This week, for our second Baseline Shift session, we had the privilege of welcoming the award-winning user experience designer, Nitya Thawani who gave her fantastic talk “A UXer’s guide to the galaxy”.

 

A little bit about Nitya

Nitya is an incredibly talented user experience designer at Google, currently working as part of the Google Ads team. Even though she’s only been at the company for three months, her background is nothing short of inspiring. With experience working for big names like Lush and Disney, winning D&AD awards, and collating an outstanding portfolio, it’s clear that Nitya’s been turning heads since graduating in 2023! After hearing her speak, it’s easy to see why so many of us are in awe of what she’s already accomplished, with the team receiving feedback such as “I feel so motivated by how much she’s achieved so soon after graduating”.

 

Importance of work experience

Having completed work experience at Lush, where she gained exposure to a variety of projects such as packaging, social media posts, and posters, Nitya then went on to a 13-month placement at Disney. There, she had the incredible opportunity to redesign the Lion King website! Nitya shared her views on the importance of work experience and why it’s so valuable. Through these experiences, she learned the realities of working a 9–5 job, with Disney also giving her a clearer vision for her career and how the industry works, explaining that UX is only actually half of the work.

 

Final year university plan

Following her placement year at Disney, Nitya outlined her plan for her final year: to complete one UX project, one motion project, a D&AD project, and one industry project. With the flexibility of open, self-defined modules, Nitya wanted to strengthen her technical skills while considering how this plays a role in her future. In addition to her coursework, she managed to juggle being a course rep, playing tennis, hosting her radio show, plus more, showing us just how possible it is to manage all these activities at once!

 

One UX project

Nitya discussed her first self-defined project, Thali, which tackled the lack of South Asian content for young people in the diaspora. She stressed to us the importance of understanding context and pain points, noting “You can’t solve it all”. Her process involved secondary research and speaking to users to gain insight and ensure that she’s considering user needs throughout. “Don’t design what looks the prettiest, but what solves the problem”. Nitya advised us to look at what’s already out there and make that work for you, such as through creating components or using existing design systems in Figma. Nitya also highlighted the value of detailed wire framing and key screens, showcasing this through her 30-page pitch deck discussing how this can effectively tell an app’s story.

 

D&AD competition

Showcased next was “Bubble”, an app designed to help people with ADHD manage their finances, created as a proposal for Barclays. Building on the skills she developed in her previous projects, she was well prepared to tackle the problem at hand, so much so that she received D&AD’s 2023 pencil award!  When discussing how to present an app, particularly in the context of a design competition, she expressed focus on designing the flow of the app with the phrase “show the flow”.

 

Graduating and getting a job

After completing her degree, Nitya shared the importance of networking while also taking time for yourself. Taking advice not to rush into work right away, she attended creative bootcamps following her D&AD win, where she collaborated with Coca-Cola, and joined networking events at Google and other design meet ups in London.

She also took time to travel, and during one trip, she even met Chris Martin! When she shared this, students joked, “Can you get us tickets to his concerts?”, this is nice a reminder that unique encounters don’t always come from traditional 9–5 jobs.

 

What makes ‘good’, ‘bad’ and ‘evil’ UX?

Nitya shared three standout examples of UX: the ‘good’ (Spotify), the ‘bad’ (Workday), and the ‘evil’ (Ticketmaster). Spotify’s great UX makes tasks effortless to complete by abiding to the laws of good UX design, while Workday frustrates users with inefficient processes like manually filling out job applications – a frustrating and time-consuming experience. Ticketmaster’s “evil UX”, intentionally designed to confuse and hinder users, drew laughs and relatable frustration among students.

Her insights shed light on an important takeaway: UX isn’t always about helping users. Sometimes, it’s deliberately designed to create barriers to serve a business’s hidden agenda.

 

The job hunt

Nitya shared valuable insights on how to approach the dreaded job hunt. She emphasised the importance of knowing your audience when applying for jobs and understanding which format is most appropriate, portfolio, CV, cover letter etc. She also encouraged students not to shy away from showing the messier work, stating that “the why and how is better than the what”, further explaining that UX isn’t about making things look pretty; it’s about solving problems. This was a reassuring point for many students, as it’s common to hesitate in showing work you deem to be ‘messy’.

 

We are incredibly grateful to Nitya for hosting this second talk. We look forward to seeing more of her inspiring work as she continues her journey as a remarkable designer!

 

Our key takeaways!

• Follow the laws of UX – don’t reinvent the wheel, put the user’s needs above being creative.
• Connection is currency – people don’t place enough value on meeting people that are complete strangers, you never know where that connection can lead you.
• Create opportunities for yourself – request projects aside from your main job role to explore more pathways whilst expanding your learning.
• Speak to your users! – That’s the only way to understand what they need.
• Refine your job hunt – there are so many job titles out there, focus on the job description. Look at the company’s values, what the company does on day-to-day basis and job role to make informed decisions.

 

 

Useful links

ADPlist – An opportunity for students to receive free mentoring

Cofolios – Great space for finding portfolio inspiration

Laws of UX – UXers bookmark essential!

Google ux design certificate – Online course for designing mobile apps and responsive websites (available on Coursera or free on YouTube without certification)

 

 

– Written by Amirah Yasin

– Photography by Oscar Dudley