How to Master the Invisible Work: Practical Tips and Insights to Build a Design Culture and Advance Your Career
The hard part of a designer’s job is the people—people are involved in all parts of the process, which can be challenging, to say the least. With the rise of AI, advancements in technology, and setbacks from COVID-19, we are growing further away from each other. The ability to connect with others is needed more now than ever.
Soft skills, not hard skills, are the solution to workplace success and career growth. As designers, we spend a lot of time learning how to use our design tools and methods, and little time learning crucial soft skills. In this Master Class with Joyce Croft, Senior Lead Human-Centered Designer at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, explore the soft skills like communication, influence, and empathy that are timeless, transferable and essential in today’s workplace.
You’ll learn:
- What exactly empathy is and how to understand your users better.
- How to be a leader to influence others and advance the design culture in your organization.
- Practical tips and expert insights on how to build trust and great working relationships.
Through this entertaining and insightful Master Class, you’ll learn to empathize better with your stakeholders, build trusting relationships, get alignment and buy-in faster and be seen as a design leader in your organization. With Joyce’s how-to tips and real stories, you’ll learn that soft skills are the key to advancing design culture and your career.
Speaker
Joyce Croft is a Senior Lead Human-Centered Designer at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. She is working to drive the success of human-centered design across the organization. As the Lead Designer for the Innovation Foundry Concept Office, Joyce’s positive energy brings people together to deliver valuable product solutions to JPL’s complex mission development processes and systems. She specializes in building trusting relationships that improve workplace culture and increase buy-in for design.
Before JPL, she worked as a multi-disciplinary designer in Silicon Valley in startups and Fortune 500 companies. As Head of Design at PagerDuty, Joyce led a successful rebrand that helped the company go public in April 2019. She received a US Patent for creating a component library for the cloud-based content authoring platform, Inkling Habitat™. As a Senior UX Designer at Google and Amazon, Joyce helped deliver consumer products, Google Play Instant Apps, and Amazon’s Visual Search to millions of users.
Joyce was a speaker at Figma’s Annual Conference, Config 2024. Her talk: "Design as therapy: emotional dynamics of aerospace engineering" continues to inspire thousands of people to build trust with stakeholders as a means to navigate challenging environments. Her mantra is "Return the gifts life has given to you" and because of this, she is a strong advocate of mentoring and coaching the next generation of designers. She has a BFA from SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design). You can access her work on her website and connect with her on Linkedin.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Why are design skills so important right now?
Design skills are incredibly valuable for both you personally and for your company.
For you personally, design skills are important because:
Salaries for people who learn design are soaring, surpassing $200K in cities like San Francisco, with global job growth rates at 13%.
Many of your job competitors already possess design skills. When you enhance your design skills you can significantly elevate your personal brand and make you a more attractive candidate.
You learn skills that protect you from losing your job to AI.
You can ignite your passion through design and leverage it to make a meaningful impact.
For your company, design skills are important because:
Your design skills can help increase sales, keep customers loyal, and turn them into powerful advocates of your company. That’s because design is all about helping people reach their goals and meet their needs.
Companies that invest in design outperform the S&P 500 Index by a whopping 228%.
Design goes way beyond creating attractive visuals and aesthetics. When you possess design skills you’re equipped to revolutionize businesses, make technology more user-friendly, and innovate customer experiences and systems.
I’m not a designer. Why should I learn design and tech?
Design and tech skills can make you an indispensable asset to your company and open up career opportunities.
For example, if you’re in a field such as:
Marketing, Communication and HR
Software Development
Customer Service
Business
Psychology
Project Management
Architecture
Content Creation
Healthcare
Teaching
And other fields
Why can design skills make you valuable in all these jobs and industries?
That’s because design skills are incredibly valuable for both you personally and for your company.
For you personally, design skills are important because:
Salaries for people who learn design are soaring, surpassing $200K in cities like San Francisco, with global job growth rates at 13%.
Many of your job competitors already possess design skills. When you enhance your design skills you can significantly elevate your personal brand and make you a more attractive candidate.
You learn skills that protect you from losing your job to AI.
You can ignite your passion through design and leverage it to make a meaningful impact.
