How Less Experienced UX/UI Designers Can Leverage Their Employability

The reality of small businesses

A cold analysis of the scenario of small entrepreneurs reveals the lack of good planning. According to legal and accounting specialists, the great majority of micro-entrepreneurs “are entrepreneurs”, that is, being an entrepreneur is a condition for them; As much as they lack vocation and administrative preparation, they have the technical knowledge and the will / need to make it happen. Such people start business activities for the most varied reasons:

— I know how to do this X thing very well and I want to sell;

— I’m tired of having a boss, I can do it myself;

— I have to prove myself capable to family and friends;

— I’ve been turned off and I want to get back on it;

— I inherited a business and I have to continue it.

On the other hand, we have the minority: people who in fact “are entrepreneurs”, that is, they have the vocation and administrative preparation to undertake even if they do not have much specific technical knowledge of the product. Its features:

— They have the impetus to undertake, and in that, they set higher goals;

— Have strategic vision and prior planning;

— They know in depth about the market, competition, pricing, sales and after-sales processes;

— They are well aware of the numbers, taxes and legislative limitations;

— Have a clear vision of the product, and its potential;

— They are prepared to manage teams.

According to the same specialists, as most small businessmen do not have a vocation for entrepreneurship and administrative preparation, the result is that many businesses do not get far, do not consolidate and their financial reality is bad: Year after year, they barely pay- if the costs and there is no real profit generation. And more: This reality is not perceived, or even if it is, it is ignored. Maintaining the financial health of a company, even a small one, is no easy task.

But in these two scenarios mentioned, we see one thing in common: From the least prepared to the most prepared, everyone saw a business opportunity, and decided to take advantage of it in the best possible way, with the available resources. With that, there is room in these companies for you to apply your newly acquired skills, as focusing on users to create or improve products can have a great impact on business results. Far beyond Design itself, the value lies in seeing it as a transforming and multiplying element.

UX for minors

So where in all of this does a UX/UI Designer come in? If you stop to think about it, the knowledge you already have about the UX process can make a lot of difference. Of course, your role is not to save business, after all, you are not an auditor, nor a management consultant, much less a finance specialist. But the fact is that your product understanding can be of immense help, especially as these businesses were not originally user-centric but simply creating and offering a product to anyone who wants to buy. By paying attention to how these products are offered and how customers acquire and use them, several gaps for improvement will be noticed.

An important point to raise is that UX is not just for digital products. They are the big trend, the latest trend, a huge market in accelerated growth and extremely fertile ground for you to act, but still, they are not the only destination of this mentality. There is no right or wrong company format for a UX Designer to work in, because as long as there is a relationship between a product and a user, there is room for UX.

In short, smaller companies lack good UX design. They may be suffering losses at this very moment: investing too much in the function of the product while the design would anticipate several problems, doing too much advertising and not knowing the reason for the low conversion, pricing poorly because they do not know the target audience, not realizing the origin of the dropout of the purchase, at which point the competition has an advantage, among others. As this is new territory for them, their work of convincing, validating and proving will be great but it is certain that it will be highly rewarding when it generates the expected results — And we know that they are perfectly possible.

How to identify your opportunity

The main factor that needs to be emphasized is your initiative, while companies have problems and often do not see them or do not treat them with due attention. If you, as a user, identify something that can be improved in any sphere of use, here is your opportunity — You must be thinking “wow, so there are many”! They really are. Remember that your big goal is:

Prove your ability, mindset and process by building a real case — which iswhat companies and recruiters need to qualify you as a promising UX Designer.

I’ve listed below a sequence of actions that you can try immediately, just by opening your eyes to what’s around you:

1. Pay attention to your routine

On a day-to-day basis, you are a user of many products. Which ones do you have a bad experience with? Some examples: Does your pillow cause back pain? Is it difficult to open the lid of your toothpaste? Does your coffee mug burn your fingers? Even taking a numerical ticket, did you have to queue to buy meat? Why have low-volume express boxes in a wholesale market? In large shopping mall bathrooms, why do you wash your hands on one side and dry them on the other, having to cross the entire bathroom with wet hands dripping on a smooth, slippery floor? In a pet shop, why is there no prepared service for blind customers with accompanying dogs?

2. Choose and observe the root of the problem

Select one of these scenarios, preferably the one that you identify with the most because you feel highly frustrated by the bad experience. Clearly define the problem, where the pain point is, the feeling generated and what you needed to do to get around it.

3. Find out if there is a solution in the works

Drill down and find out how the company deals with this problem. Even having received several complaints from customers and seeming to be a simple solution, potentially the problem reaches difficult levels within the organization, where you cannot penetrate without being an employee or a provider of some level. For all intents and purposes, as this is a project of your own initiative, without this discovery you may assume that there is no immediate plan to correct the problem.

4. Talk to the person in charge

Check the feasibility of accepting your project before starting: Don’t start doing it without at least someone from the company knowing about it. For this, prepare a form of communication that is comfortable for you (a phone call, email, videoconference, face-to-face meeting, etc.), approach the person in charge and inform him of your initiative and interest in acting, even if in an “academic” way. ”, in the problem you identified. And of course, get ready to receive a no, or even a bucket of cold water like the famous phrase “Who is this little person who doesn’t know anything about my business and wants to give hints?” Anticipate an answer to these classic questions.

5. Produce, test, observe, learn

Now it’s time to show off your skills! Drive good UX design with surveys, people sessions, ideation, validations, and more. Pay attention to details, record, question, interact and then discuss a viable solution proposal. Based on real user experience with your solution, repeat as many times as necessary to polish it. Directly involve the person in charge so that they have a clearer view of how your solution comes up against a problem that was not being noticed or that was not being taken seriously, and in that, that they see the value generated by their discoveries and understand the need for this project.

6. Elaborate and present your project

Gather the information gathered, prepare and present your change proposal specifying definitions of what is needed to implement, how long it will take, costs involved, next steps, and more. Don’t forget to make this process as organized and documented as possible, because by doing this you will already be creating your portfolio case.

7. Finish and implement

Finally, with your case in hand, it’s time to negotiate it because the next step is implementation. So far you have discovered and validated the viability of your solution, but the time has come to put it into practice and obviously the person in charge is counting on you for that. It depends on your reading and decision whether this implementation will be charged or free of charge. Through the investment path, everything can happen faster because you can involve more people and use more resources. On the other hand, the cost-free way, the process tends to be longer and more laborious. The recommendation is that, regardless of your decision, the value of your work needs to be made clear — as a rule of thumb, non-paying clients do not really value your work, and as a result, even if your implementation is good, tend not to continue.

Conclusion

The initiative of a UX/UI Designer is a highly differentiating factor in their career. The more problems you identify and projects you do, the more experience you’ll gain and your professional value will increase much faster than just waiting for the perfect job opening.
And you, have you ever done something like this? Tell us in the comment!