I always believe things happen in life for a reason. I’m studying master’s in Human Centered Design and Engineering at the University of Washington. As a graduate looking to get some experience and make some money, I applied for several positions to work as a Research Assistant on campus. I couldn’t make it, some due to lack of experience and some due to mismatch in role. Although I was upset, I never stopped looking and luckily I got a chance to work on a research project at the Department of Psychiatry as a User Researcher.
The objective of the project was to study stress patterns in people and come up with interventions that can help people cope better with stress. As a part of the research, I had to interview people and ask them questions, some of which no one would have ever asked them before. This was an opportunity for people to really open up to things they would probably find very uncomfortable talking in their private lives. Most of the times I could relate to what people were saying with my own stress patterns. Things like getting the feeling of being lost, losing focus, anxiety were some recurring themes.
However, one interview changed my perspectives. I interviewed a middle aged person, who had several complications in his life. He was suffering from several health, familial and financial issues which were compounding the stress levels in him. He suffered from sleep apnea which made it difficult for him to sleep for more than 2 hours at a stretch. Although, I had seen similar issues in my life before, this was the first time I heard in the shoes of someone believed to solve his problem. And while I felt I had big problems in life, I was humbled by learning the magnitude of problems people faced every day in their lives. Although the interview left me a bit shaken by the end, it gave me a reassurance I was always looking for — That choosing to become a UX Designer was the best decision I have ever made.
As a designer, my job is to listen to a user, empathize with his/her problems, and come up with solutions to problems that I previously thought had no solutions to. And this, is what I beleieve is the greatest challenge for a designer. It’s not just about designing interfaces and making things prettier, it’s about solving problems that make a significant difference in people’s lives. It’s about designing experiences that make people’s lives better. Be it with Eventosaur or the research work I’m doing at The university, every project poses me with unique problems in people’s lives and coming up with solutions to those problems is what drives me and gives me the greatest joy.
I am by no means a successful designer or a problem solver. I am far from that, but having made the choice to be on that path is what I am most satisfied with. Some day I hope to meet that person I interviewed and listen to him say “The solution your team designed helped me sleep better now and that makes me feel good” and I would have done my job.
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