Your Suuuper Basic Guide to Transition from Architecture to UX (and elsewhere)
I assumed the transition into Information Architecture (IA) would be effortless being that I’ve been doing Information Design for a while now AND my background is in Architecture (buildings). A natural progression for my career, I thought.
After joining The Sensemaker’s Club, I realized how different IA is from Information Design and regular ole Architecture. I learned that IA falls within the realm of User Experience (UX) and that I needed a complete shift in vocabulary to understand its concepts.
Initially, I took comfort in the term “user experience” because I’m all about the “human experience” … Isn’t the User just another word for Human? No (I learned weeks later, although some may argue it should be). The user is someone who uses a product – AHA, this is a product design field. I know you have a snarky look on your face if you come from UX. Whelp! This is the roundabout way that I’ve frequently found myself on the self-taught journey. You don’t just jump into buying a course or taking part in a workshop. You get to some “basic” understanding on your own first, which is usually a process of deconstructing before it’s a construction process. Being self-taught usually means that you're following your curiosities instinctually. The words “information” and “architecture” resonate deeply with me and so, I followed the instinct.
Basic Questions
Confident-me asked, Isn’t shelter the first and most essential product that we develop as a species? So, doesn’t that make building-architects the OG UX designers? (I see you, you snarky UXer.)
I kept questioning my knowledge of “the basics.” Shouldn’t I know some things about UX? I mean, I am a trained architect. Do I know anything about IA? Was I sleeping in college? My insecurities were tapered when I revisited my 2009 Construction Principles book that’s been collecting dust waiting to be donated to the library. And, phew, my memory was easily refreshed on the basics. Somewhat relieved after translating some of the concepts in my book to UX terms, still, it wasn’t enough to get me to understand what the user experience is.
Did I really think I’d gloss over the IA processes and become a natural? Yes. Yes, I did. Turns out UX delves deep into the behavioral patterns of humans and the psychology of choice. And turns out, taking architecture into the digital space is COMPLICATED.
Nonetheless, I love where I am. I love having followed my passion all the way to this messy place. The hills I’m climbing are necessary to help me actualize optimal pleasure in my work life.
I wondered how many of my colleagues who thought that architecture school would turn them into building-designers faced the stark reality that that’s not happening for them. How many of them realized that their values lay in the human or user experience?
I think I speak for a lot of us when I say a piece of our hearts and minds lives on a different timeline where we went on to design buildings. But, we are here and now and have to let go.
Basic Questions 2: The Ego’s Query & Saying Goodbye
Usually, I’m more interested in the truth of who I am and where my desire to express burns rather than where I “ought” to be given my history/circumstances. But, there was a daunting question that found itself tangled in my training and some adolescent daydreams.
A hard admittance, but: Can I still call myself an architect?
It seems to have been written between the lines of our Architecture curriculum, that the ultimate goal was to be an icon or at the very least, noteworthy. The next Frank Lloyd Wright? Zaha Hadid? This ego’s quarry took me lots of self-work and identity-shedding.
And, drumroll – Yes. The answer is yes. You can call yourself whatever you want outside the world of licensure and stamping. Although, I would try to let go if it’s coming from a place of glamor. Outside of our built environment, architects are behind the scenes. Like, ghostly behind the scenes. (Maybe that’s why we didn’t learn about them. Do they even exist?)
If you bravely admit and actually get over this hump, know that those who are good at architecting aren’t always called Architects. Sometimes they’re called managers, writers, teachers, marketers, and the list goes on. The difference is in the parameters that they’re working within (you may call this the context or the grid). Sometimes these parameters are made out of iron in the ground, sometimes they’re digital rulers on a screen, sometimes they’re social beliefs and habits. The architect is paving the way for others to navigate the issues they are facing intuitively.
Basic Questions 3: Me Different, how?
The value that underlies both Architecture and UX, and any design venture, is the human experience. That’s what design is – the manifestation of our desire to solve a problem for another. A local expression of service. It just so happens that building-architects refer to that human as an inhabitant and not a “user.” Nonetheless, after saying goodbye comes some grief and you might find yourself moving into the next phase of your ego’s quarry like I did:
Ok, so maybe I’m not an Architect – with a capital A – but the architect in me wants to express herself. How does my training differentiate me from other designers?
As designers, we’ve all learned to pay attention, identify the grid, break the grid, and make navigating the new grid intuitive. Sounds pretty holistic, so what’s the architect’s role? Scale. (Full-fledged response in the next article.)
An architect creates a place for people to gather in. Be it a building, an organization, an event, a website, an understanding, etc. That architect is only as good as her attentiveness to the context at large.
