Hi there! My name is Edmundo Miranda, 37 years old (officially 47, but my parents were so keen on having me that they signed me up 10 years early. True story!) and I’m going to share a little about my day as a UX/UI lead designer at LOAD!
Actually, I should wake up at 8:00, but since I live within a 10-minute walk from the office, I sometimes allow myself to stay under the covers a little longer (cold weather is tough). By 08:20 I’m still in bed trying to properly open my eyes. That’s when I turn on my smartphone and start scrolling through Instagram, that never-ending “magazine” where we see a bit of everything: News, surfing, design, technology, and, of course, funny dog reports and nonsense content to set up the good mood. I know it’s maybe not the healthiest way to wake up, but it is what it is.
Then I wash my face, brush my teeth… the usual stuff. I use this time to check and recap my daily tasks in Google Calendar and on our weekly planning. Also, I check if there is anything new in our Slack channel. That’s a lot of smartphone usage in the early morning, yeah, I need to rethink that. 😅
It depends on whether I’ll be working from home, in the office, or sometimes a mix of both. The hybrid work model is ideal. We get the best out of on-site work where things happen more organically, such as being with the team, sharing ideas, quickly fixing any issue, and so on. We also get the best out of remote work — working from the comfort of our homes, the flexibility to work from a cowork or even another city, when and if necessary. While there are companies that have built a 100% remote culture, for me, the hybrid approach is still, by far, the best. So let me describe a day when I go into the office. As I arrive outside, the first thing I do is say good morning in meow language to the eight or so fluffy cats that live around my building.
The days at LOAD start with our daily stand-up meeting, where we share with the team our goals and doubts for the day. Then some go grab a coffee in the coffee store downstairs. I prefer to drink my coffee from the espresso machine in the office, but sometimes I go down to hang out with the guys.
Work weeks vary a bit depending on the nature of the projects in progress. Here’s an overview of some major tasks I usually deal with on a daily basis.
- Design review: I regularly check my inbox and Slack in case I need to provide an important answer to clients or project team members. As a lead UX /UI designer, I deal directly with our clients while the project is in the design phase;
- Design review: I check with our junior designer how things are going, considering project goals, guidelines, and deadlines. We take this time to clarify doubts and suggest improvements, always with an explanation of why. This is a way to share knowledge and encourage designer autonomy. This support between designers is a great opportunity to learn and also to recap old visual composition fundamentals that we already use automatically and where sometimes it’s not easy to explain why, like hierarchies or usability heuristics.
- Design support for developers: the cooperation between designers and developers is fundamental and that’s why I believe that a good product team should be smooth, well-connected, united, and work in the same direction to deliver the best result for the customer and for LOAD. At LOAD, thanks to the gods and to the whole team, we have that! As designers, we always have to make the best possible handover to the development team: Explain the purpose of the product, the main features, the general look and different states, animations, placeholders for blank pages, feedback, navigation, color styles, typographic styles and clarify their usage. Consistency is the key here. No matter how hard we try, it’s possible we miss something. So the development team is fundamental here for this refinement, whether it’s to define something that was forgotten, clarify a rule, correct consistency deficiencies, or even discuss alternative solutions for certain elements. Over the years, I have learned a lot from these ideas exchanges.
Check the rest of our Lead UX/UI Designer at https://load.digital/blog/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-lead-ux-ui-designer-at-load. See you there! 😁
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