I had the joy of joining the Global Experience Design (XD) team in August 2022 as part of Sun Life’s Rotational Leadership Development Program. I don't have a background in XD, User Experience (UX) or related fields. But thankfully, I've had many incredible teammates to learn from over the last 7 months. As a newbie to XD, here are just a few things I've learned during my time on the team:

Experience Design is all about people

We can — and should — use XD in any situation that involves people. That includes Clients, Employees and Advisors, among others. Often, we call these various groups “users,” as Clients aren't the only people we design for. We can apply XD when building new products, services, systems, processes and/or experiences for these groups. XD ensures that we understand the people involved and that we base projects on the users' needs. Many of us are prone to making assumptions about these groups. We believe we know what they want or need. But that's not always true. That's why the key component of design is talking to the user. We need to get the facts and not just trust our assumptions. We have to ensure we design the right thing before we focus on designing the thing right.

Experience Design is a key component to de-risking projects

It's important to ensure we're designing the right thing before we jump into execution. This way, we prevent ourselves from spending time and money on products or services that no one wants. The reality is that many companies and teams jump in prematurely and trust their assumptions as fact. That leads to building uninformed products and services. This approach comes with risks to a company's reputation and their finances. We can avoid this by using Experience Design. It de-risks major projects by ensuring we're creating something based on the Client's needs and wants.

Design is creative, but creativity requires structure

Those unfamiliar with Experience Design may think that “Design” means it's only about visuals. But XD is so much more than making sure things look nice. We look at the big picture. How do people interact with a product and service? Is the experience positive?

Ultimately, XD is a creative process. but it's not just free-range where we take any innovative idea and run with it. Design requires structure and constraints to help us focus our attention on the right things. This is why we create problem or opportunity statements which we fall back on to guide our work. We need to know exactly who we're designing for and why. There should be a purpose and structure behind what we do.

Design is a learning process and takes time

The biggest takeaway I've had from my time in Global XD is that Design is a learning process. Many people new to design think they can do this process quickly and easily. But you have to commit time and energy to be successful. It's also an iterative process with deep learning involved, which can be a challenge. We have to be ready to learn things we might not want to hear. This means accepting that our assumptions are wrong. It takes time and practice, but we need to remember to trust the process.

I've learned a lot of new things while in Global XD. These are four key takeaways that I believe are crucial for someone new to Design to understand. Hopefully these thoughts will help others on their journey of learning more about Experience Design.