Solo UX Practitioner: 2024: Introduction
I posted to LinkedIn looking for designers who have experienced being a designer of one and were interested in sharing their experience. This investigation was motivated by a recent revelation of mine that I had occupied the title of design hire number one across a number of full-time and consulting jobs over a 10 year design career; however, I never codified my experience into something others could reference. Additionally, I wasn’t even sure if my experience was relevant. The current design landscape has evolved so much since my early-career days. People are more familiar with the profession at this point, and people even casually use the term ‘user-friendly’ at a frequency I don’t think I clocked back in 2014. Design is also facing an uncertain future in lockstep with many other tech professionals with the maturation of large language models and artificial intelligence. I don’t know what advice is most meaningful for people entering this profession.
With that in mind, I’ve set out to check in with designers across the industry. I’m interested in learning their stories, synthesizing their experience, and maybe creating a lightweight artifact for people to reference in the future. I am also on the look out for other materials that are covering this subject matter. If you come across other designers who have written about this, or thought deeply about their experience in the field as a solo designer, send them my way!
I’ll post my process and findings here, so please check in for updates!
