Primary design concentration:

User Research/Planning

Most preferred tool for designing:

Whiteboards, Sketchpad, Photoshop, Flash

1. How and why did you choose to become a designer?

Good question.

2. Challenges you encounter as a designer and how do you deal with them?

There is a tendency to think of the designer as coming in at the end of the process and pulling the initial work, i.e. user research, information architecture and content strategy, together and making it look good. Our user experience group continues to educate our stakeholders by forming multidisciplinary teams at the beginning stages of projects, so that we are all looking at the same problem from a different vantage point.

We are also frequently challenged, when our clients come to us with a specific ‘business’ objective in mind, which may be in direct conflict with their user’s needs. By engaging the stakeholder(s) in a project kickoff, we develop a series of questions and brainstorm ‘blue sky’. We develop a process framework that helps to clarify their goals and provide some vision. We introduce our ideas on user research methods that we think are appropriate. And our stakeholders now see the validity of how a more targeted design solution is led by user research and this step-by-step approach.

3. Your definition of an “elegant solution,” that is, good design?

An elegant solution withstands the test of time. If you go back in time and look at design work from previous decades, those that still feel current, in my opinion, are usually examples of good design. There is an elegance in simplicity.

4. From skills to values, what makes a designer successful?

The more well-rounded you are as a designer—have a strong foundation in information architecture, content strategy and user research—the more you can provide value at every stage of the process. And then you can begin to lead the entire user experience. A strong designer with a well-rounded background can provide more opportunities for innovation by thinking ‘outside of box’ from a number of different user perspectives.

5. How do you stay motivated and grow personally and professionally as a designer?

I try to shake things up once I feel a certain comfort level. If I don’t make change and take chances, then there is no room for failure. If we do not fail then we do not grow. To fail is to gain wisdom. Greater risk taking provides more opportunity for innovation.

6. For those aspiring to become a designer, whatever the discipline,what is your advice?

Read the book Oh the places you go by Dr. Seuss. You are in for a bumpy ride.

7. What is your quest in design?

That we would continue to explore, innovate and implement our user research focused design methodologies toward a fully sustainable future. (If I may have a Miss America moment … sniffles).

Beth Santos is Sr. Art Director/User Experience Lead at Marriott International eCommerce. She has a BA in Industrial Design from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY, and is currently in the Master of Design Methods (MDM) program at Institute of Design, IIT.

Image courtesy of Zachary Paradis at flickr

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