5 Of The Hardest Things About Being A UX Designer

We’ve all had those certain projects that make us want to pull our hair out. The client is challenging, the project seems impossible, but for some reason, we keep going until we get it just right. It’s just part of being a UX designer.

As with any career, there are challenges. While we love what we do, sometimes the process can be a bit difficult. It’s hard to be a UX designer, but that’s what makes it so much fun. We love rising to the challenge, though we wouldn’t complain if we could just skip the hard stuff and skip straight to the incredible end result once in a while.

1. Stepping Inside The End-User’s Mind

It’s not always easy to figure out what users are thinking.

This is probably one of the hardest things about being a UX designer. We can’t just rely on our own view of a problem. We have to see it from the end-user’s perspective. It means extensive research and working alongside the end-user. It also means trying to convince clients that we actually do need to do as much research as possible, which isn’t always easy to do.

It’s not until we see the problem from the eyes of the end-user that we’re able to come up with an ideal solution. It’s a challenge, but we’re more than ready to face it.

2. Collaborating To Find The Best Solution

Collaboration is a large part of UX design. After all, it’s easier to solve a problem when there are multiple view points. Of course, there lies the issue. Trying to get everyone to get on the same page isn’t easy at all. We all want to be right and conceding that someone else’s idea might be better is hard. Of course, usually, no one is 100% right. That’s the value of collaboration. Everyone’s ideas are combined to create one great solution.

3. Trying To See A Problem From Different Angles

It’s easy to look at a UX problem and see an immediate solution, but is it the best solution? One of the hardest things to do as a UX designer is to look past the knee jerk first solution and try to see the problem from different angles. What seems obvious now may not actually solve the real problem. Switching gears is difficult at best, but it’s something that every UX designer has to do.

Of course, working as a team is the best way to ensure we all see a problem from various angles. As we work on a project, we also get help from user feedback, client feedback and our own ideas that spring up as we go.

4. Turning Feedback Into Actionable Insight

Feedback is a wonderful thing, but it doesn’t tell designers how to fix the problem. Instead, the feedback we receive is all about what’s wrong or what the end-user doesn’t like. Wouldn’t it be great if the feedback included a solution? Of course, that would probably mean we’d be out a job, so we’ll just keep enjoying the slightly vague feedback.

It’s hard to take all the feedback we receive and turn it into actionable insight. Plus, we also have to face the fact that we can’t address every issue. Sometimes it’s just not possible. After all, we are problem solvers and we hate leaving any problem unsolved. The trick is choosing the feedback that actually makes the design better and sticking with that.

5. Letting Your Design Go

This might not seem like a big issue, but imagine spending hours on a design only to discover that what seems perfect is anything but. The thing we’ve worked so hard on has to be scrapped. For us, it’s kind of like falling for a cute puppy and then having to give it away. It’s hard, but it’s something we have to do from time to time.

Not only is letting go a massive pain, it’s also hard to change our mindset to think about the problem anew. Sometimes just spending more time talking to the end-users is enough to clear the mind and get a fresh perspective.

No one ever said being a UX designer was easy. In fact, it’s an incredibly difficult career choice, but it’s also a highly rewarding one. We have the power to create experiences and that makes every challenge we face well worth it.

Images: Nik Shuliahin, Laurenz KleinheiderTim Gouw