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Career Services in Coda! [Katie Rivard]

Career Services Orientation

Lesson: Exploring Design Across Industries

10 minute read

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UX design is transforming every industry through creating more delightful, user-centric products. Here’s a look at how this role might shift or change, depending on which industry you choose to work in.

E-commerce

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Over the past few years, the e-commerce industry—buying and selling goods and services online—has risen from “commodity” to “mainstream.” As businesses of all sizes now utilize the internet to make sales, there’s a growing need for UX designers to help create intuitive and user-friendly online experiences for both custom-built websites and platforms like Shopify or

Artsy⁠

A UX designer in e-commerce might work on anything from product presentation to payment flows to microinteractions, all designed to help increase sales.

Because of the heavy competition, there’s a need for creativity and innovation to help products stand out, which can be a pro or a con, since you must be committed to staying a step ahead of the latest trends.

Interested in the e-commerce industry? Learn how UX Academy alumni

Morgan Riles⁠

landed a position as an Interaction Designer at Square.

Information Technology

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Information technology (IT) uses software and hardware to store, retrieve, and transmit data. Companies in this industry are widely varied, and can include anything from search engines like Google and DuckDuckGo to email service providers like MailChimp, database software Airtable, and more. UX designers are in high demand within this fast-growing industry, and are valued for the clarity and usability they bring to complex, highly nuanced interfaces.

Information technology can be a highly creative and rewarding field to work in, with new challenges to tackle as emerging technologies appear on the horizon on a regular basis. However, the fast pace of innovation can come at the cost of an extremely demanding environment with high expectations and tight deadlines.

Interested in the IT industry? Learn how

Vicky Nguyen⁠

, a UX Academy alumni, landed a position at information technology giant, Hewlett Packard.

Finance and Banking

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Financing and banking are two industries within the financial sector, where individuals and businesses invest and manage their financial assets. Here, UX designers are helping to shape impactful products, working on anything from online banking interfaces to user flows for

the latest blockchain startup⁠

at companies like Wells Fargo, Nerdwallet, Expensify, and Mint.

With an increasing interest in utilizing mobile apps for more secure, convenient finance management, the demand for UX designers is on the rise to make everyday activities—like logging into your bank account or scanning a check to deposit—more user-friendly.

Whether you’re interested in joining with a more established institution or a trendy new Fintech company, you’ll be working to ensure that the world’s finances remain both secure and accessible online.

Interested in finance and banking? Read the story of how UX Academy Alumni

Isaiah Robinson⁠

became a UX Designer for JP Morgan Chase.

Insurance

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The insurance industry is made up of companies—from big names like State Farm and Allianz to more specialized companies like Lemonade and Bold Penguin—that offer risk management for individuals, groups, and businesses. Although this industry is still in the early stages of digitalization, UX designers are already helping to shape interfaces that provide an *omnichannel experience*, where users can accomplish all the tasks they need within a single interlinked platform, whether that’s applying for insurance, filing claims, or contacting real humans to get answers to complex and highly nuanced questions.

Working as a UX designer in the insurance industry can be highly rewarding for individuals who enjoy introducing clarity and user-friendliness to a complex process, where users are often already in a state of negative emotion or stress. Some of the cons of working in this industry are the constraints set upon designers: the ultimate flow is dictated by legalities of the insurance process, and the ultimate outcome for the user might not be a positive one.

Interested in this industry? Learn how

Jana⁠

became a product designer for a travel insurance company.

Media and Content

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The media industry specializes in the broadcasting and delivery of content, through print, television, radio, and internet channels. Within this industry, UX designers are focused on creating interfaces with rich storytelling woven throughout, intended to keep you engaged and flowing effortlessly from one piece of content to the next. There’s also a need for UX designers who work on “backend” elements, like CMS interfaces and flows, to improve the editorial process.

This industry, which can include traditional newspaper formats like The New York Times as well as social media platforms like Twitter or even Youtube, is extremely focused on user metrics and data-backed decisions to figure out “what’s working,” which can be a breath of fresh air for UX designers. The downside of this focus, however, is that there can be pressure to engage users “at any cost,” even if that means utilizing dark patterns.

Intrigued about working in the media and content industry? Learn how UX Academy alumni

Maanasa⁠

landed a position as a product designer at Spotify.

Enterprise Software

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Simply speaking, enterprise software is software that addresses the needs of an organization, rather than individual users. Most enterprise software is SaaS (Software as a Service) which delivers specialized and extremely complex solutions, and there’s a need for UX designers to transform an industry that’s widely considered to include “outdated” and “hard to use” products.

When working with enterprise software—which might include products from companies like Microsoft, Stripe, Salesforce, and the like—UX designers are often heavily focused on user research and slow, minute shifts in interfaces and high complexity workflows. This work can also be extremely rewarding for designers who like to dig into complex problems that result in meaningful changes for the people working in these systems. This slow transformation can be frustrating for UX designers who tend to prefer quicker, more high-visibility iterations.

Learn how UX Academy alumni

Rachel⁠

became a UX Designer at Microsoft.

Healthcare

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The healthcare industry is largely estimated to be one of the fastest growing industries in the world, providing medical care and services to patients. However, many of the more traditional establishments, like hospitals and clinics, are just starting to understand the importance of good design, and are increasingly looking to hire UX designers to help them create better products and experiences.

A UX design role in healthcare might focus on higher visibility interfaces such as accessing electronic health records or appointment scheduling for hospitals or clinics. Or, you could work in a startup environment for companies looking to transform the world of healthcare, like Cove, Calm, or Hims&Hers.

Interested in the healthcare industry? Read the story of how UX Academy grad

Dila⁠

landed a job as a UI/UX Designer at Alignment Healthcare.

Education

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The education industry is rich and varied, providing instruction and training to students on a variety of topics. The format varies greatly, from traditional school settings with physical classrooms to fully online courses.

Although there’s a need for user-friendly, accessible learning experiences on all fronts of the education industry, UX design tends to be valued more in nontraditional settings. Here, you might expect to work on anything from designing a course platform (like Udemy, Teachable, and Designlab), to working with a company to hone in on designing an educational course itself.

Interested in the education industry? Learn how

Mary⁠

leveraged her UX Academy experience to land a position at National Geographic Learning.

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Lesson: Exploring Design Across Industries

E-commerce

Information Technology

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Finance and Banking

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Insurance

Media and Content

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Enterprise Software

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Healthcare

Education

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