Being a Black UX Designer

Good news everyone: my dad is out of the hospital. He had double bypass heart surgery, so it was a pretty stressful situation, but all’s well that ends well. Thankfully, Dad can finish his recovery at home.

My job has also been super-hectic lately, there was all that craziness at the capital, the pandemic still has no end in sight, and on and on it goes. But hey, at least we have a new president! Hopefully the country can start to pull together soon, because all of this hatred  and violence and conspiracy-mongering helps no one.

Letting the User Down

Since there’s been a lot of controversy around Gamestop stocks and Robinhood app lately, I want to say one more thing about current events: Robinhood effed this one up bigtime.

I’m no financial advisor, I just know what I know about apps and about user experience. And UX design is based on empathy for the user, and figuring out what they want.

Anytime an app or product fails to give the user a good experience, that app or product is failing. Robinhood did NOT take that into consideration. So what went wrong?

Simply put, Robinhood removed the “Buy” button in-app for certain stocks that were getting shorted by the “big kahunas” who run these markets. They literally stopped people from buying the stocks they wanted (Gamestop, AMC, etc). On an app that is for buying and selling stocks. Yikes.

Robinhood’s reputation is really on the line now, because they are just not fulfilling their duties to the user. And once the user loses trust, do you think they’re going to stick around? There are a LOT of UX lessons to be learned from this.

If you and your company don’t keep yourselves accountable, the user will. In other words, if you don’t put good UX first, there are consequences!

Being a Black UX Designer

You want to know why I love when fresh UXers send me questions? Because it makes me stop and think. Here’s an example: a former designer messaged me recently and asked me what it’s like being a black UX designer. And another person asked me something similar in the same timeframe. 

Being honest, I hadn’t really looked at my UX journey from this angle before. So maybe these messages were a sign to talk about UX design from the perspective of a black man.

For a few days now, I’ve been thinking about this: why would I need to call myself a “black UX designer” instead of simply “UX designer?” Because why would I need to do that for any other career.

“Black president.” “Black Superman.” “Black agent.” “Black mechanic.” Really? Is that necessary?

See, I’m a UX Designer and I’m black. I know what that’s like; that’s my life. But I don’t really know what it means to be a black UX designer.

Why can’t I just be a designer?

For that matter, why can’t my website just be a website? Does it have to be a “black-owned website?” Does my business always have to be called a “black-owned business?” That’s not really a feature of how I view my website, or my business.

Controversy, But Why?

Look, I know some people might say I’m not fully identifying with the struggles I should identify with. Okay. But have I struggled?

I’m not really sure where to find out what job I’ve been denied or what opportunities I’ve missed because I’m black. Who is supposed to provide that information to me? If it’s happened, I don’t know about it.

All I can really give is what I have, and who I am as a person. I may look or dress a certain way, and you may or may not like me. That’s not really my problem. I’m a happy-go-lucky guy and you might think I’m a total dick. Okay, so be it.

But being labeled a certain way or categorizing myself a certain way just isn’t how I think or operate. And it’s not really something I want to start doing now.

Down the Rabbit Hole

No one seems to question why we are expected to label ourselves as black or brown or white… but not yellow? Not red? I know that sounds cringe, but think about it: why are only certain ethnicities expected to do this?

And if you want to get really real, my skin is brown. Not black. I have a background in graphic design, I know my colors. I know the difference.

So blackness is really cultural, and people turn black culture into all kinds of products: clothing, music, movies. But that’s not ethnicity, right?

Beyond being “black.” Why do I have to be African American?

I am of African descent. I’m Nigerian, I’m Ghanian, I’m Congolese. I’m also 7% European. I have a mixture of the different countries in my bloodline. But why don’t I get to call myself American? Why African-American? We don’t call white people European Americans.

Why don’t we call Canadians and Mexicans Americans? They’re all in North America, right? It’s just way too weird to identify people by the continent they’re from, unless that logic applies to everyone. That’s all I’m asking for: for the rules to apply across the board.

Africa is a continent, not a country. Lumping some groups of people into categories by their former continent is just not logical. Other countries don’t all do this.

When you go to France (beautiful country, by the way), you don’t call black people there African-French or black French. And you wouldn’t say Congolese-French, Egyptian French, or Madagascar-Nigerian-French. Nope.

Weird Titles, Weird Profiles, Weird Choices

This is not just a racial label issue. For some reason people have a real knack for making up unnecessary categories for ourselves. Here are a few job titles I saw on LinkedIn recently:

• User Experience Product Designer Graphic Designer

• UI/UX Graphic Designer

• UI/UX Graphic Product Designer

Whaaaaat?!? These people need to pick a title!

If you’re overcomplicating your job title, here’s what you need to understand: titles mostly matter because of their perceived value. There is value attached to what we see in those titles. 

A CEO could technically call themselve “Master of All Things in This Company.” But that’s just weird. And it doesn’t communicate what they want to communicate about their position.

Adding multiple job types to your title does NOT add value. It actually does you a disservice. Are you getting paid four different salaries to do those four different jobs? Nope. So are you saying you do a lot of people’s work for the price of one? Pretty much.

That’s a rough life, man. That’s not how you want to present yourself. Learn the differences and decide what you really want to be doing. UX is not a buzzword to tack on for extra value.

About Your Portfolio…

One quick thing before moving on. I promise you, this is important: Do not put ALLL the things in your portfolio.

UX designers, stop putting your photography in your portfolio! Photographers, stop putting your graphic designs in your portfolio! Graphic designers, don’t put your jiu-jitsu belt in your portfolio! 

You get the picture. Your portfolio should stick to the type of work you are applying for. If you’re not sure what that means, let’s schedule a call to talk about that.

Back to the Issue

So where am I going with all this? What is it like being a black UX designer?

Here’s my honest take: I don’t know. I don’t see myself in that particular way. I only have my own experience to draw from.

I can’t help the fact that I’ve sometimes been the only person who looked like me at certain jobs. I can’t change who got hired, or that I happened to be the only person of African descent who got hired in some places.

I do understand that people tend to hire who they feel comfortable with. Sometimes that means the people you hire look more like you and your family or your neighborhood. But I do think that scaling up should include making sure your hires are representative of the population you’re in.

You can’t hire only black dudes. You can’t hire only white dudes. You can’t hire only women, either. Diversity does bring in different viewpoints, and that’s a good thing. Echo chambers are not effective.

How My Background Factors In

I was a military kid, so I’ve always lived in different places, eaten different food, and hung out with people who just so happened to be different from each other too. When you grow up in a military household like I did, you travel and you see all different kinds of people. I wasn’t raised to care much about skin color.

In the moments when I’ve been the only person who looks like me in a group, that hasn’t been my focus. Honestly, I have never thought that way. I notice it, but it’s not an issue for me.

My Own Experience

Maybe I’ve missed out on some things because of who I am. But if I did, I don’t know about it! And maybe that’s a problem. But different people look for different things. Labels and how they affect me just aren’t my focus.

I am an American of African descent. And I’m a UX designer. Other labels don’t make sense to me, personally. Just like I wouldn’t label people “white designer” or “female designer” or “gay designer.”

I believe it’s more important to get to know the individual than to put them in a certain box and label them a certain way. Especially if those labels make you falsely believe you understand that person.

But it’s okay if people don’t agree with my perspective! If you feel differently: if you have a certain label that resonates with you, or a title that you like that I’ve mentioned doesn’t make sense to me… tell me about it!

I’d love to hear what you think.