{"id":1383,"date":"2017-08-21T07:10:03","date_gmt":"2017-08-21T06:10:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/2017.zagreb.wordcamp.org\/?p=1383"},"modified":"2017-08-21T08:09:59","modified_gmt":"2017-08-21T07:09:59","slug":"austin-knight-ux-designer-traveling-the-world-focused-on-augmented-and-virtual-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zagreb.wordcamp.org\/2017\/austin-knight-ux-designer-traveling-the-world-focused-on-augmented-and-virtual-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin Knight, UX designer traveling the world focused on augmented and virtual reality"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Austin Knight is a Senior UX Designer at HubSpot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We have talked with Austin, an interesting fellow working remotely as a senior UX Designer at HubSpot. He talks about his process, lifestyle and share insights how you might negotiate a remote work arrangement at your current job. Austin is also focused on virtual and augmented and he is discussing with us why the future of design might not be a computer, but a headset.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Hello Austin! Could you tell us a little bit about yourself?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m a Sr. UX Designer at HubSpot<\/a>, working across web, mobile, SaaS, voice, and VR\/AR products. I\u2019ve been called a \u201cdigital nomad\u201d a few times, primarily because I work remote<\/a> and live amongst various design communities throughout the world. I mentor students and startup founders at Columbia University in New York, co-host the UX & Growth Podcast<\/a> in Boston, and lead a study on South American design in Rio de Janeiro. I also enjoy writing in-depth essays<\/a> on design and speaking at events like this one.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What does your day look like? What do you do to relax?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Because I work remote and travel a lot, every day tends to be different. Right now, I\u2019m answering these questions from a park in Medell\u00edn, Colombia and two days ago, I was sitting on a beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I love getting to know different designers from all around the world, and I especially enjoy when I get the opportunity to work with them. That\u2019s precisely why I\u2019m spending early September traveling through the Balkans, and stopping by to speak at WordCamp Zagreb. I can\u2019t even begin to tell you how much this has opened my mind and impacted my approach to creativity and problem solving; travel and design<\/a> really benefit from each other.<\/p>\n

In terms of work, things can be pretty diverse too. Right now, I\u2019m working on a new home page for HubSpot.com<\/a>, a new pricing structure for our products, a VR experience, an Alexa skill, a new conversion flow for our site, a user research project aimed at understanding how people learn to use software, the list goes on. On top of that, I manage a small team and help out with various innovation projects around the company. Outside of HubSpot, I conduct UX Audits<\/a>, design products for contract clients around the world, and work on side projects like my VR site<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What would you say to someone who is thinking about traveling the world while working? What should be their first step to achieve such a lifestyle?<\/strong><\/p>\n

First, don\u2019t do anything too drastic. I would start by asking your boss if you could work remote for one week and seeing how it goes. Then slowly scale it from there. The reason I say this is because the \u201cdigital nomad\u201d lifestyle can look very glamorous from the outside, and this can cause people to underestimate what it actually means. You have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable, not being able to speak the language of the place that you\u2019re at, adapting to foreign customs, and feeling excruciatingly lonely at times. It isn\u2019t a big vacation, no matter how much it might look like one. So if you get into it for the wrong reasons, you\u2019re going to have a bad time.<\/p>\n

The most successful digital nomads that I\u2019ve met have all been people that have a genuine passion for what they do, a curiosity to learn about and understand the world, an open-mindedness and willingness to be proven wrong or have their fundamental ideals about life be challenged, a desire to get out of their comfort zone and grow together with constantly changing communities around the world, and a real self-motivated and self-taught nature. They often possess a great intellectual curiosity, which is actually what I think being a digital nomad is all about. Learning and growing. I don\u2019t have a college degree. I\u2019ve never had a mentor or even watched a design tutorial on YouTube. Everything that I know came from my personal life experiences; building things, talking to people, observing behaviors. Raw, unfiltered life. That\u2019s a powerful form of education.<\/p>\n

