40. Plastic to Pixels: An Industrial Designer’s Journey Into UX Design

What do Industrial Design and UX Design have in common?

In addition to sharing the term “Product Designer,” it turns out quite a lot, actually.

Matthew McPhail and I met on ADPList a while back as Matthew was looking to make the jump from Industrial Design to UX Design.

Today Matthew joins the show to talk about his journey to UX Design. We dig into what Industrial Design skills were transferrable to his new role as a UX Designer, what he loves most about designing for digital experiences versus physical ones, and he offers some strategic advice for job hunters on how to treat their job hunt like an experiment.

This was an incredible conversation. I hope you check it out!

Topics:
• 05:15 – Matthew’s experience as an industrial designer
• 14:25 – The turning point toward UX design
• 17:09 – Different considerations for the future of the products
• 18:32 – Making the switch to UX
• 26:53 – What did recruiters think of the ID background?
• 29:10 – It required experimenting with how Matthew talked about his work
• 32:32 – Applying that data to LinkedIn, resumes, and interviews
• 34:55 – UX Case studies from ID work
• 46:18 – What has Matthew learned since starting his UX journey
• 48:08 – Advice for those just starting out
• 51:58 – Think about what your transferrable skills are

Helpful Links:
• Connect with Matthew on LinkedIn

Matthew McPhail
UX Principal @ The Home Depot

About Matthew

Matthew is a UX Principal at The Home Depot, where he works on the Enterprise User Experience Team. He is responsible for building capability enhancements for associates across several types of roles within sales and project management. Prior to his current position, he worked at General Motors, New Balance/Warrior Sports, and a local design agency where he worked on several design projects for clients like Nissan, GE appliances, and JR Clancy.

As an Industrial Designer, Matthew spent over 8 years primarily focused on the sporting goods and small appliance realms. It wasn’t until several years into his time in Industrial Design that he began to develop an affinity for the UX and service design worlds. After working on several Automotive UX and Service Design projects sprinkled in among his Industrial Design duties during his time in design agency and then later at GM, he made the pivot full-time into Enterprise UX.

In his free time, Matthew enjoys spending time with his family, pursuing his interests in LEGO Technic sets, cooking new recipes at home, and shuffling his two girls around to their basketball and softball games. He also enjoys long weekends with his wife exploring the towns in western and northern Michigan.

Connect with Matthew on LinkedIn

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