Understanding why UX is not enough and three ways to augment your skills — My job title recently changed to Senior Product Designer instead of Senior UX Designer, and it's part of a trend I've been seeing everywhere. There's a rallying cry that's occurring right now, which is that "UX is Dying, and Product Design is going to replace it." My reaction to that…

Intimidated by user research analysis? Visualize your data first — I used to have to psyche myself up to analyze my user research. I enjoyed talking with and interviewing users and learning how they use the website. However, the thought of staring at a spreadsheet of data after a day of interviews used to fill me with dread. Whether it’s…

User Research is starting to get outsourced. You still need in-house research — I was surprised to find myself one of the few designers advocating for user research at a startup. For me, user research was a crucial part of any design process, and I was trained extensively in its methods. When I entered the world of startups, though, people would look at…

Component-level design helps teams improve UX across a suite of products — Consistency across designs can feel like your enemy when re-designing a product that’s part of a larger suite. You might offer solid design recommendations for product A, only to be shot down for something out of your control: it differs from how products B, C, and D (in the same…

How medium fidelity designs help you beyond just user testing — One of the trickiest things to figure out when you join a new company is understanding what different UX terms mean to them. Recently, I had to navigate the trickiness of the term "Medium Fidelity" when it came to prototypes. Of course, I knew their textbook definition, but these were…

Product-led growth provides UX with an exciting (and high-pressure) opportunity — I felt sorry for the Junior UX designer working with me. This is probably his first or second UX design job, but he was caught up in a new wave of excitement that most companies might not typically encounter. We had been caught in the midst of a new buzzword…

How to design products that might cost hundreds of thousands of dollars — I truly understood how psychology helped UX when designing products costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. Psychology is a field we often associate with UX: After all, understanding user behaviors, motivations, and needs usually require understanding what drives people. However, it’s often hard to see how it can influence your…

How content-driven marketing is a perfect fit for many introverts — One book, To sell is Human, helped me find a marketing approach that didn’t feel like pulling teeth. Since I started writing nearly two decades ago, I've always had one glaring weakness as a creator: I don't like to market myself. I'm motivated to find the time and energy to…

Understanding the problem space by asking the right questions helps everyone — Problem framing is one of those unspoken skills that is almost required to become a Senior UX Designer. Learning this skill requires shifting away from a problem-solving mindset. I only realized I had adopted the skill once I started leading UX discussions with Executives and Product Owners. It's also been…