For your company, design skills are important because:
Your design skills can help increase sales, keep customers loyal, and turn them into powerful advocates of your company. That’s because design is all about helping people reach their goals and meet their needs.
Companies that invest in design outperform the S&P 500 Index by a whopping 228%.
Design goes way beyond creating attractive visuals and aesthetics. When you possess design skills you’re equipped to revolutionize businesses, make technology more user-friendly, and innovate customer experiences and systems.
How can design skills protect me from losing my job to AI?
AI is killing jobs in all industries. Humanity has never faced such a powerful force, developing at an exponential speed.
You can protect yourself by learning design: You’ll use the very fabric of being human, like empathy and intuition. AI never can never replace that. These skills are timeless and will stay with you forever.
Design is centered on human needs and goals. That’s why you can protect your future with the power of human-centered design. Mastering these skills can shield you from AI-driven disruptions.
We’ll even teach you how to use AI as your career helper, not your terminator.
Do I need any prior experience in design or tech?
Good news!
You don’t need any prerequisites or prior experience in design or tech. We’ve crafted the learning experience to ensure your success and real career outcomes, regardless of your age or background.
Will I receive a Certificate?
Yes! After you finish, you’ll receive an industry-recognized IxDF Certificate.
Use your IxDF Certificates to increase your credibility and salary potential. Your employer and clients will trust you when you can prove that you’ve learned from the best.
Be in distinguished company, alongside industry leaders who train their teams with the IxDF and trust IxDF Certificates.
Add IxDF Certificates to your LinkedIn profile, resumé and job application in a few easy steps.
You can download your certificates as .jpg files, so they are easy to share. Certificates are always valid.
How do I add the IxDF Certificate to my LinkedIn profile?
That's easy! You can use your IxDF Certificates to increase your credibility and salary potential. Your employer and clients will trust you when you can prove that you’ve learned from the best.
Add your IxDF Certificates to your LinkedIn profile, resumé and job application in a few easy steps:
Click “Add profile section” on your LinkedIn
Tap “Recommended”
Select “Add licenses or certifications”
Enter your IxDF Certificate details
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You can download your IxDF Certificates as .jpg files, so they are easy to share. IxDF Certificates are always valid.
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How can the global and local IxDF community help me?
We can help you in several ways.
Join meet-ups in your city: Join the regular meet-ups in your city in a nearby cafe or office building to have fun and learn with people just like you. You get full access to IxDF Local Groups where you can build your network, find your next job, enjoy yourself and learn from your peers. The meetings are completely optional and are spread across over 500 cities worldwide. Your network is your net worth.
Get instant help and career advice in IxDF online global communities. Build your global network through the supportive IxDF community. Earn IxDF Distinctions like “Community Influencer'' and “Social Impact Award”.
Learn from global leaders and build your network and job opportunities locally and globally.
I just signed up for a live Master Class. What's next?
Wonderful! When you sign up for a Master Class, you’ll receive an email from Zoom with a link to join the live Master Class.
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If you can’t find the email, please reach out to mads.soegaard@interaction-design.org and we’re super happy to help you!
Great news! You’ll also get an on-demand version of your Master Class a few hours after the live event ends.
A few days later, the on-demand Master Class will show up on your private profile page.
That way, you can view the Master Class on-demand at any time. As many times as you wish.
Will the live Master Class be recorded and become available on-demand?
Absolutely!
When you sign up for a live Master Class, you’ll automatically receive the link to the recording a few hours after the live event ends.
A few days later, the on-demand Master Class will show up on your private profile page if you’re an IxDF member. If you’re not a member, you’ll receive your recording by email.
You can enjoy your Master Class on-demand at any time, anywhere. Watch it as many times as you want.
What if I can’t attend a live Master Class?
Great news! We’ve got you covered.
When you sign up for the live Master Class, you’ll automatically receive the link to the recording a few hours after the live event ends.
A few days later, the on-demand Master Class will show up on your private profile page if you’re an IxDF member. If you’re not a member, you’ll receive your recording by email.
You can enjoy your Master Class on-demand at any time, anywhere. Watch it as many times as you want.
What if I have more questions?
We’d love to hear from you and help you!
Reach out to us at hello@interaction-design.org or use the online contact form.