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LinkedIn

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As a human-centered designer, you are trained to identify problems and to design and develop suitable solutions. Depending on the topic, the problems presented can be very complex. Presumed solutions are sometimes hasty and overwhelmingly technology-driven.&nbsp;When I was still a design student, I often worked with methods of speculative and critical design. The approach of these methods is to tackle a topic less solution-driven and more “discourse-driven.” It was particularly in our master thesis, considering political dialogues in digital spaces, that my team and I asked ourselves the question: Is it really important and appropriate to bring another presumed solution to market? Or is it more important to open up a space for experimentation, to involve users, and stimulate discourse on the subject to achieve desirable solutions in the long run? That’s exactly what we did because it’s more valuable to open up these experimental spaces ahead of the development of potential solutions. I also embrace this mindset in my professional life. This means getting together for brainstorming sessions, involving real users in workshops and utilizing methods such as Crazy 8 to push ideas to their limit or into extremes. It’s about questioning solutions once again and becoming aware of the responsibility you have as a designer. And ultimately, you should not be afraid to change a developed feature if the desired effect has not been achieved. In the end, these experiments will get you closer to the final working product.

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Tebeya crafts and thinks of the intersection of design, strategy and research – always with a focus on people and the environment. She loves using design as a tool to visualize different scenarios and fictions

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Tebeya Leicht – Design Voice

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Tebeya Leicht

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I've seen it a lot through my professional experiences and daily monitoring of what is being done: perfection is often prioritized over rationality, at least in terms of design quality. Designers are constantly inundated with ideas, inspiration and standards set by other people, by different trends.&nbsp;This impacts our vision and can reinforce us in a too strong certainty about our work. I think it is essential to constantly confront our ideas with real users and people unfamiliar with the project, especially when we strongly believe to be right.&nbsp;&nbsp;Comforting our ideas of a "good" design can quickly move us away from the main objective: a logical and rational user experience, no matter if it's visual or experiential. The worst thing that can happen is an irrational production, detached from the real expectations of those for whom we build it.&nbsp;Thus, I believe that good design, whether seen or experienced, isn't supposed to be primarily flawless and immaculate. It has to be rational.

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Uptime.ac is a technology startup that helps elevator maintenance companies to increase their performances and modernize outdated elevator experience by using AI

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Design Voice – Alexandre Beaurepaire

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Alexandre Beaurepaire

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Without visibility into the customer experience, it's difficult to know where problems in a product/service are and how to solve them strategically.&nbsp;&nbsp;So I created a journey map of our bank loan payment experience, which presented opportunities to streamline communication, customer engagement, and technology. As a UX designer, I must understand the problem, especially from a user's perspective. And to achieve this, I collaborated with cross-functional teams to surface the pain points customers experience while attempting to pay a loan.&nbsp;&nbsp;The most significant a-ha moment came about from looking at the other side of the coin and engaging with our customer care and service teams. After all, they are users too. And they helped me present a holistic view of improving our customer experience from a service design perspective.

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Brandon is a UX Lead in New York City. His knowledge of front-end backs his expertise in UX and visual design. He is a big advocate of design thinking and believes a creative strategy is fundamental to building better user experiences

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Brandon W. Mosley – Design Voice

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Brandon W. Mosley

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Behance

Dribbble

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When I was freelancing, I realized that I was more than a tool. I was more than someone being hired by a client to help convey their (branded) story into visualized content. Meaning I was telling and supporting clients’ stories.&nbsp;It all came together during my final project as a freelancer. My last client was selling soda. You know, the brown sugar water we all know with the red and white label. I started to ask critical questions during the production, and I realized that I was accountable for their story. Even though that campaign was about sustainability, I’m not a fan of that brand, and that particular project was just ‘look-good-feel-good-marketing’ anyway.&nbsp;That valuable insight made me realize that from that day on, I’d instead use my skills for the better - a brand or organization I feel comfortable working with, that has values that I share. Whatever you do as a creative artist: you’re responsible for the message too. You’re not only a creative passageway or a tool.

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Bobby has 10+ years of professional experience. Since 2017 he’s been a Visual Storyteller at Minddistrict and still doing some personal projects on the side

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Design Voices – Bobby Voeten

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Bobby Voeten

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One of the most valuable skills a designer can have is to make something complex look simple. I believe that this is achieved by being empathetic and putting the user first.&nbsp;If you want to get great design results that will create a positive impact, you should take the time to understand the user and the problem you are trying to solve before anything else. This way your design will be informed by valuable insights rather than just visual preferences. And this could set you apart because the story that you can tell with your design will be richer and more meaningful.

