My Day as a User Experience Designer!

UX designers are responsible for designing an app or a system with the users in mind. The goal is to design a solution that is easy to use, efficient, and - last but not least - attractive.

As a senior member of the team, I will do a lot of hands-on design work. I'm likely to work together with other people:

Sometimes I might do User Experience research myself, other times (usually in bigger companies) there are dedicated researchers for that. The research is important to understand the context of the product I'm designing and what the users really want and need. I also work with app or software developers, who will turn my design into a functioning product.

A typical day

9 am

My day begins with a quick meeting (sometimes also referred to as a "stand-up") with the rest of the team – researchers, designers, developers, and project leads.

It's a time for me to talk about what I did yesterday, the focus of today, and any support I need with work during the day. My work is quite fast-paced, so it's important to keep up to speed with the newest developments and insights from the team.

9:30 am

I recently got started on a new project - I'm re-designing an online shopping app. The first thing I do is creating "user journeys" that show how a user is navigating through the app, and where the pain points and problems currently are. I'm finishing up that research and preparing a summary of my findings for my client.

As part of the research, I've looked at the points at which most people stop interacting with the app, conducted a range of user interviews, and researched best practices within the industry.

11 am

I am meeting with my client to present my user journey to them and discuss your findings, especially the areas that need improvement.

Together, I brainstorm some ideas of how I could address the problems. I agree that I'll create some wireframes and prototype options and will arrange a session with the users later the same week to run them through it and get their feedback.

12 pm

It's lunchtime!

If I'm not out and about with my colleagues, I could instead use the time to catch up on a design-related podcast or some industry news.

1 pm

It's time to start creating wireframes and rough interactive prototypes of the new version of the app.

I sketch out all the screens in simple lines and boxes and map how a user will click through the different screens to place an order.

As a next step, I use my prototyping tools like Axure to produce a clickable version that shows the screens in more detail and that you can test with your users.

3 pm

I'm meeting with the app developers to talk through the technical side of the app. I share my research around the customer journey and the pain points and introduce my ideas to check whether they're technically possible.

I don't have to have a deep technical understanding myself, but as the developers will be programming the app, it's important that I'm working quite closely together throughout the project.

4 pm

I've been invited to attend a workshop in which one of my teammates is testing their latest prototypes with users.

In the workshop, the users are shown the prototype of the app and asked to interact with it. Sometimes they might be asked to do a specific thing (for example: go to their shopping basket).

The researchers will observe how people interact with the app and if their designs make sense.

5 pm

I meet with my mentor in the team to discuss my progress, get feedback, and answer any questions that have come up.

It's good to have somebody in the team to talk through what I want to achieve, get advice on what to focus on next, and which skills to develop further.

5:30 pm

Today after work, I'm attending an industry event. UX design is a very vibrant industry with lots of interesting people!

I'm going to a talk by a successful UX designer from a well-known design agency - with some time after to give me a chance to network with other people in the industry.

6:00 pm

Enjoy life with my family & friends!