Bit by the UX fairy

How to pull from past experience to improve your UX practice

This article is day 24 of a 31 day series. A mash-up of the Inktober 2022 prompt list and UX terminology. Read more about the challenge here.

Day 24 | Inktober prompt: Fairy | UX Term: User Experience

Ow! It bit me!

In the 1986 adventure fantasy film, Labyrinth, the character Sarah, is surprised when a fairy bites her. When asked what she expected, she says, “I thought they did nice things, like granting wishes.”

I feel ya girl. Fairies, am I right? I couldn’t help but think of that when the prompt came up today. Today we’re learning about the UX term of “user experience”. I don’t know if it’s come up before, but UX stands for user experience. So yeah, it’s kind of what all of this is all about. And I have to say, especially after writing about UX for three weeks straight every day, I feel like I got bit as well, but in a good way.

I could talk about the history, and all of the different views on user experience that exist out in the world, but those are other peoples stories. And today I want to tell mine. Partly because what I’m learning more and more, is that while I started focused study of UX only a couple of years ago, most of the skills that I use every day have been developed over the last couple of decades.

My hope is that wherever you’re at in your journey, you can gain a new perspective on what it means to create incredible user experiences.

I’ve been training for this my whole life

I thought about going way way back, and maybe finding some fairy tale-like origin story about getting in a fight with my uncle and getting bit by a fairy, and yeah… I basically would just be writing my own version of Spider-man so I’m opting to focus on my adult life, and the roles I’ve had that prepared me for where I am today.

Food Service and Call Centers

Oh my goodness folks. If you’ve never worked in food service and/or a call center, you haven’t lived. You either pick up some expert level patience and communication skills, or you hate life and leave. I did both, and by that I mean, learned some skills, and also left. Oh, and I also mean that I worked in both food service and at call centers.

In user experience design, communication abounds. You need a clear understanding from users, about what their expectations, wants, and needs are as well as stakeholders of the project. You also have to get comfortable with understanding what is possible, even if that sometimes means that people get mad at you and want to speak to your manager. While the escalation has not reached the same dramatic level it did when I was working customer service, it’s that fire that turned me into the communicator that I am today. I learned how to speak to people and manage my own emotions and expectations so that I can deliver the best to clients and users. (Add if you could give me five stars when you get that survey in your email, that would be great. Thanks!)

In-House Graphic Design

The first time I worked in a studio, it was serving two companies with one owner. A used car dealership and a tequila company. Free shot of tequila with every test drive anyone? No takers?

It was a unique experience to say the least, and the owner had some interesting ideas of what he thought was cool and worth spending time on.

In user experience, and really in design in general, you’re going to have a variety of personalities that you work with. But the biggest benefit for me, was that with the owner bouncing around to so many different ideas, I got to try out new skills. I leveled up my MySpace skills, did some product design, entered a t-shirt design contest for this new company called Twitter, sourced materials and samples from vendors, and created a myriad of point of sale pieces and sell sheets, billboards, t-shirts, the works. We even won some awards.

I learned that trying new things can be fun. Working with talented people that teach you along the way is amazing. I think the biggest takeaway was sharing new knowledge with others. This was my first real experience with mentorship. We were a small team, but we did a shit ton.

Account Manager

I’ll admit, this last one was tough for me. It felt at times like it was the least creative role I had, and I was actually bummed to be doing well, mostly because it made it hard to leave. And I needed to leave. From my customer experience background I was able to provide excellent support, and my graphic design background allowed me to have some fun on side projects, yes, more t-shirts and flyers. But the big thing that I packed in my suitcase when I moved on: finding enthusiasm for an industry that is outside of your expertise.

I feel like this one needs a little back story. I know I said I wouldn’t go way way back, but it’s too late, I’m going!

So, my amazing mother was an elementary school teacher. And early in my life, I decided that I wanted to be anything but a teacher. I know it sounds terrible, but it wasn’t like I just didn’t want to be like my mother, I’m pretty sure I’m becoming my mother right now as I write this. It was because I saw how hard it was.

If you have a family member that is a teacher, or you are a teacher, bless you, a million times, with sunshine and fairy dust. We don’t deserve you.

So with this perspective, I had a little chuckle when I ended up working for a company that supports K-12 school districts. Go figure. But what was great was that I was able to take my exposure to that area and apply it to my work. And that is something I do now all the time.

Now bring it home

In user experience, you’re constantly in a problem-solving environment. You are literally surrounded by people that want to solve problems for their users. Which means they are solving problems that a lot of people have. So more times than not I have either direct experience that I can draw from, or I know someone who does. It’s pretty incredible to find myself in a space where I can pull from all of my past experience to improve whatever it is that’s coming next.

So if you find yourself not yet where you want to be, just lean into it, and remember that you can take every last bit of what you experience with you on to the next. Bigger and better is just around the corner, and every step you take is only making you better prepared. Essentially, I hope you get bit by the UX fairy too!