M.A. Manuel Alejandro Juárez Saucedo
graduated in 2018
UX Designer at bookingkit, Berlin
What do you do at your job?
I am the main User Experience designer, my main responsibilities are:
Regularly:
Planning & Conducting UX research methods (usability testing, User interviews, heat maps)
Framing user needs and translating them to software requirements
Defining user flows and functionalities in our main application
Creation of web prototypes to communicate user flows and main UI (using invision)
Syncing with software engineers in implementation approaches
Creation & maintenance of a Design System to standardise software & design implementation
Occasionally:
Project management
Workshop & meeting facilitation
How do you relate your studies to your current position?
From the content I can related it mostly to the User centred and Human centred theories & methodologies to product design & development. Bridging the gap between end users and engineers. Furthermore, conducting User research methods and working with both quantitative and qualitative data to draw conclusions that inform decision making processes is something that relates to my studies to a great extend.
From the process & skills, I would mostly point out that the free, learn by doing approach taken at KISD has helped me to a great extend to diminish the learning curve taken while undergoing projects or learning new tools where I had null experience with. I feel my expertise & value as designer are not only attached to a certain skill, but they are rather a complex mix between “soft” and “hard” skills, where the ability to collaborate smoothly in international teams is as important or sometimes more important than any potential design deliverable.
What would you say to an applicant today?
KISD, is a space with no constrains and big freedom, like a playground, therefore you need to develop constantly a self-critical, self-reflecting mindset and methods to measure and evaluate your own way of approaching projects and collaboration. Without reflecting in the processes and results you’ve got while studying there, you will be certainly missing the most important learning path & insights.
What do you value most about your studies at KISD?
The friends I did, the super interesting people I´ve met. All the theory concepts I´ve found while digging way to deep in literature. The freedom, the failures, the random valuable insights and prompts I´ve found in Friday presentations while looking someone else’s work and presentations. KISD students are very inspiring people, so if I had to choose, I´ll choose them as my main valuable insight about my studies at KISD…(with important mention to the Stube coffee)