10 in 5. Olivia Chalandon, UX Designer

They say curiosity killed the cat, however this is completely the opposite when it comes to UX design. Staying curious, humble and open minded are key traits if you want to be an awesome UX designer, just like Olivia Chalandon...

1. Hey Olivia. How the heck are you doing?
   I’m doing great thank you, how are you?
2. I'm good thanks! So what do you do at Humblebee?
   I'm a UX Designer at Humblebee.
3. Can you tell us exactly what a UX Designer at Humblebee does?
   Well, it varies a lot depending on the project. Basically, we help our customers in different projects to understand the user needs, to solve problems, to test stuff and to validate some hypothesis. It depends on what the goal of the project is, but we are, I would say, the voice of the user in projects, so that is our focus.
4. How come you ended up working with UX Design?
   I started studying at Chalmers, design engineering, so more focus on physical products, but I was really interested in working with something creative and logical like problem solving. During my masters I got more interested in the digital world so I focused on those courses and after that I knew I wanted to be a UX designer, developing and designing digital services.
5. Tell us about one project you’re particularly proud of…
   Every project has been interesting in its own way and I’ve been proud of them all, but the closest to my heart would probably be the one we had with the startup Velove. We helped them with their products and services right from the beginning. We were able to be part of their journey from the start, they didn’t have any services or product so we were able to explore together with them. That was really fun!
6. Do you have one good tip for a tool you love, or perhaps a book or resource you highly recommend?
   This might not be so shocking, but I use Figma a lot, and I’ve started using FigJam and I think it’s quite nice, similar to Miro and Mural. For my daily work and tasks I use Notion, it helps me keep track of all my TODOs. You can store different goals, keep journals etc. I've only used the task list feature, it's very helpful when I'm part of several projects and/or initiatives!
7. What do you do to make sure you continue to grow as an expert within UX Design?
   As a person I am very curious and I have always loved to learn new things. So whether it’s within UX, or other areas I like to keep up with my colleagues: product designers, developers, business and service designers etc. Keep checking in with them, sharing thoughts, ideas, experiences, that’s how I can grow on a daily basis. I also read and follow UX accounts on SoMe. Medium is a quite good resource they have short articles that I like to read while commuting. But in general, staying curious, that's how I'm able to grow!
8. How do you think UX Design will evolve in the future?
   Good question! It will definitely evolve and it evolves rapidly as technology keeps on evolving. New technologies, new user demands, and greater areas of specialization will impact UX design. I also think accessibility will become more important. Across different areas the interest of accessibility is growing. Not only a subject driven by designers but also from stakeholders.
9. Do you have any advice for people starting out their career and considering UX Design?
   Well, if you are into being creative and love solving problems, you have an interest for human behaviour and tech, then UX design is a great alternative! My favorite thing about being a UX designer is that I'm always able to grow by learning new things and working with many interesting and fun people. It’s not only one way. And you can always switch as well, you can switch career paths within this field, you can try out UX research etc. As the UX role is evolving I think there will be more to it. There’s a lot to do so you will have a bright future.
10. If you could give a company one piece of advice (from a UX design perspective)… perhaps a recurring error you have seen from your career… what would that be?
    To keep talking with your users. Never forget to include users in all areas of the process, they are super important! User interviews, user tests, user research, user metrics, all will help bring forward amazing products!

If you’re interested in working at Humblebee then get in touch and we’ll meet up for coffee and a chat.