PRACTICAL DESIGN INNOVATION

Questions entry-level designers ask

Answers to questions asked during mentoring sessions about UX’s future, UX process and values.

Person at the bottom of a mountain with many paths and obstacles to the top in the style of Erin Hanson & Moebius — Midjourney

I have run over 70 mentoring sessions on ADPList.org and have received many similar questions. The answers are…

How did you start in the field?

I complained about a product — I went to a computer graphics conference and saw some animation software. Since I was well-read, I impressed the guy in the booth with my knowledge of RISC computing. He gave me a copy of the software. Within an hour of getting it running, I called him and asked him why it was so difficult to use. He asked me to fix it, and I was hired a few months later.

Then I worked for a few more 3D companies before I became disenchanted with being laid off when they failed at making internet-related moves. I applied to a company called Actra, a Netscape/GE joint venture that GE was pulling out of that became Netscape’s business division, was supposed to become Sun’s business app division but became AOL’s shopping division and so then part of AOL/Time Warner. Except for a stint at Autodesk, I have designed enterprise SaaS apps since then.

What do you look for in a good…