LuisaNolasco
– Lead User Researcher at Vodafone UK
“Take your user along the journey.”
- Mentoring at UX Tree since September 2024
- Based in London, England
About
“I studied Social Communications in Brazil and always had a passion for visual arts. While in Rio de Janeiro I worked as a photography teacher in schools and in the Favelas of the city. I moved to the UK in 2014 to pursue a Master in Documentary Photography and started working in a research agency as a researcher and coaching colleagues on how to best capture visuals when out in the field.
I then moved to work in Prisons where I continue to develop my passion for under research audiences, accessibility and people who might be in a vulnerable situation (temporary or permanent) and will face difficulties when accessing certain services and products. I have over 8 years of experience and love to teach, learn and connect from others or to simply exchange knowledge.
This is why I’d love to be a mentor in UX. I’m currently responsible for leading the ‘Knowledge Exchange sessions’ at Vodafone where I invite professionals from the industry to come and speak with our research team. This is always a busy session which has very positive feedback. I do have lots to share, but also believe I would learn a lot from mentees as well. “
Top Skills
- User Stories
- Usability Testing
- Data analysis
- Design Thinking
Favourite Topics
- Accessibility & Inclusivity
- How to use visuals to capture data
- From a storytelling to evidence
Mentoring Skills
- CV & Portfolio review
- Listening & Communication
- Supportive & Encouraging
- Deep design domain knowledge
Why UX?
“The work I did at the research agency was mainly ethnography but covid pushed me to go into the world of UX, so I went to work for the Ministry of Justice, improving online services for people in prison and their loved ones.
Friends and colleagues have helped me along the way by connecting me with people from the industry, LinkedIn has always been great too to understand people’s journeys and backgrounds. I read a lot of Medium articles, did courses on reputable platforms.”
What advice do you have for future mentees and UX designers?
“Advice I’d give?
Have a double diamond approach (ha) open up a lot to then narrow down; expose yourself to lots of methods, try them all, see what you like, what you don’t like, network, reach out to people directly, people are usually very nice and open, read reports to see how people present their data, watch about how people talk about their research, get the halo and speak with not only UX research but product and design too, understand where your job sits in the wider system, what impact it will have, how it will be used.
Get support to build a nice CV and then apply to lots of job vacancies to baseline yourself against the market and understand how companies run their recruitment process – I still do this every month!”