THE UX OF YOU

The Most Important 2021 Design Trend

More important than tools, techniques, and fads.

What skill should you work on this year?

Work on the UX of you. Work on applying the UX skills you have in your tool belt to the way other people experience you. Rather than chasing the next piece of software or a fancy new way to design a drop shadow on a button, focus on the experience others have when they interact with you.

How do others experience you? Is it a good experience? Do you care? Is arrogance getting in the way and you’re certain there’s nothing you need to change? It’s them, right? And there’s nothing you need to work on?

If you can embrace these questions and work on the answers you uncover, the experience others have of you will be what sets you apart. I’m not saying don’t be comfortable in your own skin, we need that, but your ability to be socially and emotionally present no matter the interaction is a superpower.

Knowing how your attitude, presence, words, actions, interactions, gestures, comments, thoughts, and emotions affect those around you, and being aware of the outcomes and consequences of such, can be a profound way to improve your life circumstances.

Let the UX of you be the design trend you work on the most in 2021.

There will always be the next Figma, Adobe XD, or Sketch. The next prototyping tool is likely going to show up on Product Hunt next week. Some new methodology for organizing UX research is bound to emerge. But do you know what else will show up along with all these shiny new tools?

A fresh new batch of hungry designers that can use these tools just as well as you can.

Do you know what there won’t ever be another of?

You.

These tools that keep changing in our industry and our ability to use them are what qualifies us to do the work in the eyes of the people looking to hire you. I don’t see the requirement of hard skills going anywhere in 2021. You’ll need to be sharp and trained just as much as the next designer.

What amplifies you are the soft skills and the experience others have of you when they meet you and work with you.

That’s what will set you apart from the crowd.

It’s a no-joke process.

Designing how others experience you is a difficult process — there’s no easy way around it. You’ll have to dig deep and uncover new ways to be an active listener. You’ll have to hone your ability to articulate your thoughts and understand what it means to facilitate a discussion. You’ll have to open the closed box on your emotional intelligence and learn to check your ego at the door and be vulnerable.

Yep, I said it, you’ll have to be vulnerable.

I think what people often get wrong is they think they’re either born with soft skills or they’re not. I couldn’t disagree more. You know how to conduct UX research, right? You know how to analyze your research and create affinity diagrams, right? You know how to prototype & test new designs and validate your assumptions, right?

Then you can learn to read a room too. You can learn to listen better and look someone in the eyes. You can learn to engage people in a discussion and bring people along for the journey. You can learn to do any of these things through practice and the use of the UX skills you already have.

2021 is your year to practice. Let the experience that others have of you be your 2021 design trend. Keep up on the tools, you’ll need those too, but the UX of you and the experience others have of you matters more.

Here are a few places to get started if you want to improve your soft skills and design the experience others have of you:

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Uncle Mikey helps amplify people and products through human-centered design. With 20+ years experience in design, marketing, e-commerce, and UX, his passion is helping people & businesses apply their skills to the way they’re experienced by others. You can connect with him on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, or follow his writing here on Medium.