UI/UX designers play a vital role in today's digital landscape, shaping user experiences and driving the success of products and services. They are creative professionals responsible for designing intuitive and visually appealing interfaces that enhance user satisfaction.
In a world where user expectations are continuously evolving, UI/UX designers are at the forefront of creating seamless and engaging experiences across various platforms, including websites, mobile apps, and software applications. Their expertise lies in understanding user behaviours, conducting user research, and translating insights into innovative design solutions.
In our effort to share more knowledge about UI/UX with you, we interviewed a self-taught UI/UX designer Charmaine Vas, who started her journey as a freelance designer in Zomato and to being a Product Designer at Nationwide Building Society, UK.
1. Please tell us a bit about yourself.
Hey! I'm Charmaine Vas, a self-taught UI/UX designer with a passion for creating beautiful and user-friendly digital experiences. I have a bachelor’s degree in Applied Art which is commercial art like advertising & graphic design. I find great joy in exploring various creative things, ranging from making little clay figures to plating food in a visually appealing manner. In my opinion, creativity is a fundamental aspect of life that allows us to express ourselves and connect with others in a unique and meaningful way.
2. Can you tell us what exactly graphic designing is? Is it different from UI/ UX? What sparked your interest in this field?
Graphic design involves creating visual content to communicate information or ideas to an audience. UI/UX design specifically focuses on designing interfaces and experiences for digital products. All the basics of graphic design can be applied to UI/UX design (aka Product design). My interest in design started when I was young and used to scribble on the last couple of sheets of a book. I also took up nail art which varied from painting simple designs to painting landscapes and images on my fingernails.
3. What educational background or training do you have in graphic design? Did you pursue any specific courses or certifications? Can a person from a Non-IT background pursue a career in graphic design?
I pursued a Bachelor's degree in Applied Art from J.J Institute of Art, Mumbai. Here I took up typography as my final course. There are plenty of online courses and certifications available for people from non-IT backgrounds to pursue a career in graphic design. One can also start by building a portfolio of design work and gaining experience through internships or freelance projects.
4. How did you start your career? How has your journey been from being a freelance designer at Zomato, India to being a Product Designer at Nationwide Building Society, UK? What is the nature of your work as a Product Designer?
I started my career as a graphic designer, where I worked on various design projects such as branding, marketing collaterals, and designing logos. I later found an interest in User interface design, at first it was very difficult to understand how to start, so while I was learning I also started my own Instagram page, where I shared various UI/UX tips that I learnt along the way and connected with people who were in the same industry. I believe that the best way to learn is by sharing what you learn. I created guides for beginners and had one-to-one chats to speak about the basics. The work I used to do back then is very different from what I do now as a Product Designer but the design principles are the same. As a Product Designer at Nationwide Building Society, UK, I work on designing user flows, user interfaces, interactions, and experiences for fintech applications. My work involves collaborating with cross-functional teams to research and design applications with a seamless user experience.
5. How do you stay updated with the latest design trends and technologies? Do you actively participate in professional development activities?
I stay updated by reading design blogs, attending design conferences and webinars, and being a part of design communities on social media. Instagram pages with guides to design were my go-to when I first entered the world of Product design. I also participate in professional development activities such as courses from the Interaction design foundation. I listen to podcasts such as the ‘Future of Design’ and the ‘Design Better Podcast’.
6. Can you describe your typical design process? How do you approach a new project from concept development to final deliverables? What software tools do you prefer to use for your design work? Are there any particular design-related tools or resources that you find indispensable?
My typical design process involves going through the project brief, at this stage we get our team together to break down the requirements and plan a brainstorming session. In the next stage, we start to brainstorm, pulling in a group of people to explore various ideas. We then conduct user research based on questions we might have to understand what our users need and what their pain points are. Using the research we then start to build low-fidelity designs and concept test before creating Hi-fidelity designs. When presenting design journeys we create prototypes and iterate on the design based on feedback. We send the designs to the content team who write the content for the app to ensure we are using the correct tone of voice. At this stage, the design is ready to be prepped and sent over to the development team. Being in a small team means that you have the opportunity to be involved in the various stages, we collaborate with the developers to provide interactions and cross-check the front-end design. After development, the app is then handed over to the QA (Quality Assurance) team who assures that the app looks & functions the way we want it to and raises bugs. Once cleared the app is then made live on the platform.
I use Figma as my main design tool, all the stages are done within this platform itself. They have multiple features and support remote collaboration. Figma also introduced AI as a part of their new features which I am looking forward to using in my process.
7. How do you approach balancing creativity and meeting stakeholder requirements in your design work? Can you share an example where you had to find a compromise?
Balancing creativity and meeting stakeholder requirements is a crucial part of design work. We faced a situation where the stakeholder wanted to introduce open banking as a feature in an app. The concept of open banking is the ability to add multiple bank accounts to a single platform so you have all of your incoming & outgoing transactions in one place. We started working on the feature and created user flows and planned user research. We wanted to understand from users how desirable this feature was and how secure they felt about linking their accounts. The results showed that users usually just add one bank account & proceed which means the feature will not work to its full potential. No matter how much of a seamless journey we create, if the feature is not desirable it will not be used. We took this back to the stakeholder and we decided to hold off on this feature and improve the other features based on the research results.
8. With the rise of AI tools like ChatGPT and Bard, what are your thoughts on the potential impact of these technologies on the field of graphic design? Do you believe there is a risk to graphic designer jobs as well?
AI tools like ChatGPT and Bard have the potential to automate certain design tasks and make the design process more efficient. However, I don't believe that these technologies will replace the need for human creativity and problem-solving skills in the field of graphic design. Instead, designers will need to learn how to work alongside AI tools and use them to enhance their design work. There is great potential to create designs for concept testing which will mean spending less time on the initial stages and putting more effort into the final design stages.
9. What advice would you give to aspiring graphic designers who are just starting their careers?
My advice to aspiring designers would be to keep practising and experimenting with different design styles and techniques. Building a strong portfolio is important, so take up as many internships or freelance projects as possible to gain experience and show your work to potential employers. I started by taking up the Daily UI challenge which gave me daily prompts which really allowed me to explore my creativity. I would say just pick a tool and start, that’s always the hardest part but once you get past that you will naturally get into it. Good Luck!
