HFI provides scientific understanding of the user-centered design process
by HFI
Tell us about your role in your company.
I work as Lead User Experience Designer at Cognizant Technology Solutions, Hyderabad. I have been in this role for over three months and prior to that, I was Senior UX designer at Cognizant for four years.
I have a total of eight years of relevant experience in web and mobile-based applications. My role strives to understand user insights in order to provide high degree of desirable, usable and intuitive websites—and includes Conceptualization, Sketching, User Centric Design, Heuristic Evaluations, Information Architecture, and Designing Wireframes for desktop and mobile platforms. I have hands-on experience in MS PowerPoint, Axure and Visio. My aim is to make designs more efficient and effective, and ensure that they meet the end user’s satisfaction.
What projects are you currently working on?
My current project is for a leading US insurance company. We are providing UX solutions for responsive design websites. I am involved in interacting with and gathering requirements from stakeholders, brainstorming the task and coming up with design solutions. Primarily, Axure 8.0 is used here as the prototyping tool. This prototype in turn helps to provide insights to the UI team for development.
Prior to this, I contributed to designing responsive websites for leading US companies in the areas of banking, retail and healthcare domains as well.
How does the CUA training help you in your day-to-day work?
The CUA training helps me in many different ways:
- Understanding various terms used in UX Foundations such as ROI parameters, accessibility, color blindness, Purkinje effect, etc. along with their significance
- Getting acquainted with various User Research methods like User Interviews, Surveys, etc., and gaining understanding of which works best in a given scenario
- Gaining awareness of different UI components and when are they predominantly used
- Being equipped with what it takes to perform usability testing
Overall, it has helped me in the entire journey of knowing how to refine raw requirements into meaningful design inputs, and once the design is ready, testing it and refining it further to delight the users.
What about your job excites you the most?
My job urges me to always set a milestone and work to fulfil it. I am motivated by many things in my current role such as:
- Interacting with bright designers who have interesting ideas
- Interacting with clients and end users on a one-on-one basis and deriving positive results
- Driven by these results, setting concrete goals and figuring out string strategy to accomplish them
- Exploring newer concepts, mentoring and coaching colleagues
What are the challenges you face in your work and how do you overcome them?
As a UX designer, the task done is very solid and insightful, but it requires time, budget and resources to implement it. Hence, we work closely with the development team to overcome this obstacle and add valuable impact to our project.
Has your CUA training impacted the way you communicate with your management?
The CUA training has helped me in adopting a streamlined approach to design and communication with my management. Prior to training, I only had hands-on experience in UX design and standards. Now I also have scientific / theoretical understanding. This helps me justify my design with relevant scientific theory and examples, in turn helping me validate my UX processes and gain credibility.
How do you see your current role changing in the next couple of years?Â
I don’t see a drastic change in my role, but I would like to bring in new tools, integrate better practices such as dealing with mobile technologies, and implementing more efficient templates and procedures.
As a Lead UX Designer, I aim for my team to be current and up to date with technology and knowledge. I would also like my team to attend various UX conferences held across the country and exchange ideas across the globe.