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Design Q&A

Answer a series of questions to provide a fuller picture of how I approach design problems.

Question 1: If you could focus on learning one new tool or skill over the next year, what would it be? How would you go about it?

  • Goal: Over the next 12 months, I want to learn Angular JS so I can design and code prototypes for user testing and create re-usable code.
  • Part 1: Spend 3-6 hours a week for 3 months learning how to prototype in Framer.
    • Step 1: Use week 1 to complete first prototype using Framer trial
    • Step 2: If Framer proves to be the right tool to use, get a subscription during week 2. If I need additional guidance, purchase Framer ebook, or look into other resources.
    • Step 3: Weekly challenge - create 1 prototype a week in Framer and post to portfolio/GitHub. Use last two weeks of the challenge to design and code a work project and share with other designers and developers on the team to get feedback.
  • Part 2: Once I have mastered Framer, spend 3-6 hours a week over 6-9 months learning how to prototype in Angular.
    • Step 1: Use week 1 to get familiar with the framework - download Angular, watch interactive tutorials to learn the basics, leverage Google’s official documentation, and use Code School to see how other web apps use Angular.
    • Step 2: Continue weekly challenges and post prototypes to portfolio/GitHub.
    • Step 3: Use the last few weeks of the challenge to design and code a project in Angular that can be used for testing.

Question 2: What's your favorite part of the design process? What types of problems do you like solving?

My favorite aspects of the design process include: (A) building empathy through research, and (B) leveraging that knowledge to connect with people.

(A) To build empathy, I start by doing a lot of research on the topic. I am a curious person by nature and enjoy immersing myself in things I am unfamiliar with. Becoming well-versed in a new topic makes solving problems for users that much more engaging. I have realized that establishing a breadth of knowledge about different topics allows me to approach problems from a unique and fresh perspective. Armed with information, I am motivated to use my knowledge of technology, systems, and design to help solve problems for those users.

(B) Once I have built up my contextual knowledge, I am able to leverage that information to connect with others through interviews and feedback sessions. I am naturally curious and get excited by the opportunity to connect with others and learn how they perceive and experience the world. As a very warm and approachable person, I am able to quickly establish good rapport, creating a safe space where users feel comfortable sharing their experiences. It is these conversations that motivate me to create something amazing. When there is a face and a story tied to the problem I am trying to solve, I have a responsibility and urge to deliver.

My curiosity combined with my understanding of others fuels my enjoyment for solving complex problems. Being well-read on the topic allows me to ask the right questions and ultimately boil the issue down to its absolute root. From there, I am able to brainstorm and come up with solutions that address these simplified needs, often masked as a more complex problem. For example, how can a companion app for a wearable device motivate people with heart disease to live healthier lives? Through a lot of research and conversations with physicians, cardiac rehab specialists, and people who have suffered cardiac episodes, we were able to boil the issue down to its core and focus our solution on three themes: educating, connecting, and motivating users. I will discuss this further in Question 4.

Question 3: From a problems space perspective, what was your favorite project you've worked on?

My favorite project I have worked on, as mentioned above, was the companion app for a wearable device. It was designed to help people with cardiovascular disease live longer, healthier lives. What I liked about this project was the potential impact. If executed properly, the product had the power to help save millions of lives.

Heart disease is the biggest health concern faced by the American people today, responsible for 1.5 deaths per minute. Though the problem at hand seems daunting, it presents a compelling challenge because the causes of heart disease are preventable and reversible. I enjoyed this project so much because we had to understand how technology could be leveraged to motivate, connect, and engage users to change learned habits and behaviors. We leveraged the interviews we conducted with physicians and cardiac rehab specialists to put together two strategies for features - the first was a challenge feature, and the second was a community feature.

Challenge feature:

 Empowering users to set small, manageable goals has consistently been shown to be a successful strategy for changing behavior and learned habits. We gave users the autonomy to choose their daily and weekly challenges and each day we held them accountable for achieving those goals.  The goals were designed to teach the user over time what behaviors were good/bad and empower them to check off each successful day as they complete it. Users responded very positively to the challenges, and liked the accountability established and the sense of accomplishment fostered by marking tasks complete on their dashboard.

Community feature:

The community feature was a way to leverage technology to connect like-minded people who had a common bond and mission. Our conversations with a cardiac rehab specialist revealed how enormously important a sense of community is for patients in the rehab clinic. It motivates them and holds them accountable when there is a team-like environment and common bond. This was a big win as the community feature was a low-cost way to realize the enormous benefits that human interaction and connection has on patients facing an emotionally challenging process. Users responded very positively to the community feature and were excited to meet new friends who were also in the process of adopting a new lifestyle.