Is there a typical path for becoming a UX Designer? Taking a look at other colleagues’ resumes it seems not: some come from graphic design, others from cognitive psychology, information sciences or HCI - all UX-related fields. There are some exceptions though of people arriving here from more distant fields such as literature (Dick Hill), architecture (Andrea Resmini), history (Louis Rosenfeld) and theatre (Eric Reiss). My personal path started from an even more distant field: I studied Agricultural Sciences and as strange as it might sound I now realize it was a solid ground for building up the skills required for the job I’m currently doing. During the first years of my professional career I chose to undertake activities in the field that required me to interact quite intensively with people: I interviewed farmers in Africa and elderly people in my own country; I also ran focus groups with farmers, consumers and scientists for EU-funded projects. Although the focus of the research at the time was elsewhere, the lessons learned during those years were incredibly meaningful and useful for the user research I now perform as UX designer, even if at the time I wasn’t aware of the motivation that drove me and still does. By telling the stories of the people I met I’d like to share with the Euro IA audience those experiences, how they helped me developing ethnographic and human skills (observation, interview, facilitation, improvisation, lateral thinking and empathy). Also, I’d like to share what I believe is the underlying theme that brought me from there to UX design: I love people. I love listening to them and designing for them to be happier.

1. An agronomist’s unexpected
path to UX Design
EURO IA 27-29 Sept 2012, Rome Raffaella Roviglioni @raffiro

2. Who am I?

3. Why this presentation?
© Charles Budd

4. Which skills?

5. User research
“User research, ethnography, is a state of
mind that can infuse, inform and inspire
the design process and beyond”
Will Evans (@SemanticWill)

6. Field work!

7. Gathering stories

8. I had a dream

9. The daily interviews

10. Woman to woman
Be aware of the cultural context
You need a helping hand

11. The script
The field guide is a plan!
Help people answer your questions

12. It’s never over
Explore outside main target
Be open to surprises

13. The evaporation pan
People don’t do what they say!

14. Italian elder farmers
© Unitus
Embrace expectations
The setup is not up to you!

15. A real war story
Build rapport
Get the story out

16. Evaluating farmers
Limited timeframe
Obstacles

17. A quick fix
Improvise!
Seize the moment

18. The journey to our passion
“The Element is the place where the things we
love to do and the things we are good at come
together” Ken Robinson

19. My Element

20. “Never underestimate the vital importance
of finding early in life the work that for you
is play”
Ken Robinson,“The Element: How finding your passion changes every thing”
Thank you!
raffaella@roviglioni.it
@raffiro
Special thanks to:
 Rome UX Book Club, for support and inspiration
 Steve Portigal, for his lessons and the war stories