COVID 19 or coronavirus has led to the shutdown of many industries, prompting the employees to work from home. 

And UX designing is one of them.   

However, things are not that easy for a UX Designer while working from home. 

Generally, they need to get embedded in the team and go through face-to-face meetings. Or you can say that in-person contact has been crucial to delivering UX work as people can see each other face to face. Consequently, communication is easy, reliable, and fast. Remote communication might not foster this feeling of shared context, and it can be challenging to establish open, quick, and easy communication. 

Not getting timely inputs or fail to understand the concept can hinder creativity and productivity. 

Simply put, creating effective communication and collaboration processes are some of the concerns in remote work. 

Here we talk about feasible measures to help remote UX designers and their managers as well. By incorporating efficient processes and tools, you can minimize the challenges of remote work while helping your colleagues or team deliver outstanding results. 

Here’s how…

Learn Remote Design Tools:

Whether you are collaborating on a UX project with your colleagues or pitching idea to a client based in another geographical location, using the right tools are important. 

Good thing is that most UX design tools support “remote work”. For example, SAVAH eases collaboration as you can share, access, and communicate your design ideas with other members on the board. 

However, not all remote tools for UX designs are the same. Some are too basic while some have an overwhelming range of features. Make sure you are familiar with their possibilities and limitations. 

Work Over Your Communication Skills:

The most important skill you need to develop as a remote UX designer is effective communication. 

This is because most people can understand things better with face-to-face meetings or communication. Things might not be comprehensive for them when discussed over the phone or messenger.  

And this challenge gets manifold for a UX designer. After all, UX designing is a complicated process, especially when it comes to explaining things to non-designers or layman. Every step requires precise communication: to deliver inputs, to convince clients; to explain design deliverables clearly and to help developers understand patterns and design specifications.

When working remotely, communication is more important than ever due to the absence of face to face interaction.

Therefore, you need to be more careful with the structure of your messages. You can annotate your designs and explain patterns with motion. Conduct video calls and use virtual whiteboards. Or what about recording a video walkthrough to simplify the design concept? 

Manage, Plan, and Track the Projects:

How to tell who is doing what and when?

If you don’t keep a tab on the status/progress of your project, the process might lead to frustration, confusion, and unnecessary delays. 

First of all, make sure to put all of the team’s tasks into project management software. This way, the things will be on the same page and you can view who is doing what and when. If the task or project is not on the list, it doesn’t exist. 

Another rule of project planning is to break down your large tasks, like implementing specific features, into smaller tasks. Prioritize them and create a deadline for each one. 

By doing that, you can divide your product design process into several steps that you can assess and keep track of, instead of going through one, a big, intimidating task. 

Set a Clear Roadmap:

Make sure every team member is aware of his or her responsibilities and deadlines. It can be done by creating a clear roadmap that can define the role and responsibilities of every team member. Teams can deliver outstanding results within deadlines when every team member knows what they are expected to do and by when. 

An Online Gantt chart can be used to keep your team members on the same page. This chart model lets team members see and understand deadlines, responsibilities, and dependencies, which can help identify barriers and take design tasks forward. 

Make the Most of Project Collaboration Tools:

Apart from using design tools, you can use solid project collaboration tools for messaging, storing, and conferencing. Here are some of them:

ASANA is a great tool to coordinate over daily goals, tasks, and projects. It lets you track all your tasks as well as share files and comments. 

Slack keeps you connected with its features, such as messaging, file sharing, built-in reminders, and email. 

Trello enables you to organize and manage projects efficiently and lets team members view who is doing what through boards and cards. 

Google Drive is a great tool to store, access, and share your files with anyone from anywhere. 

Read Also: Tools To Use For Work From Home During COVID 19

LAST BUT NOT LEAST–Take Care of Yourself to Avoid Burnout:

You as a UX designer must have reached the melting point while going through a complex design or concept. This profession requires intense brainstorming that might lead to burnout. 

However, remote working can make you more prone to such conditions as you are away from your teammates who can lift you whenever you feel low. You might be less engages, and conflicts are not easy to resolve. 

Top of that, some of us lack ergonomics work setting at home which can cause pain and fatigue. 

Therefore, you need to take care of your wellbeing. Take regular breaks from the screen and stretch your body as well. Above all, try to disconnect from work and spend life with your near and dear ones. 

Bottom Line:

Remote working or working from home requires different strategies to keep things organized and streamlined. From using project collaboration tools to stay connected with everyone, there are many ways to maintain the productivity of your team remotely. We hope that our tips will help you make your stint as a UX designer successful and productive.

What do you think? Please let us know by commenting below. 

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