Early career advice from Figma

📰 3 ARTICLES 

Breaking In: A Guide to Landing Your First Product Design Role

• Chai Charniga from the Design Operations team at Figma gives an inside look into landing a first design role specifically through the lens of hiring at Figma, and offers advice for early career designers going through the application and interview process.
  
• Charniga offers insights that relate to Figma’s process but are global in nature, such as showing complete stories with your case studies, using engaging visuals like GIFs and recordings to truly bring your work to life, and widely sharing your projects.
  
• “Be a storyteller! Whether you’re sharing case studies, presenting your portfolio, or answering interview questions, a well-crafted story can elevate how you communicate the value of your design work. By weaving a cohesive story that connects each design decision, showcases your strongest skills, and highlights the impact of your work, you’ll help interviewers gain a deeper understanding of your thought process and see a glimpse into your mind.”

UX Design and Generative AI at Microsoft

• Focused on the Microsoft digital team, this article takes an in-depth look into how AI is reshaping UX design and product development in the organization, allowing for more dynamic, non-linear workflows.
  
• Designers can now spend more time on creating adaptable experiences rather than fixed screens, fostering closer collaboration between engineers and data scientists. This ultimately streamlines the product development process while giving designers more agile tools to work with and promoting cross-functional conversations.  
  
• “Modern engineering with AI requires a shift to a more collaborative culture on product teams, where people can work flexibly together. It’s similar to the shift that engineering went through, where instead of owning specific pieces, engineers swarmed over one part of the product for a sprint, then swarmed on another part in the next sprint.”

Lesson from NASA: Don't Get Stuck in Space

• Alex Kreger, UX Strategist and founder of UXDA, draws insightful parallels between NASA’s decision to delay the return of astronauts due to Boeing's issues and the challenges traditional banks face in the digital age, drawing on how a refusal to innovate rapidly could lead to technological obsolescence.
  
• Kreger highlights the importance of adopting a digital-first culture, overhauling outdated systems, and focusing on customer-centric innovation to prevent customers from feeling "stranded", contrasting more traditional banking structures with the ease of something like CashApp.
  
• “Today’s consumers are not just comparing banks to other banks—they are comparing their banking experience to their experience with leading tech companies. When a customer can open an account in minutes with a neobank, receive personalized financial advice via an app and pay virtually no fees, traditional banks seem slow and cumbersome in comparison.”

💜 PORTFOLIO INSPIRATION

Sarah Kim, a UX Academy graduate, combines inviting UI, strong research, and a love of cooking to a Happy Gut, an end-to-end app geared toward finding recipes to promote healthy cooking. She’s also currently working on an innovative platform development for the State of New York focused on farming grants. This important project involves designing an efficient and accessible experience for a network of over 600 farmers of color, building better access to necessary online resources.

Got a portfolio you love that you’d like to share with our audience? Email your suggestions to hello@designlab.com.

💡 INTERESTING STUFF...

• Killing Cognitive Load—Before It Kills You
• Beaded Bodega Orders
• The 80/20 Interview Trick
• Design Tips for Dark Mode

Color does not add a pleasant quality to design, it reinforces it. — Pierre Bonnard (French painter and illustrator)

🧪 FROM THE LAB

🚀 UX Academy Foundations Launching Monday

Our next cohort of UX Academy Foundations is launching this coming Monday, September 9th.

Gain proficiency in Figma and learn the foundations of visual and UI design through hands-on exercises and project work in this flexible and beginner-friendly online course. Work 1:1 with an industry expert mentor, join our supportive student community, and gain all the skills you need for entry into our career-change program, UX Academy.

Don’t miss out! Spaces are limited: enroll now to secure your space and get started.

🎤 Upcoming Design Events

• September 17th 1PM EST: Designing the Future: A Conversation with Visual Electric Cofounder Colin Dunn
• September 18th 12PM EST: Designing for People, Planet, and Climate
• September 23rd 4PM EST: Paths to Design Leadership

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