What am I now?

For the first few years of my design career, my titles were all over the place. I started as a UX Designer and Developer largely because I designed and developed. I then went through Experience Designer, then UX/UI Designer, then Product Designer, then UX Designer and Researcher, and until recently I was using Product Designer again. A clowncar of identities but I’ve largely been doing the same work.

But now I need to pick a new title! Or at least one that kind of matches the work I’m looking to do, which is where I’ll start.

What work do I want to do?

Outside of work I love making little systems for myself. I enjoy keeping my farm tidy in Stardew Valley as much as I enjoy the actual storylines. I wind down at the end of the day by tidying my desk or decluttering the living room. I also enjoy helping others do well. I almost always play support classes and I get a load of satisfaction working behind the scenes of a project rather than being at the helm.

So I guess it makes sense that I’ve been happiest doing these things in work too! Looking back over my career, there are a lot of things I’ve enjoyed, and a lot of things I really didn’t.

My favourite things were:

• Working out how to consolidate multiple Figma components without affecting the user experience
• Tidying up wonky CSS styles so they match the original designs
• Writing documents or recording videos explaining how something works
• Creating standalone components that look and feel just like the prototype!

And my nightmares have been:

• Being stuck in back-and-forth design meetings with different stakeholders
• Seeing a visual bug on the website but not having the capacity to go and change it myself
• Having to be creative in the design but with no guidelines or feedback

There’s a pattern here. All of my favourite things have been in the background, working to make the work work. And my least enjoyable parts have been when I have lost some of that agency to do my work properly. Not that I want to be a wallflower, but I’m realising how much I love the deep work. And I think I’m great at it too! I learn new things quickly and can explain them back to people well. I spot mistakes where others might miss them and I enjoy putting them right. And I can get lost for hours in the details, making sure that everything fits and looks great.

I have nearly a decade of experience in design, and I’d say I’m good with the basics of frontend. I enjoy doing both. Is there a place for someone like me who wants the best of both?

Design Engineer

I read this article and it really hit me. I’ve always thought like the only way that designers and developers can create a better handover is by learning the other’s discipline; my top advice for new designers is still to learn how HTML, CSS, and JS work together.

But why can’t we have a separate role here? We have people who do UX and UI. We have people who do frontend and backend. So it makes sense that you could have someone who can do UI and frontend. Or at least know enough about the two to smooth through the handover process!

I don’t know how to feel about the title change. It’s hard to hang up a hat you’ve worn for so many years. But then again, maybe it’ll be good to embrace a new chapter for myself; after all I’ve done it before and I can do it again.