Tove's Journey from Data to Design

Alice
Mar 7
4 min read

Updated: Mar 12

Meet Tove! She’s a UX consultant with a passion for design and accessibility, who decided to switch from dealing with numbers to designing for people. Read on to learn about her story, the impact accessibility has on UX design, and tips for a noteworthy portfolio.

We loved our chat with Tove, who emanates kindness and a strong will to make all things inclusive, even if she needs to sneak them in :)

Why IT and Learning?

Tove started her career in data analysis but was craving something more human-centered.

“I wanted to explore the interaction between humans and IT,” she explains.

Realizing she needed to upskill for this switch, she took the step to go back to school.

The Master’s in IT and Learning was a perfect fit for her because:

It allows you to shape your focus (e.g. PhD, UX design, Instructional design, Project Management)
It has an international focus
It offers the chance to complete an internship

In fact, Tove chose the program because she wanted to keep the PhD option open, she hoped to meet international people, and even complete an internship abroad - until the pandemic hit, that is 🫠. But she adapted, and even managed a remote internship!

Finding Her Calling in UX Design

Tove’s mission was set on making technology inclusive and accessible. Her past experiences fueled her idea, such as working with kids and teens with disabilities and seeing her mother handle vision challenges.

“Digital tools can be so good for making the world more inclusive,” she says, “But they can also be a barrier if not designed correctly.”

She therefore customized the master’s so she could dive into accessibility and interaction design, and even did an internship at the university, researching how to design digital tools for seniors, which included prototyping, testing, and learning what works with the users.

Important Skills in UX Design

Tove works as a consultant, so her projects change regularly but they are usually either UX research-focused or more user interface (UI) design-focused. At the moment of the interview she was working on two separate projects, so she explained that one day she would host workshops and analyze company processes, and the next, she would create UI designs.

Here are some of tools/skills she reported using most, and some useful tips:

Figma: A must for prototyping
Miro/FigJam: Great for user journey mapping and workshops - there are lots of good templates you can use
A solid ability to sketch rough ideas: don’t get too caught up in the details at the start, just sketch something good enough to be able to communicate your general idea
Usability testing is central: she recommends the book “Rocket Surgery Made Easy” - a bible for UX designers!

Tipp: Check out our Xplore Skills post on Figma & FigJam

Portfolio Tips and Thesis Experience

Tove’s advice for aspiring UX designers is not just to show off the final product, but to show the process!

“It's important to show what you learned, how you tested it, and what were the benefits of the solution, to convey that you’re interested in developing your competences.”

Here are some of her portfolio-building tips:

Take on design challenges independently, like redesigning something you use every day
Attend design hackathons for hands-on experience
Use your thesis and internship as an opportunity to create real-world projects

For her thesis, Tove collaborated with the Museum of World Culture. During the pandemic, museums were thinking of ways to create digital exhibitions since they couldn't open to the public.

And digital exhibitions can also be a really good tool when it comes to people with disabilities!

In fact, she focused on how digital formats can benefit people with disabilities, such as improving visibility for those with poor eyesight.

If you have poor eyesight and you can view something digitally, you have the option to enhance it for example, so you can see it even better than if you visited it in the museum.

Tove analyzed existing digital exhibition examples, reviewed accessibility guidelines for diverse audiences, and re-designed an exhibition. She then conducted interviews and user testing, and with that data, highlighted key considerations for making digital museum experiences as inclusive as possible.

Reflections and Advice

Looking back, Tove confirmed she is satisfied with her master’s journey, and shares these insights for potential, current, and recently graduated students:

Potential students applying to the program? Know that you’ll need to carve your own path. The courses won’t hand you a career blueprint, so follow your interests and shape your studies accordingly.
Students in the program? Try to do an internship, it’s invaluable!
Students starting their career? Network, even if it’s awkward 🫣. Go to meet-ups and hackathons to connect with like-minded people (www.meetup.com is a great place to start).

Final Thoughts

Tove decided to switch careers and navigated a pandemic-era master’s, so she could design for everyone. UX and UX accessibility design are dynamic fields: even Tove says,

“I’m still learning so much! I do things, then in a few months I read somewhere that, ‘Oh ok, you shouldn’t design things like this!’”, she adds with a laugh. “Especially if you consider accessibility, there are so many rules that you need to follow that it can be quite tricky!”

So, to all the aspiring UX designers out there, here is Tove’s advice: re-design everyday things, dive into Figma, and try to find an internship or thesis project to apply your skills! And remember how important it is to be inclusive and design with all people in mind - it can truly make the difference in their experience of your product.