How do non-students become interactive designers?

Want to become an interactive designer of the non-class students, the front has dry goods slightly! Today, Director-level interaction designer @edc Yu Yuanqing to give the students a needle centering agent, talk about your professional advantages, the most important thing is about from the beginning to become an interactive designer, especially the wood has confidence self-study students, let it cheer you up!

Foreword: The recent time, basically each day has the small partner to ask, "I am from the non design specialized student, can do the interactive design", "I want to engage in the interactive design work, whether needs to read an interactive Design Master?", "I work for a while, not design industry, can I switch to do interactive design?", " I am very interested in interactive design, how to learn from scratch? ", just today to see an invitation to ask, is similar to the question, so I would like to write about the interactive design professional background of the superficial thinking, for your reference. ：)

Most of the problems boil down to two categories

The first kind of question: whether interactive design work requires specialized interactive design professional education.

The second type of question: How to learn the interactive design from scratch to help get into interactive design work. For example, the questions you see today:

"I am a computer professional ... Learn from the beginning of interactive design, I spent a few days on the internet to find a lot of resources, browsing a lot of micro-blog, know, you predecessors recommend the website, article. I think that regardless of any industry interest, the choice of the object of the effort to learn is equivalent to the unknown road set a banner, not the end, but the direction. So stop the east turn west together, think carefully yoyo in all the answers, began to interactive design with user experience as the center, design is not unrestrained, interactive is actually heart-to-heart ... These are considered indefinitely basic concepts. ...... How to learn how to do ... "

Answer the first kind of question first.

　　Does the interactive design work require specialized interactive design education?

My personal opinion is that I don't need it very much.

Interactive Design professional students don't worry, listen to me slowly. ：)

Interactive design is a relatively low professional threshold of the industry. If you want to be a lawyer in the United States, you usually have a formal legal education background, if you want to get into a big law firm, you have to have a legal background in a prestigious university, and then you have to test bar to be a lawyer; If you want to be a doctor in the United States, you have to study medicine for many years and have a medical certificate; If you want to be an engineer And most of the big internet companies in the United States recognize schools and academic qualifications; What are the hard skills of interactive design? Actually, not much. You will use Axure, PPT, Keynote, InDesign and any other tools to clearly express product interaction ideas, to understand the user's demands, can put ideas to product managers, development, leadership, you are a good interactive designer.

Give me an example of a micro-letter. A non-Internet professional, can he jump out to say that there is a problem with the micro-trust database? Can he point to the micro-letter code to improve it? Can he criticize the micro-letter business model is flawed? But he can definitely comment on the shortcomings of the micro-communication approach, such as which place is not good, which function can not be found, and so on. You see, the threshold for interactive design is so low that everyone can make a comment and be able to participate.

The second dimension, interactive design, is a very new profession. I am at the University of Michigan Information School completed the master of HCI, HCI is human-computer interaction, the general reading this professional came out are designers, I am fine is the interactive design direction (no drawing, no programming ...). In fact, at that time, 2006, the United States have HCI professional school is not much, the number of out of the famous is also a few. And the domestic later, in the campus recruitment, I have seen many colleges and universities have interactive design this professional direction, very good, but still very young very new. I guess the teachers at every design school are also exploring the focus and direction of the profession. Finally, the HCI doctor is less than other majors, and many of them will work in the company rather than stay in school. Therefore, the interactive professional education is still in the initial stage.

Above, interactive design is not too high professional threshold, and professional education maturity is relatively young, so the interactive design work of the educational background does not necessarily require interactive design professional.

is the interactive design professional useful?

Trained of course it works!

Years of formal education, students can bring a lot of interactive design needs of expertise. And in the interactive professional education, will be interspersed with a lot of non theoretical knowledge training experience, such as curriculum design projects, school internship, company internship and so on. Such a combination of theoretical education and practice of training can make the graduates have a clear combat effectiveness, can quickly integrate into the company's environmental interaction design work.

In my work experience, I met a lot of excellent interaction designer colleagues, more than half of them are not interactive design professional origin. They have a wide variety of backgrounds in computers, medicine, biology, Law, finance, psychology, literature, film, music, and electronic engineering. I am here to write some of the pros of these professional backgrounds, hoping to answer a similar question that most DMS my little friends ask, like "Am I learning a computer I can do interactive design?"

　　1, Technical engineering category

Computer, electronic engineering, mechanical engineering and so on.

These backgrounds can lead to careful logical thinking and technical skills, which are one of the key and most difficult parts of interactive design.

The complete thinking way, the overall picture, the exquisite technical understanding and the logical thinking, can help the interactive designer to deal with the complex information system and the simple informational system's various structure, the interactive flow way.

In short, a long-term design of TOC products, interactive designers, may not be able to design a logical, business complex TOB products, but the technical engineering background of the interaction designers generally do not have this problem. I sometimes divide the interaction designers into sensory classes and logical classes, and then arrange sensory classes to do more TOC products, and logical classes to do more TOB products. The sensory class relies on talent and character, and logic depends on education and work.

In particular, computer background, if there is a certain project experience, already understand the real details of the product development process. At this time, in the process of interactive design, you will be more able to understand even "see" the product real possible appearance, this is a big advantage. Further, understand the programming interaction designer out of the demo, is the most innovative value, because business appeal, interactive logic, technology implementation and innovation, are perfectly combined.

