Transitioning To UX: 3 Things I Learned From Making The Shift From An Advertising Creative
It’s officially been 6 months since I made the switch to UX from a Creative Strategy and Social Media Marketing role, and wow, I haven’t made a better decision since going to Pancake House on unli-spaghetti and tacos day.
Making the switch took me nearly a year to do, and involved a lot of “will I or won’t I?” battles in my head, but after a couple of interviews for UX roles, talking to people in the UXPH community, and conducting an empathy map on myself, I finally made the jump.
Here are 3 things I learned from the shift, and hopefully if you’re an advertising guy or gal who wants to make the jump, this can help you too:
1. Good Insights Are Still The Base Ingredient
Whenever we used to make campaigns, everything is centered around- “The Big Idea”.
The Big Idea is tying up the piercing consumer insight to the Brand DNA, in order for us to imagine how our product scratches a consumers itch.
Making a successful product involves doing good research, finding user pain points in how they try to accomplish a goal, and building something to make it easier for them. Not too dissimilar from getting a piercing insight and making a brand connection.
However, how we gather insights and implement them is a bit different. For instance, the metrics you’re gauging are different- UX metrics are usability, experience, perceived success, and the like- while advertising metrics are based on brand mentions, eyeballs, and engagement. Research will take the metrics we’re measuring for into consideration.
When differentiating marketing and advertising research versus UX research, UX tries to find out how users behave. Marketing metrics are based around what will get the most mentions, while UX research is generally based around how simple something is for users to use.
2. There Are Different Types Of Creatives
Ever since my early college life, advertising was seemingly the only route to make it in the creative field. Everyone wanted to be the next big Creative Director at one of the big firms, have their own production studio, or to start their own creative agency.
I loved being a creative in the agency life. Collaborating with some of the most talented teams and individuals, working on award-winning campaigns, and mastering my copy and art skills made me feel on top of the world.
However, I still felt a sense of emptiness with my work. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed doing it, and it was challenging, but I guess I wasn’t feeling challenged in the way I wanted to. I wasn’t feeling creative in the way I wanted to.
It was only during a job interview for a UX Designer role wherein the interviewer put the words right in my mouth-
There is a different kind of creativity for advertising and another for building products
When I thought about what she said and did some research, I did find advertising and UX require different kinds of creativity. They obviously do have some overlaps such as a strong emphasis on research and psychology, but the metrics and what they look into are a lot different.
When I thought back about ideating for campaigns, I realised that end up thinking more about the individual experiences a customer might have with a product, service, or post we were advertising as compared to what was trending or would get the most engagement.
If you’re an advertising creative thinking about shifting into UX, try to notice how you think about the experience of the product you’re promoting. You can ask yourself “am I more inclined to think about how to make this product better or do I want to focus on how to make it look more appealing?
There’s no right answer, it’s just a matter of understanding your inclinations.
3. Tap Into the UXPH Community
Making the decision to shift careers and move companies is admittedly an intimidating decision, but it’s not one you have to go in blind.
Part of being a good designer is properly evaluating major decisions. It’s important to ask these questions when making a move:
- Will I be happy if I move?
- Am I maximising my skills and talents?
- Is this the way I want to contribute to the world?
- How do I use my existing skills and experience to transition?
- Where is the best starting point?
It took me a year to make this decision, for some of you it may be shorter or longer, but what really helped me make this move was attending UX conferences, building a small portfolio, and talking to fellow UX people like Aldrich Tan of UXPH.
Aldrich was able to help me structure a plan to approach my new UX Strategist role. You can find Aldrich and other UX mentors on ADP List.
I was also very fortunate to find an upperclass man from my Masters program who was also in advertising, Dom De Leon of Talino Venture Labs, who was able to give me an advertising executive’s experience in making the transition.
His article on making the shift from #BuhayAhensya gave me a clearer picture on where I want to go and inspired me to make the decision as well. I suggest you check it out.
Dom’s thoughts on moving from agency life 👉 https://techyjuan.medium.com/pandemic-resignation-and-reflections-20-0000-hours-in-advertising-and-moving-on-from-buhayahensya-cdf512693fc3
Find a mentor at 👉 https://www.adplist.org/
Closing Thoughts
Six months in UX, and I still feel like I don’t know enough. A lot of times when we’re ideating, I still catch myself in a marketer’s train of thought, and I have to learn to shift gears. I still find my advertising hat useful though, it helps me collaborate with marketing and strategy teams while balancing the user needs.
As advertisers transitioning to UX, it’s great if you can find a way to manage both trains of thought. I actually find it a blessing to have an advertising background.
My transition to UX wouldn’t have been as enjoyable without the continued support of my Qwikwire Product Team- such as our CTO- Jesse, Head of Product, Paul, my fellow UX researcher- Nello, our UI Designers- Bien and Ken, and our developers- Fritz and Miguel.
If you’re thinking about transitioning from advertising/marketing to UX, I can recommend a few resources to help you out:
👥 Design Conferences and Communities
- UXPH on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/252346031458195
- UXPH events- https://www.uxph.org/
- Interaction Design Org- https://www.interaction-design.org/
📚 Books
- UX Team of One
- Design of Everyday Things
- The Ten Faces Of Innovation
- Fifty Inventions That Shaped The Modern Economy
🔊 Podcasts
- Roots PH: https://open.spotify.com/show/7MczXerWgrsth7bL2XkR11?si=it2dw24sTuio26-eTRAzfQ
- 99% Invisible: https://open.spotify.com/show/2VRS1IJCTn2Nlkg33ZVfkM?si=FHOGJ2UEQxSF_7XfZS8f-A
- NPR: How I Built This: https://open.spotify.com/show/6E709HRH7XaiZrMfgtNCun?si=MKqZ15CoQsexGKrcf1SnHQ
🎬 Shows
- Abstract: The Art Of Design- my personal favourites are the Tinker Hatfield and Neri Oxman episodes
Final note: If you’re in advertising, you might want to check your agency for open UX positions. Many agencies are starting to provide UX and UI services.