Navigating the complexities of the Field of UX Design: An Experienced Professional’s Perspective

In this “Interview”, we hear from Toni Moura, an experienced professional in the field of UX design and the IBM Federal Garage Lead and Sr. UX Architect, Designer, Speaker, Mentor, Coach, and  10 Voices of Design to follow on Linkedin.

Toni has been working in the field for over 20 years and has valuable insights to share on the motivations and ideals that drive a UX designer, the impact of relationships among UX designers on their practice, how a crisis of understanding or uncertainty contributes to the development of a UX designer’s skills and knowledge, and whether it’s possible to define the opposite of UX design as a discipline. He shares his experience and perspective on the field of UX design, and the challenges and considerations that come with it.

I reached out to him through LinkedIn message, and he was kind enough to share his thoughts with us. In this text, we will see the answers of Toni to the questions asked, giving us a better understanding of the field of UX design, and Toni’s perspective on it.

Interview

AZ: What are the motivations and ideals that drive a UX designer to pursue their discipline?
TM: I’ve found the a lot of the UX people (those with say 20 years+) didn’t seek out UX. As there wasn’t any bootcamps and/or formal education really back then. So, we kind of found it and helped it grow.

AZ: How do relationships among UX designers affect their practice of the discipline? How do these relationships differ from those with individuals outside of the UX discipline?
TM: For me it doesn’t. I don’t follow people. I don’t read books. I just analyse and solve the problems in-front of me and/or my team. It’s just harder to explain to people what we do.

AZ: How does a crisis of understanding or uncertainty contribute to the development of a UX designer’s skills and knowledge?
TM: What type of crisis, and/or uncertainty?
AZ: It can be related to your answer for point 1. If there was not formal education or bootcamps how were you able you to be in the right direction/path?
TM: There was no path 20-30 years ago. You just kept doing work and figuring it out as you went along. You made pivots where needed. You just had to figure things out.

AZ: Is it possible to define the opposite of UX design as a discipline, or the absence of it?
TM: Not, doing UX isn’t a thing. It’s just not doing it.