technical skills they have professed to on their CVs. It's a given that you will sell yourself to the utmost degree, and perhaps emphasize a little more than is truthful about certain areas of expertise. But completely faking it until you make it... I don't think that could be possible in the UX design industry!