Who Are You?
10 years ago, when asked about what I did for a living by members of the software community I had to, at length, explain, justify and defend not just UX, but WHY UX, and then why ME. Today, for the most part, I don’t have to do this. In my experience, UX is fairly standard, generally recognized, and for the most part, people get it.
There are exceptions:
Last year, I interviewed for a lead UX position where the CEO of a digital agency called me and began the conversation with “My developers tell me I need to hire a UX person. What is a UX Designer and why should I care?” He literally didn’t know what UX was.
The Pitch
Earlier today, a recruiter contacted me pitching his latest and greatest UX candidate. Here is his pitch, word for word:
JOHANNES — UX DESIGNER
Johannes is a Sr. Interactive Designer with strong interactive agency experience. He is adept at branding, marketing, and brand strategy. He is a leader with solid communication skills to help his design team successfully launch initiatives. He uses his passion for visual design and communication to effectively create brand experiences that add value to his projects. His skill sets include: Adobe Creative Suite, HTML, CSS3, + more. Johannes has done work for large financial and travel companies. He would be an incredible asset to any team.
Who Is Johannes?
I have no idea. I know he’s a UX designer. That’s it. I know nothing about his process, his goals, his personality, his passions (his true passions), his interests…nothing. He can use Adobe CS? Wow! That’s…everybody.
When I read this my first thought was — wow I have a lot in common with Johannes…and every other single person who calls themselves a UX designer since the beginning of time. Virtually every word in that paragraph is 100% unnecessary. The recruiter could’ve simply said JOHANNES—UX DESIGNER and conveyed the exact same amount of information.
I looked around the room at the 3 other UX designers sitting near me. I read this paragraph out loud, substituting each of our names. It worked for each one of us. It was actually kind of fun.
The reason this bothers me so much, I think, is that I’m 100% guilty of having written this paragraph before. I (unfortunately) wouldn’t be surprised to find this paragraph attached to my name somewhere online. We need to start telling people who we are, not the things we’ve done. We are not merely the sum of our experiences and expertise. We are individuals with parts and passions, energy and force, power and strength, successes and failures. That’s who I want to read about. That’s who I want to hire. There are a million UX designers out there. Tell me about YOU.
We are not merely the sum of our experiences and expertise.
Who Am I?
I’m Brandon—Experience Designer. I love media: movies, books, music, theatre, art, games, architecture, design…pretty much all of it (except country music — hate that stuff, well, except the old-school stuff that told compelling stories like Coward of the County). I’m a huge sci-fi nerd. I’m a 16 yr veteran of marriage and father of 4 (Girl, boy, boy, boy). Kristy proposed to me (on our 3rd date). We’ve never had a fight. I fight for the user. I love projects that improve customers’ happiness and success by discovering and addressing their needs and pain points across all areas they interact with a brand. I’ve been improving my skills for 14 years. I’m bald (but would rather have long, flowing locks). I practice Kung Fu. I’m a cat person. If you work with me, you will discover that everything reminds me of a movie, a TV show or a song. Or a meme. Those songs will be sung, those theme songs played, those shows quoted, those memes posted.
?
That’s me. That’s what I’ll be sending to clients. That’s what I’ll be looking for in applicants. So the question is, who are you?