Design Bootcamp Asia's 12th series of design gathering. And this is the 3rd series of Designer's Journey - a personal sharing of a design professional who has various backgrounds. We celebrate diversities and uniqueness that designers bring from their own endeavoring journey. My UX stories from working in design studios, consultancies, corporates, and startups across USA, UK, and India by Aditi Kulkarni (http://www.aditikulkarni.com) In her own blurbs: "Fun UX Stories from my experiences working in design studios, consulting agencies, massive corporates, and startups. From the last 10 yrs across USA, UK, India, and Singapore."

1. Hello!

2. 0 - First project
1 - Design Studio
2 - Freelancer
3 - Researcher
4 - Design Services
5 - Ad Agency
6 - Product

3. CONFIDENTIAL
Head of Design & UX
ReferralCandy
Aditi Kulkarni

4. LEVEL ZERO
My first
live digital work

5. Story #0

7. If the client likes it
then, ✅ 🚀

8. LEVEL ONE
Design Studios

10. Story #1

13. Presentation skills
are everything!
(I need to get better at this!!)

14. It’s ok to say no
(mind=blown)

15. It’s tough to work with
non-designers 🤔
(I need to get better at this!!)

16. LEVEL TWO
Freelancing

18. Story #2

19. Sometimes checks 💵
bounce 🤕

20. Working alone is not
fun for me…
(Maybe I should get to this when I know what the hell I’m doing)

21. LEVEL THREE
Researcher

22. Story #3

25. UX is everything!

26. Research ≠ Success
WHAT!! OMG!

27. WHAT!! OMG!
Research
Design
BusinessEngineering
⁉

28. Architecture > UX
UX > Architecture

29. Intern
Junior
Mid
Senior
Director

30. Learning vs. Promotions

31. LEVEL FOUR
Design Services

34. v
Craft Collaboration

38. Creative 👑 Director

39. The bigger the team,
the tougher it is

40. WHAT!! OMG!
Research
Design
Business
Frontend
Engineering
⁉
QA
Backend
Engineering
Sales
Marketing
Users
Client

41. Fresh perspective is
limited & valuable
(In hindsight)

42. Story #4

45. Designers are so hard
to work with! 🤔
(I need to get better at this!!)

46. Hello World!
Welcome to the vast universe of technology

51. Agile Sprints
This is so much fun!
(

52. What motivates
a team? 🤔
(I need to get better at this!!)

53. Management = Support

54. BONUS
Design Advocate

60. LEVEL FIVE
Ad Agency

64. Story #5

68. Advertising is a whole
different animal 🐯

69. A lot of designers care
about awards! 🏆

70. LEVEL SIX
Product
2015

72. CONFIDENTIAL

73. CONFIDENTIAL

74. CONFIDENTIAL

75. Story #6

77. Ship, Ship, Ship!
Ship as much as you can, as fast as you can, as frequently as possible

78. Design Metrics are
your friends 💖

79. Don’t become The
Gatekeeper

80. REFERRALCANDYDESIGN
80
Iterative Product Design
Design
Test
Build
Test
Iterate
Update
Iterate
Iterate
User Feedback
& Insights

82. CONFIDENTIAL

84. User centric design =
User centric metrics

86. 0 - First project
1 - Design Studio
2 - Freelancer
3 - Researcher
4 - Design Services
5 - Ad Agency
6 - Product

87. Explore the design world

88. Avoid the echo chamber

89. We’re Hiring!
@uxartist
www.aditikulkarni.com