Designer Profiles: Jenifer Bulcock
Meet Jenifer Bulcock. She is a design lead at Better.com and a volunteer lead with IxDA NYC.
Briefly describe your career path, including the reasons behind job changes and shifts.
I always knew I wanted to do something in design - for me there was never anything else.
After completing two degrees, one in multimedia design and one in communication design, I began my career as a graphic designer in the branding and marketing space. After spending a year in an in-house position in an Australian Education provider I soon realised I missed the diversity and creative autonomy that university had afforded me. Always up for adventure, I made the decision to pack my bags and move to Vancouver, Canada — in the middle of the global financial crisis no less. Here I threw myself into the freelance life. It was during the next three years that I honed my craft, met some amazing people, built up a client base and, pseudo started my own digital design and branding agency.
Family called me back to Australia, but it wasn't long before an opportunity to move to New York City presented itself, and I jumped at the chance.
At this time I entered the agency world and soon realised my interests were skewing heavily digital. After spending a year designing products for IBM, another hunger was brewing. The question of "why". Why were these experience decisions being made, how did we come to land on this approach? It was at this time that I realised I wanted to move away from the visual side of things and dive into the experience strategy and research side. A couple of jobs later I land a job in the strategic design consulting world as senior interaction designer. It was here, under some amazing mentors that I shifted my career focus again to experience strategy and product definition. Being involved in the full, end to end design process I was able to run user interviews, co-creation workshops and take a service design approach to solving design problems strategically.
Up until this point in time I had designed a bespoke insurance rating and policy issuance tool for America’s largest medical malpractice carrier, imagined how Europeans could manage the data they share with brands and use it as currency, built digital platforms for large technology companies that improved the way employees did their jobs and worked together, and iformed the strategy for how Americans purchase home furnishings and helped a multinational insurer to connect with their customers in a more meaningful way.
Today, I'm the design lead for the originations experience at Better.com and help mentor four amazing designers. Working closely with Product and Engineering teams I bring a strategic, evidence-based approach to making product decisions and designing tools to meet the needs and business objectives of a global employee base, while improving the consumer experience.
What excites you about being a designer?
Our ability to think differently. A lot of what design brings to the world is the human perspective and the ability to think through the future implications of decisions being made today. Designers are geared towards thinking through problems at various levels and timeframes.
What are the challenges that the field of design faces today?
The word design. Design has come a long way in recent years but I still fear that the word "design" for some people is a loaded term that refers to visual polish or craft. Design is so much more than that and provides so much more value than that — to both businesses and people. How can we, as designers change the understanding of design to solidify our seat at the table?
What advice would you give someone starting out in their career today?
In 2019 I was lucky enough to be part of the UXPA-NYC mentoring program where I spent six months with a very talented and passionate GA graduate. While I think advice for individuals should vary depending on their goals there are a few pieces of advice I think hold true — no matter the situation.
Build a network
Find people who you admire, who support you, and who build you up. Mentors and support networks come in all shapes and sizes - never stop building your network.
Be kind to yourself
We are all going to make mistakes or less ideal career decisions. Take them in, learn from them. But don't regret them — they will help you land in the right place eventually. Having a clear idea of what you don't want can sometimes be more valuable that knowing what you do want.
Keep learning
The industry is always changing and evolving — just like your career should. Read books, attend conferences, lectures, meetups, and do short courses. Anything that keeps you active and inspired in the field.
Be curious
I tell all my new designers, "don't assume", "ask questions" and do research when possible. As designers, the more informed we are, about the people we are designing for, and the business — the stronger voice we can have, and the more value we will create.
Don't give up
Design is a very broad field. Hone into the part of design that you are passionate about and seek out positions that meet those criteria. Just because the job description doesn't have design in it, doesn't mean it's not design related.
What’s one thing every designer should know?
The soft skills of design are just as important as hard skills. Collaboration, communication and facilitation skills will help you in so many ways. Whether it be landing a job, working with others, or navigating ambiguity.
Who influenced you to become a designer?
I'm one of those rare (or maybe stubborn) people that always knew that they wanted to do (more or less). I was always drawn to the creative, commercial arts. However there have been some very key people that influenced where I am in my career today.
I'd like to send my gratitude to:
Christina Lauer, who took me on as a junior freelance designer when I lived in Vancouver, and taught me how to look at visual design with those timeless Bauhaus principles. She also taught some business basics, which made my self employed freelance career successful.
Chirryl-Lee Ryan, my design director at Idean. She had a knack for seeing peoples' underlying potential (and secret superpowers). She put me in positions for growth and helped me understand and promote the real value of strategic design.
Jess Greco, someone I still call my mentor today. Jess was my design lead at Idean and taught me all things research and service design. I would not be the designer I am today without Jess.
What’s the most inspirational thing you've read recently?
The IxDA conference in Milan. The diversity and quality of the speakers, and projects was truely inspiring. Topics around AI and ethics, data and security, health and community building, left me feeling energised and lucky that I had chosen a career that had so much potential for change.
What’s your favorite place to escape in NYC?
Probably the East Village neighborhood garden 6BC. Its beautifully kept and surrounded by ivy covered brick buildings. The perfect spot to spend a solitary hour sipping a matcha latte.
