Lessons from One Designer’s Journey in Uncentering Her Design Practice
Last winter, I said a bittersweet goodbye to family and friends in the US to join Spotify’s growth opportunities team in Stockholm. I spent the first few months getting to know my new teammates, chatting with the designers behind my favorite Spotify features, and eating beautiful amber saffron buns to contrast the darkness of Sweden’s winters — and then 2020 happened.
Anyone who lived through 2020 knows that the assumptions we hold about the world are, more often than not, built on sand. The events of the year — a global pandemic, important conversations on race and privilege, and growing indications of inequality worldwide — made this even more true. Like many others, I found myself questioning, well, everything: my preferences; the way I spent time, money, and attention; my idea of “good design”; the history I was taught; and more.
This questioning seeped into my work life as well. As the year progressed, I continued to read research reports that challenged my view of how, for instance, Spotify listeners in areas with unreliable internet connectivity use their phones and data plans. I sat in on interviews with music enthusiasts in Mexico, Brazil, and Indonesia that challenged my views on how audio fits into people’s lives. I heard time and time again from the UX writer on my team that my designs or copy “wouldn’t translate well.”
I learned that building Spotify for the world meant incorporating diverse viewpoints and experiences into my design practice at each step of the way. It meant thinking beyond the needs of my economically advantaged, Western-educated, able-bodied, iPhone-carrying, privileged self. In other words, it meant uncentering myself from my design practice.
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