Alicia Esquivel

Alicia says studying in the Master of User Experience Design offered her the opportunity to learn the ropes and get into the industry quickly.

“People are exposed to a range of user experiences every day—like getting a coffee or taking the bus. I’ve always been curious about understanding what makes a good, and a bad user experience, and how a product or service can be designed with people in mind,” says Alicia.

Alicia says studying the Master’s programme offered her the opportunity to learn the ropes and get into the industry quickly.

“It started with exploring basic design principles, which I think was great for people with non-design backgrounds. We also learnt about different user-research frameworks and usability testing methods to validate design solutions.

“Since there is not a single way of tackling user-experience design, we were encouraged to form our design process and apply it to academic projects. I designed a few concepts of websites and mobile apps.

“I particularly enjoyed the practical group projects, as they opened up my views to other professions that influence the design process. For example, I worked with Master of Software Development students on a project to deliver a product for a real client. This experience helped ease me into future work and communicate confidently with software developers.”

The programme finished with an industry-related practicum to apply the lessons from the course to a real-life situation. Alicia now works at the same organisation as a senior experience designer.

“I deal with clients day-to-day to help them design user-focused business solutions. I do a lot of user research and design conception—including creating prototypes and validating them with users,” says Alicia.

“User-experience design is a collaborative process that involves people coming from different angles, and being able to communicate with others and problem-solve is highly valued in the real world.”