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Jaadi is an interdisciplinary designer with a strategic mindset and high interest in merging disciplines such as psychology, visual, digital and fashion design to find creative, sustainable and human-centered solutions

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Design Voice – Jaadi Fonseca

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Jaadi Fonseca

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It's easy to forget that 'user' or 'persona' is just a tool for the UX design process. It's a generalized reflection of human behaviors in a specific context. However, there is still a considerable gap between those in the way we understand users in our every workday and users in reality.&nbsp;I almost exclusively read non-design-related books because nothing has been helping me become a better designer than learning about diverse perspectives and insights on the human being. Realize how 'human,' not 'user,' would experience, feel, think, and live through the technological world we live in and work for.

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Sangwoo is a Senior Product Designer at Microsoft, an interaction designer and a creative technologist. He specializes in developing interaction models and design systems for emerging technologies with unique problems

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Design voices – Sangwoo Han

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Sangwoo Han

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Our industry is fast-paced. You have to be able to turn around ideas quickly. That pressure can block your creativity. To prevent this, you need to constantly train your design muscles. Build a daily routine around creative inspiration, especially if you're feeling stuck on long-term client work where outstanding creativity isn't always part of your job.&nbsp;For me, this meant incorporating creative inspiration into my daily routine. I use plugins, newsletters, and social media on a daily basis to consume the latest and greatest designs without going into detail or spending time searching for them. While I go after my workday, my mind subconsciously picks up on those design bits, and over time it manifests and enables me to turn around designs quicker. Make sure to save everything that stands out, so nothing ever gets lost.

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Rebecca is an experienced designer defining digital brand experiences with a keen eye on design detail and craft. She combines product thinking with experience and design and is a big advocate for working in a multi-disciplinary, agile environment

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Design voices – Rebecca Werres

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Rebecca Werres

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Your design thinking should evolve depending on where and when you commence a project. Sometimes you join a company or team when they are already in the design or development phase, and you may feel the urge to double-check or validate certain things. It's important to have a voice. But also be mindful of decisions you disagree with, especially if some of them have already been validated by data.&nbsp;I've learned that not everyone you come across has an agile or lean mentality. Often people may have robust thought processes. Be patient, lend a helping hand wherever you can, and adapt your design process accordingly.

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Jason is an experienced product designer who loves helping people, exploring trends and collaborating to solve problems

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Design voices – Jason Mak

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Jason Mak

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UX is inclusive of every way people experience the product. It includes information structure, how it looks, how it moves, and what the content says. That’s why I feel like a product designer’s work is never done, and we should aim to endlessly learn from other disciplines — such as visual arts, animation, and creative writing. The designer should strive to own every aspect of that experience and weave intention into each element.

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Haley is an experienced Senior Product Designer at Delphia crafting experiences for a next-generation fintech product

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Design Voices – Haley Park

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Haley Park

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I learned this from quite a senior designer at Philips. I was younger and saw the power of visualization in design. Since most other functions or people in a company might not be visually creative, “we as designers” can make/visualize things. Following a picture is worth a thousand words, a design is worth a thousand pictures, thus 1000 x 1000 words.‍Stop talking, start doing. It easily overlaps with what we do as prototyping. And the nice thing is that as a designer, you have THAT power over a company. Once it is visualized, it is “there.” It’s more powerful than just “telling” some words. Most communication is flawed (distributed teams, different languages, asynchronous communication), so the power is to communicate through design and show “the right thing.” It’s pretty interesting. As designers, sometimes we better just shut up, build it, show it, and then people will follow.

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Miel is a creative innovator and a designer interested in the ROI of UX, design and innovation with an impact on both people and businesses

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Design Voices – Miel Wellens

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Miel Wellens

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While looking at my own work, I know it is unlikely for me to judge it in an unbiased manner because the decisions I made in the design process were mine, influenced by my observations, my thoughts, and my conclusions. In order to constantly improve my work, I try to step out of my shoes to get feedback early, view my work on different devices and in different circumstances.&nbsp;It is a matter of utmost importance to be able to zoom out the design and watch it from afar.

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Maciej is a strong advocate of accessible and simple solutions, which he achieves with his holistic approach to product design.

Design Voices – Maciej Kownacki

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Maciej Kownacki

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We live in a unique moment when large corporations launch new design systems everyday. I really like the idea of reusing and saving effort when creating digital products, but I prefer the idea of giving space to creativity and evolving with everything we design. Let's not forget that design systems help us to unify experience and technology, but they also help us to identify opportunities to make them grow.

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Paco is an experienced designer with a digital background and a strong standpoint on Visual Design

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Design Voices – Paco Fernandez

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Paco Fernandez

Space for design professionals to share their insights

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Design voices

Design Voices

Share your Voice

Good Design Needs Space for Experimentation

Choose Rationality Over Perfection

How Customer Care Can Help With UX

With Designing Comes Responsibility

Design Makes Complex Ideas Look Simple

User-Centered Design Isn't Always Human-Centered

Train Your Design Muscles Constantly, Subconsciously

Adapt Your Design Thinking

Ever-Evolving Design Requires Ever-Learning Designers

Show, Don’t Tell

Zoom out and Watch Your Designs From Afar

Design Systems. Yes, but With Soul