Why soft skills for designers can be “UX-ed”
What design bootcamps and colleges didn’t teach you
“I don’t like this design, but I don’t know why.”
If I ask every designer who has heard of this client feedback before to clap once, we are probably going to hear a standing ovation around the world.
If I ask every designer who has heard of this client feedback before to clap once, we are probably going to hear a standing ovation around the world.
In design school, we rarely have ways to practice how to respond to tricky workplace dynamics and client drama.
Most school projects are blue-sky.
Most school projects are blue-sky.
Even with critiques from professors, mentors and instructors, we are not dealing with real clients, who often act very differently from educators.
That’s where internships and entry-level jobs come in to help us get that real experience.
But then there is that dreaded “we require 5 years of experience”, when graduating students face the impossible — you want me to have experience but you don’t want to give me any.
In college or design bootcamps, we spend an extended period of time learning our craft, which is very important, but very few training, if any, is given to soft skills development.
This is one of the biggest divider line between a junior designer and a senior designer, which is why so many companies prefer experience while selfishly refuse to give anybody new to the field a chance.
This is one of the biggest divider line between a junior designer and a senior designer.
What if we apply design thinking in UX design to soft skills? Can we “hack” soft skills using the same approach we use when designing digital products?
The Infamous Client Feedback #1: “I don’t like this design, but I don’t know why.”
Often times, an eye roll is called for when a client says the above statement.
