In this blog, Rhonda reflects on how her past experiences supported her during her Work Study term at the Innovation Hub and helped her develop transferable skills in her role as a design researcher.
Written by Rhonda Liu, Design Researcher, Master of Information, User Experience Design concentration
After I finished my undergraduate degree in anthropology, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to pursue. I tried working as a host in bars and restaurants, started dancing. Yet the more I strayed from academia, the more I missed doing research. The only thing that was stopping me from going back to school was that I wanted to see the research I did create a positive impact in the real world. I wasn’t sure what field would help me do that until I discovered user experience design. But when I started studying again, I faced a lot of doubt about my skills, and I felt lost throughout the first year of my Master’s. Working on the Supporting Student Leaders project at the iHub helped me gain confidence. I began to see how the skills I developed outside of academia could help me become a better researcher.
Uncovering Real Needs Through Empathy
When I worked as a host, there was always something that needed to be done: tables to clean, calls to take, upset customers to tend to. I was often stressed, until I put myself in my customers’ shoes. Imagining their underlying needs and reading body language helped me to prioritize tasks and stay calm. It wasn’t until I started my master’s that I recognized the similarities between customer service and user experience. At a busy establishment, I was often the main person a customer could turn to when they needed to be heard—the main facilitator of their experience, just like during feedback and co-creation sessions at the iHub.
In both situations, I knew I needed to be someone who could be trusted to platform the other person’s needs. But what I didn’t realize was how my hosting experience could apply, until I had to handle an unexpected situation during a feedback session. During one session, our interviewees had trouble answering one of our main questions, and I was struggling to understand why. I felt like I had when I first started as a host—stressed and overwhelmed. In those situations, what had helped me most was to rephrase and try again. On the spot, I rephrased the question, and our interviewees answered more confidently. Remaining calm and really thinking about why my interviewees might view a question in a certain way can help me facilitate a better interview.
Learning How to Make Mistakes Through Dance
I started dancing formally a few years ago, which was something I always wanted to do as a kid. While I like performing and I’ve made some great friends, the most important thing I’ve gained is the confidence to make mistakes. In dance class, I was always dancing in front of other people, and my instructors encouraged me to make mistakes. Being in an environment that supported experimentation boosted my growth and learning. When everyone is comfortable making mistakes, it becomes the norm.
After conducting interviews, my team needed to identify themes and user needs to craft our design principles. We kept debating how to categorize certain pieces of data and often disagreed. It was difficult to write insights without any overlap. During this process, I kept thinking back to what one of my dance teachers once said: “The first time you do something will be the worst you are at it. When you do it again, you’ll refine it.” This applies to both design research and dance. At the iHub, we’re always refining our research and our process so that it’s the best it can be. Thanks to the resilience I’ve learned through dance, I now know it’s okay if the first thing I put down on the page isn’t perfect, as long as I’m committed to working with others to make it better.
Being Curious in Research
When I first ventured into user experience design, coming from a more academic background made me feel out of place. From my point of view, I was behind, not artistically inclined enough, and lacked the technical skills to succeed. I worried that I was being too by-the-books with my research and design process. These worries followed me when I started working at the iHub as a design researcher. But then we started our project, and I was reminded about why I had missed research in the first place: figuring out the right questions together.
Why did our participants feel certain ways? Why did we create the insights the way we have? These were some of the questions we had to tackle as a team. It was challenging, but the more we worked together, the more I could appreciate my team members’ strengths. Being organized in my academic work helped me keep track of the different moving parts of our project at the iHub, while my team brought different skills. In the end, it wasn’t one person’s insights that made our project, but everyone was working together. My team’s unique perspectives helped me contextualize our findings in a way that I couldn’t have on my own. I learned that being different is not always a weakness and has instead allowed me to learn unique skills from my team.
I am grateful for all that I have learned here at the iHub, not only the technical skills but also how I’ve strengthened my confidence in my professional skills. Even now, I’m not sure what my future career holds, but I know that just like my past experiences, what I’ve learned at the iHub will set me up for success.
If you ever want to try design research or other fields you have no experience in, I promise that there’s a way you can apply your past (seemingly unrelated) experiences. In fact, those experiences may be what makes you a valuable member of the team.
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