Week 2 talk

Today we had a talk with Rick Monro who gave us an insight into this industry of ux, what work he has done in the past and what work he does now. Rick has many years of design experience and has worked at companies like Puppet for many years and now works at Contrast (security company), Puppet is a company that I am very much interested in and I have done some research about it. It was very beneficial to hear ricks thoughts about the company and the work that they actually do.

Books mentioned ( and I will be adding to my ‘tbr’ library)

• Dan Norman living with complexity
• The elements of UX by Jesse G

Rick also gave me some insight into what I should expect to see whilst on my placement and he gave some good tips on choosing the right placement as each individual and designer is suited to different roles and companies-  I shouldn’t settle for the first one, I should look around and choose to apply to placements that actual do work that I want to be doing.

The importance of asking questions

Rick highlighted some points about how important it is to ask questions to employers about their company and how researching before applying is a crucial step that I need to take. He suggesting some great questions that I should consider asking companies when applying for placement at the interview stage. It is important that I get a good insight into the company before accepting the placement ( if offered). This will ensure that I choose the placement that is right for me, I made some notes on Rick’s placement interviews tips, see below.

Reflection on the talk

It was great to speak to someone who has worked in the industry that I am studying and has had years of experience. I found it very helpful to hear his thoughts and opinions on the work that he does and the process that he takes on when designing. The most thought provoking thing Rick explained was that it is not about the pretty picture but the work that comes before that, as a young designer I definitely tend to focus on the pretty outside layer when that isn’t what the user needs. This is food for thought moving forward as a designer and advise that I need to start designing by. I have signed up to Rick’s talk about how to design for everyone which takes place online in October and I am looking forward to hearing from the designers!