Sure, working in a startup environment sounds fun. The stories of flexibility and freedom that it entails spark curiosity into people’s minds, making it enticing to explore a career in the startup scene.In reality, working in a startup just presents a different set of challenges. One of which requires you to wear a lot of hats as the only designer in the team.
I wouldn’t exactly say that working in a startup was fun. What makes things fun is a subjective matter, some people find a day at an amusement park fun, while some find it dreadful. From what I experienced, there were fun times and it surely was a roller coaster ride. I’m glad that I was able to be a part of something real and I was able to meet good people.
Here are some of my learnings and unlearnings after working in a small startup company, as a full-timer with 4–5 people teammates:
The Solo Designer
Designing for the User.
Being the only designer in the team has its pros and cons. It might seem that faster design decisions could be made because there is only one designer. However, this meant that there were no other designers to discuss or to bounce off ideas with.
It was common to hear something like, “You are the designer; you know what’s best.” To some extent, you would be entrusted to make the call and this is a good opportunity to owning up to your decisions and to learn from them. However, it’s inevitable for us to sometimes believe that our users would think and behave exactly like us. In any case, always remember that you are not the user.
Raluca Budiu from Nielsen Norman Group writes,
Design is a team sport and it’s easy to forget that we tend to have our own biases. Hence, I initiated brainstorm sessions, discussions and even have healthy debates with my teammates. I had to constantly refrain from designing only for myself. When in doubt, test with users.
Perfect Design
Letting go of attachments and making things happen.
Some design-related discussions with a team could easily wind up into heated debates. That’s what happens when everyone cares about what they do, and everyone is passionate with what they believe in. People are good at generating ideas and it’s quite normal to fall in love with an idea. However, it’s risky to get fixated with one idea, especially when it leads to a dead-end.
While there is good design, there is no perfect design. — Alexandra Daisy
Getting fixated with “The perfect solution” reduces the chances of getting better ones. As a designer, we get to explore ideas. Exploration may require some allocation of time and resources, it could initially seem costly for a startup company. However, there is more to gain from iterating ideas and being agile than getting trapped in a box of restrictions. Eventually, iterations would lead to the correct answers.
It’s not about an idea, it’s about making an idea happen. — Scott Belsky
Learning to let go is also a sign that we are capable of quieting our own egos and listening to others. As much as we care to get our ideas out, we could also choose to listen to each other in order to move forward toward a common goal.
#product-design #ux-design #startup #ui #ux
