Wioleta Maj is one of our speakers at UX London 2024. Ahead of her talk on day two— Understanding the impact of design choices — we had a chat with her.
Here’s what we asked, and what Wioleta told us:
During your career, you’ve worked in a variety of different industries and across a variety of company sizes. What makes overseeing design practices at a start-up different to at a corporation?
I believe that both options have their own set of advantages and disadvantages. Based on my experience, here are three key points that I experienced:
1. Resources: In many start-up environments, financial considerations heavily influence decision-making. Products or features often need to ship faster and teams are smaller. As a result, designers in startups must be highly versatile and therefore learn a lot of skills that may extend beyond their core expertise. In a corporate environment, UX practices tend to have more specialised roles. This can be beneficial for individuals who want to grow in a specific direction (for example by being purely a designer for Design Systems).
2. (Not) Having guidelines: A Double-Edged Sword. The absence of strict guidelines allows smaller design practices more flexibility to experiment with new tools and frameworks that perfectly fit their needs. Implementation of changes tends to be faster. However, a lack of official guidelines also means that important aspects might be left undefined within the company, such as a clear paths for career growth and promotion.
3. Change of tasks: Managing smaller Design practices is usually more personal, as Leads work closer with their team, and, depending on the setup, have more time to also work hands-on. The larger an organisation gets, the more the work changes. Design work is being replaced with spreadsheets, meetings and more bureaucracy.
Is mentoring an important part of your design journey? What impact does it have on your practice?
During my career, I have been fortunate to receive support from several coaches and more senior colleagues. This helped me greatly in exploring different aspects of my job and overall life, such as prioritisation, defining my personal values or improving my hard skills. Now, I am actively mentoring other designers as well. I believe that having someone who is not your direct manager by your side is beneficial for delving into different topics more openly (even if they are not directly working in your field).
You’ve done some impressive work bringing together designers internationally. Are there particular trends that you see happening globally, or is the experience always different?
With the latest economical developments, many Tech companies let people go or are now hiring more intentional. For most, the age of hyper-growth is over (at least for now). This means that finding a job in UX became increasingly competitive. On the other hand, with the rise of AI, new UX roles are emerging. This creates new, exciting opportunities for us to explore, esp. with this field still being in its early stage.
What will be the main take away from your talk: Understanding the impact of design choices
Too often, we rely on the term “users” when working on projects, which can feel impersonal and detached from the individuals behind the screen. By identifying the factors that influence our design perceptions, I want to emphasise that we are creating software for real people. I want us be more intentional in our design decisions and always remember the human aspect of our work.
What are your go-to sources for design inspiration and innovation?
My favourite way to stay updated is to follow accounts on social media, as I am checking it daily anyway. My favourites currently include Muzli, Zander Whitehurst and Evolving.ai. Other than that, I read Morning Brew & Tech Crunch for innovation and latest news in technology.
And finally, what are you currently listening to, reading or watching?
I have just started reading “Invisible Women” by Caroline Criado-Perez, a book that sheds light on the gender data gap and how it negatively impacts women in many aspects of life. A great read, which was recommended by a friend of mine.