　　2, Creative Class

Music, film, literature and so on.

I remember early in the day, looking at Apple's website for a designer recruiting request, which said it needed to be passionate about music, but the funny thing is that this position is not a music product like itunes. Maybe the Design director likes music?: In fact, many designers in Silicon Valley are creative backgrounds. Learning music abound, such as bel canto singing or composing. Many American universities choose movies, literature, and so on, and then work into the interactive design industry. These creative professional education methods, thinking methods, thinking dimensions, many are connected with the interactive design.

For example, the immersion design I mentioned earlier, let myself quiet, completely self, design a program of their own approval, and music creation, film creation, literary creation is the same logic.

People with creative backgrounds do interactive design, and most are successful, even if not too successful, at least cool. ：)

　　3, other classes

Psychology, medicine, finance and so on.

Remember, the interaction designer is not designing the design itself, but the product. Products are corresponding to major industries. Therefore, interactive designers from other industry backgrounds have an innate advantage.

For example, people with backgrounds in psychology, data analysis and so on have an advantage in user research, and user research is a great addition to interactive design. Financial background, to do the interactive design of financial Internet products, from the business understanding of the leading a big cut. People with medical backgrounds also have the same advantage in the design of medical software interaction. There are many examples of this, and people in every industry enter the interactive design with the addition of a halo.

So know how to use their innate advantages, do interactive design will have a good starting point.

The second type of question:

　　How do you learn to interact with design from scratch to help you get into interactive design work?

This is a lot of questions, mostly focused on "What should I read", "How can I accumulate experience to go to internet companies", "self-study of interactive design from the beginning, what should I do" ... Really accumulate character Ah, about reading what book question, I have to answer how many times these years ah, how many times ... hahaha, I know the answer to a book, but the Big Book I think excellent web design organized very good, comprehensive. (the director praised the good happy, book List address: Designer book navigation) in fact, reading is a very personal choice, it is difficult to find suitable for the public recommended, I can only guarantee that I have done the book books are my favorite and feel useful. ：)

I think the study and progress of interactive design, 10% from the book, 60% from the actual combat experience, 30% from reflection and reflection.

　　10% from books

The book must be read. A newcomer is very difficult to find a design experienced, kind-hearted, and have time to make your design predecessors to help you, so books are the simplest and most real way of learning. It is a good and effective learning method to read the author's theory and actual combat experience, to absorb new knowledge, to feel experience and experiences.

Why only 10%? Because the interaction design is not a theoretical discipline, you have to do the design, you have to plan, every time to face the problem, each of the way the brain is different, so you have to face real challenges.

No book can teach you how to do interactive design, books can only enrich you to help you think, the design of the person who is your own.

Learning from the beginning of the small partners, more reading, it is certainly useful. Design books suggest fast reading, find inspiration, learn new things, the general design of the book does not need you to go to the word to ponder.

I have written several times about how to read the design books, so we can go back to see them. Reminded again, reading, but not dependent.

How do you read a design book? Right Stamp Learning! "Huawei Design Director Yu Yuanqing: How to read the design book"

　　60% from actual combat experience

From zero to the interaction design, my best advice is to find something to do. To find school design projects to undertake interactive design work, into the company internship to do interactive design, and friends to establish a project to assume the design responsibility. The beginning of the low or small are not related, once the actual combat, can only bring progress.

Whether it is success or failure, combat can only bring progress.

And for these small partners interested in interactive design, there is also a benefit of actual combat, that is, to verify whether you like the interactive design of the work, you are not good at interactive design this position. Predecessors told us too much interest as a career story, some success, some failure, you must prove yourself by actual combat. Perhaps you experience, do well, step by step to become a good interaction designer; maybe you experience it and decide to become a product manager; maybe after you experience it, you go back to the financial industry and get out of it.

Actual combat brings interactive design most of the proportion of experience, most valuable.

　　30% from reflection and reflection

Without thinking and reflecting on this process, the growth of interactive design is very difficult.

Learn the interactive design from scratch:

1, books bring a certain theoretical foundation, you know what persona and scenarios are.

2, the actual combat brought some happiness and sadness, you know what to do, what not to do.

3, thinking and reflecting can help you understand why.

Know the reason why the design process, is the perfect design process.

And a lot of small partners to chat, a lot of people on the design career frustration is that a few years, do the same thing every day, the revision, release, and then revised, and then released ... It's no fun. This is the reason for many designers ' small partners to change jobs besides money.

Of course, this dilemma is related to product form itself, but if you can make good use of thinking and introspection, there may be new opportunities. For example, if you can come up with a good idea from a boring iteration, improve design quality and improve design efficiency, the leader sees the results and benefits, and gives you an additional line of business design work to bring you more designers. ...... Isn't that a breakthrough?

To think, there is the possibility of change and breakthrough, the chances of success may be small.

But do not think, the possibility of change and breakthrough completely resigned, if not good character, the probability of success is basically zero.

So, from the zero start learning interaction design of the small partners, my advice is: think clearly, determined, reading, hands-on, validation and reflection.

Interactive design is a rising emerging industry, I hope we work together to do this industry. ：)

Thanks for reading.

Thanks,yoyo