Trina Moore Pervall: Being a UX Engineer

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3 Feb

Trina is a User Experience (UX) Researcher & Designer with over 20 years experience in application design. She combines her background as a front-end web developer with her user-centred design expertise and education in applied cognitive science to provide well-rounded insights to her role. Trina specialises in enterprise applications and has led small training sessions on the topics of accessibility, usability and UX design to help software developers and UX beginners understand the value and processes of inclusive user experience design.

What’s the most straightforward way to explain who you are and what you do?

My official title is UX Engineer. Simply put, I facilitate user engagement and conduct design research to help software development teams make informed design decisions that benefit the business and the people who use the products.

What does a normal day look like?

A typical day involves stakeholder meetings, user engagement sessions, research analysis, design ideation, and collaboration with development teams. The ratio of each varies greatly every day.

What’s the most enjoyable part of your job?

Engaging users is by far what I enjoy most about my job. I see my role as a user advocate and I can't be effective in that effort without learning about the people who will use the product, understanding their goals and motivations, how they complete tasks, their needs and paint points. The more I understand them, the better we are able to design applications that meet their expectations.

What did it take to get to where you are today?

I started in customer service roles in human resources and banking. When the Internet started booming in the mid 90's, I taught myself front-end web development and landed a job. Within a few years, web accessibility and usability became standards for user-centered design. I embraced both, seeing them as measures of design quality, and maintained a cadence of self-learning, workshops, conferences and eventually obtained a Master's degree in Human Factors and Applied Cognition. Over the years, my title and responsibilities evolved from Web Designer/Developer to Information Architect to User-centered Designer to UX Research & Designer to UX Engineer.

What are the main digital tools you could not do without?

I'm pretty barebones: Axure (prototyping tool), PowerPoint (research artifacts and presentations), and Adobe Creative Suite (design authoring).

Any advice for people wanting to do similar role to you?

Be compassionate and always be learning. Prioritize learning about the diverse experiences and needs of the people whom your design will serve equally as much as learning about design principles and design tools.

And finally, what do you enjoy doing outside of work?

In my spare time, I enjoy watching social & cultural documentaries, live music and traveling with my husband. I'm also the Principal UX Strategist for a voice app start-up, voicipe (https://www.voicipe.com/)

Links: Keep up to date with Trina

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