Changing Careers: Am I Right for User-Centered Design?

A recent article in GOOD magazine explored changing professions including some very useful recommendations. We thought we’d narrow this topic for our program, to help you take the plunge. Several people have asked if they might be a good fit, even if they’re not formal designers today.

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The Short Answer: You Don't Need to be a Designer 

For instance, a liberal arts background is a really good fit. No matter the area of study, you can use the skills of pattern-finding and deducing what to do with the patterns you find. Take an English-major's perspective. If you’re reading something difficult, the only way you’re really going to make sense of it is by identifying patterns. Then you’ll typically write a report for your instructor that follows the general pattern of, “Here’s what I found. Here’s what I think it means.”

That’s exactly what we’re doing in user-centered design. 

You wade out into the real world, identify particular personas you want to assess, and look for patterns in behavior. Based on those patterns, you begin to make assumptions and try to communicate those back to your team or to your client. Then, you begin to design against them. In doing so, you know you’re going to meet the needs found in those patterns. You’re not trying to change them (the patterns or the people), you’re just trying to address different problems by meeting your user where they already are.

It seems counterintuitive to say that you don’t have to be a designer to be in what appears to be a design field, but it’s 100% true.

An Inherently Human Trait: "Have Empathy For Other People"

This is a really good field for a wide range of people because it asks you to do an inherently human thing: to have empathy for other people and design answers for their needs.

If you’re looking at a group of people, and you can see how they’re behaving or reacting, you’re doing what you do on a daily basis anyway. We’re just making a process out of it so that you can use that process to design excellent solutions.

It’s a great field for new or experience professionals who want to work with people and apply both their analytical side as well as their imaginative side.