MASTER SERIES TO GAIN UX MASTERY / S01-E08
55 min
English 28 February 2019
In this episode we sit with Karthi Subbaraman, the founder and Chief Design Officer at Xperian School. Karthi brings with her a wealth of new insights and perspectives that force us to look beyond design in the context of just interfaces and products.
Karthi has learned and taught how to use the design principles for not just designing products but for designing your body, life and even death.She asks some really uncomfortable questions which will make you look harder at your own life and choices you make. Karthi also tells us why designers should embrace business mindset and how they can do so.
She defines designers as “sense makers”.Tune into this episode to get answers to all your questions about design, life and everything in between.Learn all about how to choose a career, how to gain trust and respect as designers within your organization, how to get buy-ins for research, why is community important and how to choose a right book for yourself.
TIMESTAMPS QUOTES BOOKS ABOUT COMMENTS
TIMESTAMPS
| [05:36] | How can you design your life? |
|---|---|
| [12:16] | How to decide whether UX is a good career for you or not? |
| [17:03] | What is design and why it is different than art? |
| [21:51] | How understanding the business aspect of design can be helpful in UX? |
| [26:13] | Tips on how you can not just focus on the process but the outcome as well? |
| [34:00] | Why and how should a designer utilize their positions well? |
| [43:12] | How should a woman approach her career after a sabbatical? |
QUOTES
- We should know how much importance we should give to what. Nothing tangible can happen if you’ll not measure it.
- Break your leg and go, do things that you wouldn’t have done otherwise. If you don’t think this life is precious for yourself, who else is going to do that for you.
- Even if you have 100 years to live, it’s less, on this earth.
- If we bring in desirability then viability should come with it.
- When you are bad at something, you know the decision is easy for you. But when you are good at something and you don’t like it, It’s a crime.
- The design is a beautiful solution. It’s not just beautiful, it’s not just a solution.
- You should be able to give up a lot. Say NO to a lot of things so that one YES comes.
- Till I’m clear on paper, I’ll not touch my design tool. It saves a lot of time and time is finite and it doesn’t wait for you.
- The first thing a designer should know is to not know anything.
- It’s important to make sense out of things. UX Designers are sense makers.
- If someone is working, it also gives other people the energy to work.
BOOKS
Designing for Growth: A Design Thinking Tool Kit for Managers
by Jeanne Liedtka and Tim Ogilvie
Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation
by Tim Brown
ABOUT
Chief Product Officer
Karthi Subbaraman is the Chief Product Officer at Xperian – An Experience School in India. She also heads the Women in Product – India Chapter.
In the past 17+ years Karthi has worked with some of the biggest names in pharma, e-commerce, technology, education, banking, finance and insurance around the globe. Though Karthi has played several roles thoughout her career including that of an engineer, a product manager, a designer and a CEO, Karthi identifies herself mostly as a designer. In her own words, Design is not just a passion or a profession, but a path that she walks on.
Her 5 year long stint at HP, left a deep impact on her where she was responsible for transforming lives of customers through design thinking and execution. From headhunting for the best design talent to design the first ever touchscreen for printers, Karthi witnessed firsthand how design can transform business.
But her definition of design goes way beyond the obvious, Karthi is amongst those design evangelists who are working hard to make sure designers bring more than just the aesthetics to the table. She does not shy away from using data (in all forms) to persuade, dissuade, negotiate and influence all stakeholders. Like a true creative Karthi has a soaring imagination but she is always grounded with realities of feasibilities.
She has touched many lives throughout her career, and is deeply respected and loved by her clients, former colleagues and students.Though Karthi has been sharing what she has learned as a visiting faculty at institutes like NID and MIT and as a design speaker for a while now, she has decided to go all in into Design Education with her school – Xperian.After having built an extremely successful consulting practice and a solid reputation as a CEO, Karthi chose to leave it all behind for her love for design.
At an age, when most people aspire to have a cozy and comfortable life after the hustle in their 20’s and 30’s, Karthi has no plans to settle down yet. While to us it may look like she has taken up yet another business undertaking, according to Karthi – she has infact taken a retirement as she is now doing what she loves the most – learning design, teaching design, writing design and doing design with zero break.
She is building designer ecosystem that helps a designer grow professionally and holistically.Apart from building her school, Karthi is also working really hard to build a community for Women in Product through WIP -India chapter, where women around India are joining hands and having meaningful conversations around important and varied issues like equality in workplace, importance of storytelling in business and how to accelerate your career after motherhood.
Her love for design, her energy and her willingness to do things that are beyond her comfort zone is both rare and inspiring.
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