I broke up with Architecture

Melepurath

Architecture to UI/UX. A career switch journey

Over the last few months, I got a lot of calls and messages from students and young architects who are considering a jump from architecture to UX design.

I hear you. I empathize with you.

Starting a new career was hard, but quitting architecture was harder.

Five years of night outs, building physical models, hand-drawn sheets, calligraphy, site visits, case studies, design studios, and re-jury make up the world of architecture school. Tuition fee and stationery expenses were the hardest part. Architects don't tinker with inexpensive toys.

When I planned to switch my career, many people told me “Dude, you are crazy”, ”You’ve invested so much time and money into architecture education” One crazy guy even asked, “Can I have your alcohol markers and rotring pen collection”. These voices didn't define my important guidelines. I moved to Bangalore, detached from these voices

I was enrolled in a Google-certified online UX course at the time. There is a chapter about sunk cost fallacy which states: “Individuals commit the sunk cost fallacy when they continue a behaviour or endeavour as a result of previously invested resources”. Yes, that was my case. I poured time and money into architecture; should I give it up now?

Switching your career doesn't mean you waste all your investments. There are a lot of architectural skills that you can use in the UX field. Especially design thinking, which depends on the human ability to be intuitive, to recognize patterns, and to construct ideas that are emotionally meaningful as well as functional. It basically emerged from a variety of fields, such as architecture and engineering.

Being an architect I always put myself in the user's shoes. I am continuously conscious of and sensitive to the user's feelings. Even though I adore Tadao Ando and the haiku effect, I always throw my personal preferences and biases aside when I'm designing. I try to identify the user, his requirements, and the reasons behind such needs..

You can't solve a problem unless you recognize what it is. I always begin with butter sheets, sketchbooks, research on the environment, client requirements, and the idea and sentiment behind the design. Knowing user behaviour and activities are important. The experience and emotions of users can be improved by quality architecture space, which will generate interest and motivate people to return. Design is the Idea to make a product or service for people that they perceive as beneficial. People in a system have emotions, insecurities, and reasons why they want or do not want to perform particular things, human-focused design considers these factors and optimizes for users' motives, emotions, and engagement.

l love model-making, especially physical models. While doing my urban design campus planning, to zone and design the campus, I used little wooden pieces to symbolise building blocks, which made it easier for me to iterate the design rapidly. This is actually prototyping that stimulates the real and future product.

I don't remember how many Redoes I got each time I submit my sheets. I love to discuss my design with teachers, friends, seniors and other senior architects. Each iteration ultimately improves the design. My first ideas always end up in the trash. Usability study and stakeholder consultation provide input in UX design instead of post-occupancy evaluation in architecture.

Why do we break up?

“It's not you. It's me. It's not working well”

I was unhappy after finishing my internship. Real-world architecture was centred on NBC (National Building Code), decorative patterns, and aesthetics. Design thinking and user experience turned into a joke that crushed my soul. I'm interested in real user emotions. I believe that time has memory, and space has energy. A person's routine and temperament can be affected by space. Architecture has an impact on a kid's behaviour. Remember the Pruitt-Igoe public housing complex? Once it was praised for not wasting space, but it had to be destroyed due to the lack of social connection, and social order. The building thus attracted a lot of crime and vandalism.

There are architects who start with design thinking, user context research and user journey mapping with time. However, most design choices are made based on personal preferences, being larger than a neighbour's or friend's property, being the most distinctive, following a weekly magazine, and prioritizing luxury over the actual user experience.

You could wonder why people continue to use a space if the user experience is poor.

The answer to that is habituation. Soon I'll be writing about architecture and habituation. Let's connect to keep in the loop.

I was concerned about failing and having other people think I am not a very smart, capable person. Fear was stopping me from switching careers. Now I am overjoyed that I made the switch. If fear is keeping you from changing career, this is a signal that now is the ideal time to do so.