“In the Mimacom Human-Centered Design division, we don’t ask who’s the leader. We ask how many leaders we can create.”
Stefan Barac, Head of Human-Centered Design
I don’t think of myself as a tech person. I’m a designer that stumbled into the tech world. Before Mimacom, I was doing user experience (UX) for big manufacturers and engineering firms.
These were high-stakes UX projects that involved complex industrial processes. For example, if the UX on a milling machine is bad, it won’t just be difficult to use – it could take your arm off! This is why my design has always been human-centered. It doesn’t matter if I think a product is pleasing or easy to use, it’s all about the end user.
This requires real creativity. You have to put your own ego aside and truly imagine yourself in someone else’s shoes, which isn’t something we often associate with being creative. Instead, we tend to focus on an individual’s vision. This is the case in many career paths: everyone is vying for the leading role or to be the person with the ultimate solution.
What’s amazing about working in the Mimacom Human-Centered Design division is that we don’t ask who’s the leader. We ask how many leaders we can create. There’s recognition that leadership isn’t embodied in a job title, but about initiative, motivation, and facilitating collaboration. The team is all about experimenting and iterating to arrive at something better together.
Through these principles, we’ve created a really productive, dynamic interface between the front-end designers and the back-end technologists. I’m really excited by some of the projects we’ve designed and I’d encourage anyone with something a bit different to bring to the table to join.