10 Questions with a UX Designer!
Hey there peeps! Our Co-Founder, Stuart recently connected with Mark Kobylanski as part of Pixelated People’s 10-question series.
Mark is a UX Designer who’s been around the block for over 15 years, working with some huge companies on a global scale. He’s got some great insights into how to train someone on design, what makes a great UX Designer, and not to mention his crazy passions outside of work. It’s been pretty insightful learning about Mark’s personal experiences. Mark and Stuart go way back – they’ve worked together on multiple contract placements, shared some amazing food, and thrown back a few drinks along the way. Speaking of drinks, grab one for yourself and settle in for a great read. Cheers!
When did you discover that you wanted to work in the design industry?
At university in Portsmouth. I wanted to be an electronic engineer, but, I found the Entertainment Technology degree in Portsmouth & the course literature made me rethink my future. I always wanted to create, the medium didn’t really matter so much.
If you didn’t design, what would you do and why?
Tough question as design part of my DNA. I don’t think you can escape design at some level if you want to create & I can’t see myself not creating. If we divorce digital design from other forms of design, then I’m already making my move into permaculture & agroforestry on my little homestead in Lithuania. Why? I have always looked for a space to work in where I can have a positive & measurable environmental/social impact.
How has the lack of physical interaction affected you a designer since remote working becoming the big thing?
Iterating toward getting high quality output from workshops was difficult & you definitely miss the ‘feel’ of a physical workshop, but it is possible. I honestly think remote working has actually improved our capability to see more of the people we care about, especially if they live in other countries & you have the desire. The downside as a contractor is that you miss those natural ‘getting to know you’ water cooler moments & it’s a lot harder to ‘switch off’.
Why do you design Mark, tell us why it gets you out of bed?
The process of learning gets me up every day, good design practices mean you are always learning. We learn about behaviour, new tech, how our decisions affect behaviour and we get to fail, a lot… that failure keeps me humble & I appreciate that. We learn about behaviour, new tech, how our decisions affect behaviour and we get to fail, a lot… that failure keeps me humble & I appreciate that.
What makes great design culture in your humble opinion?
Healthy conflict, high risk appetite, organisation and small balanced teams that have faith in the process of failing towards good.
How would you explain UX Design to a small child?
We do detective work that enables companies to make products/services that people love. We are always hunting for ways to improve our targets lives.
What’s the strangest or funniest thing that happened to you during a project?
So many… from spending the day working with Spiderman and a T-Rex, to being piled into the back of a Russian colleague’s car in Latvia for a ‘ride somewhere’…
What makes a great UX Designer in your eyes?
Humility, resilience, a broad research methodology toolkit, superb listening/observation skills & the ability to herd people through an inherently fuzzy process with confidence.
What things are you irrationally passionate about outside of work?
Growing food, cooking, snowboarding (well any kind of boarding) and bushcraft.
If you were to train someone on how to design, where would you begin?
Developing their listening skills, how to detect the ‘why’ and the tools to breakdown findings into something that can be used to design with confidence. After that it’s just building up their repertoire of methodologies and learning the software to produce with.
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