Welcome to our Let's Meet UX&D series, where we get to know some of the friendly folk in ´óÏó´«Ã½'s UX&D department. In this instalment, we speak to Mansha Manohar, a Senior Design Researcher currently working across ´óÏó´«Ã½ News and ´óÏó´«Ã½ Weather.

How do you explain what you do for a living to a child?

I work in a team that makes apps and stuff for people to use on their phones, tablets and other gadgets. My job is to check if we're making stuff people need and not just things we like. I also find out if people can easily use the things we make for them.

Name one favourite thing and one challenging thing about your role?

I'm going to cheat and mention two favourite things about my job. The first is how people constantly surprise you. People are fascinating and there's always someone out there to challenge your assumptions about how people use technology. The other thing I love about my role is that I get to work with some very talented people from different fields. It wouldn't be unusual for me to work with a designer, a developer, a lawyer, an editor, a copywriter, a data analyst and an audience researcher all on the same day.

The most challenging aspect of my role is working with all those stakeholders to ensure key user needs aren't forgotten and are prioritised.

What was your journey before coming to the ´óÏó´«Ã½?

After finishing my degree in Software Engineering, I did a master's in Human-centred interactive technologies. It was while I was doing my master's that I came across a blog post about the UX work behind the overhaul of the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Weather website. I knew right then that I wanted to join the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s UX team someday. (Did I make it? Watch this space.)

I got my first break at a digital agency where I was an all-in-one designer, information architect and researcher. Next, I moved to an agency that focused on UX research and consultancy, where I honed my research skills.

Two years after that stint, I joined the ´óÏó´«Ã½.

What's the worst job you have ever done?

In my first job working as a one-person UX team, there were times when I did not have the resources to conduct user research, which meant that I had to design based on expertise and desk research. Definitely not ideal.

If you could explore any other profession, what would it be and why?

I've been tempted by human factors and the idea of designing safety-critical systems. I imagine the higher stakes to be as nerve-wracking as they seem exhilarating.

There's also astronomy. It was my lifelong ambition to become an Astronomer… until I realised that I was terrible at physics. But I still nurse a soft spot for the field.

If you could travel back in time and give yourself one piece of career advice, what would it be?

"Don't be scared of failure and don't hesitate to apply for jobs because you think you may not be good enough. Look up something called 'Imposter Syndrome'. Oh, and there will be UX memes in the future and people will have strong feelings about them."

What's on your playlist right now?

Since I started using Spotify a-popular-Swedish-music-streaming-service-that-I'm-probably-not-allowed-to-mention-by-name-here, I barely know which artists I'm listening to. But my music collection has always been a hotchpotch of genres, as opposed to a shrine to a specific band or singer. You'll always find electronica (specifically trance, progressive and deep house), which my current playlist has, but you may well find bossa nova, bollywood and Beyoncé back-to-back.

What do you do to switch off from work?

I enjoy documentaries, especially ones on crime, history and socio-political dynamics. When I'm not watching something on those topics, I'm reading about them.

That being said, having an interest in user-centred design means that I never truly switch off from looking at everything through that lens.

Stuck in a meeting with a growling stomach? → Hmm, how would I redesign the digestive system?

Waiting to board a flight? → How would I redesign boarding passes?

Everything is a design project!

In a world where anything is possible, what is the single most exciting thing you would do with technology?

I would love it if there were a reliable way in which we could model the long-term consequences of technology we create. Today, I don't think we, as an industry, lay enough emphasis on the ethics of what we design and create. Instead we're driven to move and fail fast. What if we prioritised ethics over rapid delivery? What if ethics was a mandatory part of the product lifecycle?

In a world where anything is possible, I'd be keen to see what kinds of products and services we would build if we were bound by a for technological development.

What drives or inspires you?

Professionally, I'm inspired by anything that's cross-discipline. If something is a marriage between the precision of science and the rich context of arts, sign me up. I find it especially invigorating when people from different walks of life collaborate to create something.

Personally, what galvanises me the most is a sense of fairness and egalitarianism. And that's something I try to bring into my day-to-day work by being the voice of the user and doing my best to ensure the products we build are inclusive, accessible and designed for everyone.