Let’s say you’re an up and coming UX pro and dream of becoming a UX powerhouse at your company. What’s your path to power? Welcome to Episode 08 of The Chris Miller Show, a UX podcast series detailing and demystifying the growing UX profession.
In this episode, Chris speaks with Brian Morrison, the Creative and Marketing Director at a multinational publishing company. The conversation begins with Chris describing his first meeting with Brain, over a decade ago. Much has changed in UX and in Brian’s career path as he’s now a member of Adobe’s customer advisory board. According to Brian, compared to years past, UX has developed its homerun hitting power due to the growing emphasis on customer-first branding initiatives.
Corporate Branding’s Secret Sauce
You see, gone are the days where corporate branding begins and ends at a stylish logo and punchy tagline. Today, branding is all about understanding the customer. It’s success relies on a secret sauce that’s spread across every customer touchpoint. That secret sauce is UX.
Given this new market reality, Brian believes branding and UX must merge and become more pervasive within all companies. But that’s easier said than done, especially for enterprise companies. So here’s five development areas on the path to becoming a design-led organization.
- HIRE: Decentralize staffing so hiring managers find UX talent quicker.
- COMMUNICATE: Develop a common UX vocabulary across departments.
- SIMPLIFY: Align UX and Branding together to bolster a design-led organization.
- BUILD: Develop a system for creative idea sharing across departments.
- SCALE: Build out the idea system to generate tangible results at scale.
Career Creatives Hit for Power
Following the above steps will help build a more cohesive culture and develop a stronger lineup of UX power hitters. Brian calls such power hitters, career creatives, because, unlike hobbyists, their creativity can be generated seemingly at will. Career creatives also seem to value humility, continuous learning and look for inspiration all around. If this sounds like your approach to UX then here’s a power-hitting tip from Brian, continue finding ways to sketch and develop your ideas on days where creativity is low.
Soundbite from Episode 8
Click on this podcast soundbite on this key point or listen to the full podcast below.
UX Homerun Power is Internal
In the end, the skillset you need to grow in your career has nothing to do with photoshop training. It’s about who you are internally and how that internal power helps you in managing people, developing budgets, creating processes, communicating effectively and leading with confidence. No one teaches these in-demand skills in Art School. These skills are a combination of soft skills and professional grit. These skills make up your own secret sauce and help determine where you’ll bat in your team’s creative lineup.
Next Steps
- Learn more about Chris Miller and his vision for our creative/digital services.
- Check out Brian Morrison at Linkedin.
