Level up your XP to Senior XD
Hungry to get more experience points?
So you’re doing the work as a designer. You’ve taken the online courses, you’ve read Don’t Make Me Think, Design for Emotion, and industrial and experience design cult classic, The Design of Everyday Things. I know, it was amazing! I still pick out something new every time I read it. Don’t mind me if you’re still feeling like these books are very new and ‘smarvelous.
I started thinking “how can I level up to a senior way of thinking?” My mode of operation has always been that I am a persistent learner. Online learning, formal education, and autodidacism (self-directed learning) are all fair game and all make a dent in my budget. So when I get antsy about if I’m not getting where I need to be at work, I spend a small fortune at Amazon and then let the graveyard of boxes pile up in our kitchen for my cats to slide around in.
This post is kind of my in-process, living workbook. I am in it right now. I am doing the work now. I don’t work with Apple or Instagram. I’m not a Senior Creative Director reflecting on years of great career choices. But I’m possibly a few steps ahead of someone who is also working toward the same goals and interests, so I’d love it if my experience can help you a bit.
I’m a problem solver, first and foremost. When I started feeling like I had more to offer than what was being asked of me, I listened to business leaders, owners, and CEOs, trying to figure out how I could be a person they trust to lean. I felt like most of my projects were very successful but there was still the occasional feeling that I was a person they sent in at the 11th hour of a project to tidy up the UI. I had already figured out how to make working with me an experience that the top brass wanted, including writing process documents and making nice slide decks on how we worked. They wanted lean strategy — and I had experience with a curriculum that featured lean canvas. I had even created an adaptation of lean canvas for my freelance clients. Companies promote developers that were technically proficient and had a PMP certification and I’m working on getting my PMP certification and my certification in interaction design. I read a lot of books that were in the design section of Amazon or the bookstore. Being technically proficient in producing design isn’t enough to get into positions I wanted to eventually be (Creative Director of Interaction Design or XD, Director of Design, Chief Design Officer, etc). This isn’t because design isn’t important. It’s because design has grown into more than operating Adobe products. It’s a solution-based way of thinking that spans disciples, is creative, scientific, optimistic, and distinctly curious. A four year degree cannot prepare you for that job. It takes a lifetime of curiosity, learning, questioning, and the right combination of interests.
If I want to create a culture of experience design and customer experience design and gain the trust of CEOs and directors, I am finding that I have to understand what they are reading, what they are concerned about, and how I can be an asset to them in the design bullpen and the boardroom. I have to be the best designer and the best strategist. So I stopped pitching myself as a designer and started pitching myself as a strategist.
Enough about my thoughts, here are some books you should read to get those useful thoughts. Some of these books I did not 100% agree with all thoughts and concepts, but they were useful to think about. These are books CEOs are reading or skimming and will help you understand where you can help improve ideas or processes. If nothing else, talking points instead of kissing butt about sportsball. Also, I do get a small kickback if you buy from my post, I’m an Amazon affiliate.