So if you were looking for your life to get more relaxed or require less effort, you\u2019re probably not going to find it here. But if you\u2019re looking to grow, then you\u2019ve come to the right place. Start small, with a few weeks here and there. Then take a month-long trip. Eventually, you\u2019ll feel comfortable going fully remote. If your boss won\u2019t let you do this, use vacation time and work on a side project. If you\u2019re a contractor or freelancer, this is even easier to do. Most digital nomads are freelancers or entrepreneurs. I share more tips on getting started with remote work and traveling in this episode<\/a> of the UX & Growth Podcast and this essay<\/a> that I wrote on travel and creativity. I also had a talk<\/a> with Victor Kung, another digital nomad, about getting started with remote work and negotiating a remote work arrangement at your current job. All of those are great resources where I\u2019ve really shared a lot of what I\u2019ve learned.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Your talk is titled Design is not Art<\/a>, and you are going to cover processes and qualities that designers should possess. Was there a point in your career that made you learn a new skill which transformed your process entirely? How do you dedicate time for learning new things?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The desire to learn and grow: it is both one of my greatest advantages, and one of my greatest curses. I am absolutely obsessive about ensuring that I am always challenging myself and growing as a result. If I ever feel like my growth trajectory slows or goes off course, I genuinely freak out. So I don\u2019t dedicate time for learning new things; it is a constant presence in my daily life. It does not begin, nor end. I seek out the most challenging and innovative projects at HubSpot (often times creating them myself), constantly iterate on and build my personal site (and the various side projects related to it), work with contract and open source projects, you name it. I\u2019ve identified areas in my life where I would experience boredom or time waste, and I\u2019ve replaced them with either more productive activities, or high quality relaxation. For example, I don\u2019t have any social apps on my phone; everything is related to design and learning, so I don\u2019t waste time consuming useless content or distracting myself. At the same time, I have a reminder booked in my calendar every day to go to the beach, have a coconut, and relax (I spend most of my time in Rio, so this is a reasonable thing to do, even at mid-day on a Tuesday). It\u2019s this healthy balance, coupled with a total removal of bullshit from my life, that has allowed me to feel fully productive.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"
Austin Knight relaxing at the beach in Rio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I think this is a common thread in the tech industry, simply because it is so dynamic and fast moving. There is a need to always be learning and optimizing one\u2019s time. Some people hate that. I love it. I love this industry and I love what I do. That\u2019s how I learn; being fueled by a genuine passion for design and tech. A passion that doesn\u2019t go away after 5:00 PM.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

One of your focuses is on Virtual and Augmented reality. Could you touch on those? In what ways do you think VR\/AR will change the design (and web) landscape?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I believe that the future of UX is largely in Mixed Reality. It is all part of a natural evolution. We\u2019ve seen design go from a single desktop experience, to multiple desktop resolutions, to multiple devices with multiple resolutions, to devices that may not even have a screen in the traditional sense, and so on. Through this, we can observe that users aren\u2019t actually addicted to their devices; they discard them and move on to new and better ones pretty easily. Rather, they\u2019re addicted to the information and experiences that those devices provide. And once that information can be integrated into our real world, the need for computers, smartphones, and 2D interfaces in general will nearly vanish.<\/p>\n

As a result, what it means to be a \u201cUX Designer\u201d will change. Individuals with experience in 3D space, sound design, embodied cognition, spatial processing, cognitive load, proprioception, human factors and ergonomics will all have massive advantages. They will be empowered to design at an unprecedented level of fidelity and immersion, impacting nearly every aspect of the human experience. And they will do this in a 3D environment, not on a 2D screen. The UX Designer of the future won’t design with a computer, but a headset.<\/p>\n

This brings a lot of interesting questions and problems to the table, ranging from \u201cHow will links work in VR?<\/a>\u201d to \u201cHow can VR help cure individuals suffering from PTSD<\/a>?\u201d. Answers to these questions are all being actively answered right now, and that\u2019s why I see so much opportunity in this field. Not just to get in early and learn how to design and develop for it, but to help define what it actually is. That\u2019s why I built a VR site. I discussed this more with Casey Yee of Mozilla VR<\/a> on an episode of the UX & Growth Podcast, and I went on my friend Jason Ogle\u2019s podcast, User Defenders, for a special two-part episode where we took a deep-dive on VR, AR, and MR. Part one<\/a> and part two<\/a> are both worth listening to if you\u2019re curious about this industry and the impact that it will have on design.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

Did you get your ticket?<\/h2>\n

If you haven’t already, get your ticket<\/a> for WordCamp Zagreb today. Tickets are priced at 20\u20ac (around 150 HRK)<\/strong> which will give you entrance to the conference, (first) access to workshops on Friday and to Contributor day on Sunday. You will also get the drinks, lunch, incredible t-shirt and other cool swag<\/strong> from our sponsors<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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