How to communicate your design process effectively as an introvert
How to get people to understand UX Design without becoming an extrovert
"You have to be more aggressive to get good UX done," my client once told me at a performance review.
The answer was evident to him, a "Type-A" personality doctor who worked for an Ivy League Medical Department (and dabbled in UX). I needed to speak up, take charge of the room, and do what he did.
But I'm an introvert and a quiet person at heart. So I didn't want to morph my entire personality to get better at my job, and I found that I didn't need to. You don't have to be aggressive about UX to get good work done; you must learn to communicate clearly and efficiently.
Here's how I do it as an introvert.
Communication matters around UX
People still get confused about UX, even now. It may seem that UX has been around forever, but it has only been around since 1993.
More people than ever have heard a little about UX, but there are often fundamental gaps in their knowledge.
Here are some things I've had to clear up:
UX Design also means doing User Research and Testing
You need to do more than one round of user testing
UX Design is an iterative process (i.e., it doesn't need to be perfect the first time)
You don't need to test users with an incredibly high-fidelity prototype
etc.
These misconceptions don't just result in awkward conversations: they can sometimes result in team members not realizing you need specific resources, like a budget for user testing, participants, etc.
So one of addressing these issues is to aggressively seek to clear up misconceptions through presentations, workshops, and meetings. But that's not the only way.
Here are the methods I use as an introverted designer to effectively communicate about design.
Ask questions but provide design cause and effect
There's one perfect time in any meeting or presentation for introverts to speak up: when people ask if you have questions.
This is the time cleared for team members to ask any lingering questions in an orderly fashion (rather than shouting over each other), so you're not likely to be drowned out.
But asking questions is only part of the process. Being known as the guy who only asks questions on the team can get annoying and uncomfortable. So after you ask your questions and write down your answers, reference them later when discussing your designs.
For example, if you asked many questions about context-sensitive help at a previous meeting, bring up the answers you got when you're presenting your designs.
"Because I was told that we would only need to provide brief help text, I went with a tooltip that shows you additional help here."
This does several key things:
Establish cause and effect: Your team can see that their answers are informative for choosing certain design elements.
Justify all your questions: They see that you're asking questions because it affects how things are designed, not because you like to ask questions.
Establish root cause: It is always more beneficial to start with the "why" of the project. For example, if people don't like what you designed, it's always good to ensure that you're trying to solve the same problem before redesigning anything.
Prompt action: If there are problems with the design, it may not just be on you to fix things but also prompt more discussion on your team about the right approach.
Creating this process of cause and effect shows the team how the decisions may impact the final result. As a result, you can show, not tell, your team how the design process works.
Tag along with meetings and hallway/casual chats
Establishing and coordinating meetings is hard work, draining my energy as an introvert.
In addition to scheduling the things, I often have to provide a lot of contexts, such as who I am, what I am doing, and why I need to talk with you.
As a result, it's not unusual for many people to decline or stay tentative on meetings. But I've found it much easier to do Tag Along meetings.
Talk to the organizer of specific meetings that might have all the people you need and ask if you can have 5–15 minutes of their meeting time. Meetings often don't always run to fill the entire time, and it's a much lower interaction cost for other team members to stay on a call (and leave early if they're not needed) rather than accepting a new meeting with an unfamiliar person.
Of course, that means you have to condense your asks to a much smaller scale (for example, you might only be able to ask one burning UX question). Still, if you're able to establish a habit of having a few minutes of each meeting to talk with all your relevant stakeholders, it does several things:
It shows what UX is working on: UX starts not to become this weird field or department that others don't understand when you are constantly showing stuff you're working on
It provides a reliable source of stakeholder feedback: Having a place to ask all your relevant questions, rather than waiting for e-mail responses or chats, is an excellent tool for iterating quickly.
It shows different parts of the UX cycle: The questions you have might not always be about the discovery phase. Instead, it might be about research, design, getting participants for user testing, and more.
However, sometimes meetings take up the whole time, or it's not always feasible to talk during the meeting. In that case, try to seek people out immediately afterward: in many cases, I've often had some of the most productive conversations about things on the walk back to my office from a meeting (or in a chat directly afterward).
People are already in 'meeting mode' (i.e., not face down in work) and may not be ready to start their next big assignment, so if they're not rushing to a meeting (or if you're both heading to the same next meeting), it can be worth it to ask questions then.
Write e-mails for your bosses to send to avoid cold-emailing people
One last tip I can offer is to employ the power of copy-paste.
Cold-emailing people, especially other members of an organization that don't have that much time, can be intimidating and ineffective as an introverted designer.
This is where you can leverage your mentor, boss, or leader. They probably have more established relationships with whoever you're contacting, so it's not like they're strangers.
However, asking your boss to take time out of their business day to think up and craft an e-mail is like asking for a favor, even if it's small. This is where copy-pasting can be effective.
Write out the detailed e-mail you want to send to the person, and then add another to your mentor, asking them to copy-paste this before you send it to your mentor.
For example, "Hey [Mentor], could you please reach out to X with this e-mail so I can set up a user interview? I've included the wording below:
Hello, my name is Kai, and I am a Senior UX Designer hoping to talk with you about…."
Doing things this way does several things:
Avoids cold-calling people you don't know: The people you might want to talk to often might not know who you are and may not respond to your e-mail. You don't have to follow up aggressively and have a better chance of contacting them.
It makes it easier for your mentor to do you a favor: Instead of your mentor having to think up what to say and adding more to their plate, they have to copy and paste what you wrote (or forward it) to the relevant party.
Provides a related introduction: With the favor out of the way, your mentor might spend a little bit more time introducing who you are and why it's a good time to respond.
Making things easier for your mentor can allow you to bridge these difficult conversations as an introvert.
Introvert or extrovert, it pays to communicate effectively about design
Becoming an extrovert isn't the only way for introverts to succeed with design communication.
UX Design is a field that requires just as much self-reflection and quiet time as it does communicating with stakeholders. As a result, it's a field where introverts can excel.
But to do so, one of the most crucial parts is to leverage different ways of communicating ideas, design recommendations, and the design process. For example, you might have the perfect design ideas, but you can't go forward if you cannot get the rest of your team on board.
So test out these small ways (that require less social energy) to get your team on board and listen to your design recommendations. You might find it easier than changing your entire personality.
Kai Wong is a Senior UX Designer, Design Writer, and author of the Data and Design newsletter. His new book, Data-informed UX Design, explains small changes you can make regarding data to improve your UX Design process.