I'm Mergime, and I'm a Freelance Senior UX Designer & Consultant
Describe your job
A day in the life of a UX Designer can look very different depending on in what stage the project is. It could be that you’re doing desk-research or user interviews to understand the problem better, concepting and drawing up potential solutions together with other designers and developers, or that you’re creating wireframes to put together a prototype or pass them on to the visual designer.
What are the most important skills you need to do your job?
The ability to listen to your users and stakeholders pain points, the empathy to really feel where they’re coming from and then logic and boundary-less creative thinking to come up with ways of solving those problems.
It helps if you have a design background and are curious about technology and how it can be used as an enabler. Other than that and just like with everything else; curiosity and enthusiasm.
I left school and...
I grew up in Switzerland, so our educational system is a bit different to the UK. I completed a Vocational Education in Commerce and then continued working at banks for a few more years until realising I didn’t want to work in Finance for another 40 years!
I then moved to Barcelona to study Graphic Design, which was a bit bananas considering I didn’t know anyone and barely spoke Spanish, but it all turned out great in the end; three years later I was fluent in Spanish and graduated in Graphic Design.
I then moved to London and was working as a Web & Information Designer in the Design Team of a Transport Consultancy. After visiting the SiliconMilk Roundabout jobs fair I got curious about this thing called UX. I fell in love with it immediately and did a course at General Assembly. I then was able to apply my learnings but really learned most of it on the job, in the Agencies and DBT Consultancies I worked for.
I am now an independent contractor, currently working in a startup on a digital product.
I’m most proud of...
One of my favourites is still the Stopwatch App I worked on for Boehringer Ingelheim. It is made for nurses and doctors and its aim is to reduce door-to-therapy time for stroke patients in hospitals.
It felt rewarding to experience that design can help people, and even save lives.
Before I started my career, I wish I knew…
Rejection is a difficult one to learn to deal with, but don’t take it personal if you don’t get an answer back or if it’s a ‘No’. Most of the times it’s not personal at all and could be due to various reasons.
A mistake I made which you can avoid repeating is...
Don’t be shy! I often used to go to events or similar and be too shy to network or to ask for advice. Most people – especially women – are more than happy to help out, so don’t be afraid to ask for advice or approach people.
So, what’s next?
I’ve just relocated from London back home to Zurich this year so hoping to set foot and establish myself. Later down the line I want to focus on doing impactful work; starting my own thing or enable companies or teams to reach their full potential.
Here's my: