Create personas that actually matter to the business with this template (plus the The Work-From-Anywhere War Is Beginning)
Whether or not you are working remotely, a lot of designers are like me - the only UX designer on a project. But it's hard to design alone.
I’m curious - what does your work life look like right now? It seems like every day we get conflicting news reports. Are companies backtracking on flexible work or are they going all in with fully remote workplaces?
In a Wired article last month, The Work-From-Anywhere War Is Beginning, the author quotes Raj Choudhury, an economist from Harvard Business School -
“There are two kinds of companies,” Choudhury explains. “One is going to embrace work-from-anywhere, and the second is in denial—I feel those companies will lose their workforce.” He argues that the “companies that are trying to drag back time will lose some of their best talent, and that dynamic will force these companies to catch up.”
This issue of UX Adjecenct is focused on a few things I’ve been thinking about as a fully remote UX designer who is often the only designer/researcher on a project. I love the flexibility but as a full-fledged extrovert, I miss the collaboration and energy of an office and a bigger team.
Thanks for reading!
Alissa
How are you learning and teaching as a UX team of one in 2023?
Whether or not you are working remotely, a lot of designers are like me - the only UX designer on a project. But it's hard to design alone. This article has a few resources that I lean on, but I would love to hear what you use. Comment on the article or substack to contribute to the conversation.
Want a template for personas that actually gets stakeholders on board?
In exploring ways that I can learn and teach, I created my first Gumroad product - Business-focused User Personas Template. This is a Google Slides file for clean, behavior-based personas with an added dimension of their quantified contribution to business objectives that was extremely effective in communicating the value of personas to the business (I used this at a well-funded startup). The first 30 purchases come with a 30-minute UX consultation with me for help creating your own personas like this or anything you are working on.
50% discount for subscribers of this email with the discount code “substack”
From the archives: 12 apps to elevate your UX process
This article features a collection of apps from my Chrome bookmarks that I actually use throughout my entire UX process. One of my favorites (below) is UX Archive. Browse user flows from popular apps to help you find best practices for common tasks like signup and onboarding.
Thanks for reading! I’m a UX designer and writer, and design-adjacent content writer. If you’d like to be featured in the next issue of UX Adjacent, send me a short bio and links to your website or profile.