Week 3
I managed to forget my notebook at work, so I'll be winging this post a bit. This week was shorter than usual because I had to remove one of my wisdom teeth on Monday. So this week I felt like I was a bit behind, even though I'm probably not.
Nonetheless, I've started to dig deeper into one aspect of access control, and my first goal is to get an understanding of what the actual users need in order to be able to use our systems. I have booked some meetings with some who use our current system, and some who use other systems but for the same purpose. These meetings will be held next week and I'm looking forward to see how valuable user communication actually is in a real setting. I know it has been valuable for the past projects I've been involved with through school - talking with people involved in offering and receiving economic support, for example. I think as a UX designer, the user contact is one of the most important things to consider when designing for them. Of course, we can have prejudices and initial thoughts of what our users need - but it's when you talk to actual users and the target user group that you realize hidden gems that will get your design to the next level. It's also really fun to talk to users and see how the insights you can gather from them come to life in your designs later on. Once I have talked to real users and gathered data from how they use and understand their systems, I want to create user journeys that explain similarities and differences of different user groups that are using this kind of system.
This week I've been involved in discussions of the important balance between functionality and usability. Axis is very good at producing functionality, features and technological advancements. The trick is to make the usability able to keep up with the pace of the functionality. I think what it takes is to involve UX designers a whole lot earlier than what I've seen so far. In my opinion I think that UX designers should be involved as early as possible in a feature development or advancement of any kind. Without it we won't know if the feature or development is actually for the user or just for the sake of the technological advancements. A huge benefit of UX designers is that we enable the company to make developments that will be appreciated by the user rather than it falling flat because it was never asked for - no matter how technologically advanced it is.
At a meeting where tasks where delivered to teams and colleagues, I got a task on my shoulders. After the meeting my supervisor Tony rang me and said that this task was supposed to land on him and not me - because right now I'm not an employee, I'm an intern. I'm here to learn and not to produce and deliver. It feels good that Tony is backing me up in this and that he has my best learning interest in mind and that I'm not only here for Axis benefits. He mentioned that my insights will be the things I will deliver for Axis in the end. At the same time I feel valued that they see me capable enough to put me on a task even though I'm just an intern that's been here for less than three weeks. But my role will be to focus on proactive thinking for future developments, not to put out current fires.
On Wednesday I felt a bit lost again, a bit like I was just floating around in the background, doing things that actually is important and do matter - but not right now, rather for the future way of working with UX in Axis. I felt a bit like I was walking around in a circle of trying to gather information just as much for my sake as for the companies sake - and writing the insights down, analyzing and then back to gathering. I know it will eventually evolve into a project I can do something with, and that this is just the initial stages of me getting to know the company and the users I want to focus on further on. The features we have that can be evolved and how/which UX practices and methods can be valuable for me to try out and learn. Still, I felt a bit like I wasn't doing anything productive - just floating around creating analyses that I don't know yet if they will be valuable or not. Hopefully they will be beneficial in the future, in order to be able to make informed design decisions. And that's always a good thing - and important. Maybe I can, through my background work, show Axis how important it is to have a good knowledge about the users when creating new systems and products?