5 min reading time

I Wish I Could Be a Superhero

How I became a designer.

Firefighter, nurse? I always wanted to be a superhero - save people, defeat monsters, make the world a better place. Flinging lightning around and looking stunning while driving my superhero mobile - my skills, on the other hand, amounted to fast running and technical prowess. Converting a Walkman that could move things and make them glow at the touch of a button came easily to me.

But the fact that I couldn't fly or throw lightning out of my hand made me put the superhero plan on hold. For the time being.

Struck by lightning

When I discovered my talent.

But my fate had other plans. It wasn't long before I met my first monster. It grabbed me ice-cold by the neck and whispered in my ear, "They call me bad design and you'll never be able to beat me." That was when I first held a graphic design in my hand. It was an intrusive, noisy mix of objects. I recognized nothing new, surprising. The composition did not contain an understandable statement, nor was it consistently implemented down to the details.

I did not understand it, so it became unusable. A horror. It hit me like a bolt of lightning. I had to do something. This bad design was lurking everywhere and spreading like an unruly ivy. From then on, I left nothing to arbitrariness or chance. My goal was to replace the bad design with carefully thought-out design.

Sharing superpower

How I solve your problems?

1. Start with scoping
Agreeing and defining what is in scope and what is not, without committing to a specific solution or problem.

2. Developing a problem definition Write problem statement. Start validation of the underlying problem (problem fit). Based on my research and some interviews, I define Porto Personas.

5. Create, queue, and prioritize experiments
After conducting the research, I formulate the key findings into a question that we can focus on.

6. Generate and prioritise ideas, collaboratively
Brainstorming sessions with stakeholders and other roles, help prioritize the best ideas.

3. Doing Research
Based on insights from a customer support team, customer reviews, and the results of outside testing, I define assumptions about problems and solutions that I rank for risk.

4. Ranking the riskiest assumptions These riskiest assumptions, defined with stakeholders from different teams, must first be validated through problem validation interviews, in-person user testing, and UX audits.

7. Develop experiments from ideas
Creation of a pipeline queue, an an organised list of scored experiments.

8. Developing a problem definition
The queue of scored experiments, forms the content of the roadmap, it serves as a single source of truth and the North Star. It helps designers, developers, and stakeholders align around a single vision and set of priorities.

Higher. Further. Faster.

What are my sources of power?

Nature
Rediscovering my ecosystem, learning its language and showing humility.

Knowledge
Discovering new things, learning & sharing them with others.

People
Healthy interpersonal relationships.

Emotions
Experiencing fun, lightness, honesty & pain together and growing from it.