Apples to apples: a comparison of counseling and UX design
You might think comparing mental health counseling with user experience (UX) design is like comparing apples to oranges. Counseling is all about sharing feelings and talking, you might say, whereas UX is about people and products. Well, I’ve been a mental health counselor and I am getting closer to calling myself an actual UX designer, so I’ll let you in on a little secret. Comparing counseling with UX is like comparing apples to, well, apples. Maybe like comparing red delicious with gala — both are tasty and good for you.
User First
Most modern day counseling is client directed. The client’s needs and desires are at the forefront of the counselor’s mind and the focus of every session together. Counselors advocate for their clients in various ways. We are on their side, through thick and thin, always rooting for them to feel better, lead fuller lives, and solve their problems.
UX design is also directed by our users. We follow their needs, their desires, their opinions. We are their advocates within companies and with stakeholders. We are their voice when they cannot speak. UX designers always want their users’ problems to be solved. We want our products to help the users lead fuller lives.
User or client first, is the mantra in both UX and counseling. Furthermore, I think it is important to not think of users or clients, but people. Whole human beings with lives, loves, fears, needs, hopes, dreams, and barriers. Users are not their problems nor the solutions. They are complicated and confusing — we all are. This leads to a very important aspect of both counseling and UX design.
Empathy
Empathy. Talk about a heavy word. Ultimately empathy guides both counseling and UX design. We must first understand the person as an individual before we can start making recommendations about what needs to change. Both counselors and UX designers need to be able to listen to the person and their concerns. Both need to set aside judgement and preconceived notions about the person, the problem, or the solution.
As a counselor, I spent the first session with someone really listening to them and trying to understand their perspective before I even attempted to help them solve their problem. Sure, I had ideas about what might help based on past clients, experiences, and my education, but I didn’t immediately jump into problem-solving. I always listened first, asked clarifying questions, and tried to understand the person as a whole, not just as their problem.
As I worked through my first experience with user research, I found that listening to people was key to understanding them and their problems. It was also key to them opening up and sharing their struggles and painpoints when interacting with the product I was designing. Asking clarifying questions as the user interacted with my product shone light on difficulties they were facing and confusion they experienced. It was also beneficial to understand the person as a whole, not just as a user of my product. What were their lives like outside of this brief interaction with my product? What barriers did they have in their lives? What preconceived notions did they have about my website or websites like it? All of these questions and more should be considered when building empathy for users. They are people, afterall.
Ultimately, listening and empathy should be in the forefront of all we do, either as a counselor or as a UX designer. Building empathy and listening are never done. It is a journey we take together, UX designer and user.
Problems
Pop quiz: What usually brings people into counseling?
Answer: Problems.
Clients have a concern that they cannot solve by themselves. They’ve been struggling with anxiety, depression, self-esteem, or any number of problems and nothing they’ve been able to do helps. Clients have tried various things to work around the problem, but they always end up in the same place more or less — sad, scared, alone.
Companies and products also face problems when it comes to how easily a consumer can accomplish their goals. People want to have easy to use websites that are intuitive and simple. When the product does not meet the consumer’s expectations or help them accomplish a goal, the company has a problem and the consumer is frustrated.
Problems are made to be solved, whether you are a counselor or a UX designer. We have to dig in, shine some light onto the dark spots, and gather information to form solutions so people can get their needs met.
Break It Down
After we have developed some empathy for a person, we can start to build solutions that fit their needs and desires. As a counselor that practiced cognitive behavioral therapy most of the time, I had to break down clients’ problems into discrete steps, trying to determine what went wrong, when it went wrong, and factors surrounding the concern. Knowing all the details, all the steps in the process, allowed me to see a solution by understanding the process that brought a client in to see me.
UX design is much the same. We are presented with a problem like users not being able to navigate to their cart to check out. UX designers have to meet with the users, see them interact with the product, be observant of what the user is doing, and see where they get off track. We have to understand the mindset of the user (empathy) and understand the “whys” of their behavior.
Breaking down a big problem, like lack of completed transactions, into all the clicks and navigation errors is very similar to breaking down a problem in counseling. It’s all about understanding the processes behind the problem, whether that be buttons that don’t look clickable or that first dog bite that led to a phobia.
Iterate
We’ve covered user first, empathy, problems, and solutions. What else is there? Doing it all over again. A big part of counseling is a solution not working, exploration as to why or what happened, and trying something new. It was always about taking the best parts of the solution, throwing away what didn’t work, and adding something new to the mix. The client and I were striving towards a solution that made sense, was easy to use, and actually worked to make the client’s life better. Sound familiar?
There are a lot of great things about UX (see above), but one of my favorite parts is the notion that we can try again. In fact, something not working is GREAT! We can take that new found knowledge, scrape away the garbage, implement something new, and try again! The first solution is not the last chance at getting something right. What an amazing feeling to know that we can make mistakes.
Having a user-first mentality, empathy for the whole person, trying to understand their problems, and trying again to create a solution are core to counseling and UX design. You can’t be a good counselor without these aspects, and you can’t be a good UX designer either.
It’s like comparing a red delicious apple to a gala apple. Either way, counseling and ux design are good for you.
