What were your expectations going into this job?

I don’t think that I had any expectations with this position. I really wasn’t certain what I was getting myself into. If I had gone to a design firm, I would have had expectations on how interaction designers provide value to a team. At a design firm, there would be people that looked at problems in the same way that I did, and understood the importance of good design and clear communication.

Instead, during my first year at JPL, I was really challenged by understanding the technical domains of the people who work in aerospace and planetary exploration. Once I was able to understand these complex systems, the conversations became less esoteric, and it was easier to get to the heart of some of the design problems people were experiencing with their tools. Honestly, I think that Interaction Design is a new field for the scientists and engineers here as well. I’ve learned how to be a designer in a space where people were also just learning how to work with a designer.

Currently, the mission is in a heavy planning phase; none of the conceptual mock-ups and storyboards I’ve designed will be put into the process of development for another year. I think that’s what makes this position so interesting. I’m a part of a long-term design process, and because of that, the normal pace of iteration has scaled from hours to months, maybe even years. The longevity of these projects changes the way that you think about producing designs and building software.

As a Science Systems Engineer with Mars 2020, I’m responsible for specific subsystems. I’m working with a geologist who is designing how the future science team for Mars 2020 will define science objectives, routes to interesting outcrops with the rover, and document new discoveries of the ancient geologic history of Mars.

What’s interesting for me is that I get to visualize and plan the procedures scientists will use to operate the rover with storyboards and user workflow diagrams. I’ve learned so much about a field I really knew nothing about prior to JPL, such as basic geology and stratigraphy, and how geologists analyze geological structures on field trips.

One of the main challenges across all missions during this planning phase is consistent communication of a team’s progress. Given the complexity of each element of the spacecraft, clear communication is essential. Often times, the engineers and scientists are forced to just get their ideas out to the team through bulleted lists in giant slide decks. The team recognizes the need for better visualization, but few have that skillset in the same capacity as a trained designer.

I’ve used a diverse set of methods to maintain consistent communication of our future plans. I directed a concept movie depicting what future rover operations will look like with new software; I sketched a series of workflow diagrams with the engineering team to help map how people will review the safety and wellness of the spacecraft with new commands; I create animated gifs depicting the execution of flight software. I feel that a lot of my role is just helping people on this mission take the abstract plans and ideas they have in their heads and bring it into a tangible, sharable, concrete form for conversation.

Do you see yourself staying for the duration of the 2020 mission?

That’s kind of a hard one. There’s always times at JPL where I think, “It’s time for me to leave. I need to go on and do other stuff.” But I get drawn back in by thinking, “Well, you could leave… but there’s a future M2020 mission that is going to conduct some amazing science on Mars—which you could help with…” So that’s the frustratingly wonderful part about it.

As a member of a mission, I get to interact with people that I never thought I’d be able to work with—we have amazing conversations involving spacecraft. When I first arrived here, I didn’t initially feel that I could be a part of this culture to the degree that I am.  But once I was imbedded into the process and projects, and experienced how people think through these complex problems, I started to understand where I might have an impact.

What is your favorite project that you’ve worked on?

Mars 2020 is my favorite. I just love all the rovers that are up on Mars right now. I admire the people who have sent the rovers to Mars—they are so resilient and capable of taking on these kind of problems. I get to see all these people come together and build a rover. I get to focus on multiple potential applications of interaction design in this space, from thinking about how we can design better systems for people to plan execute science, to creating data visualizations of how flight software executes commands on a rover. I like feeling that I’m not just having a small piece.

How do you stay inspired as a designer?

JPL feels like the Wild West when it comes to the kinds of roles offered: you have a lot of freedom to move around and see what it is that you like to do.

When I first started, I wasn’t doing anything that to the same level of the interactions that I have with these mission planners on Mars 2020 today. I wouldn’t have been able to have those conversations then—it took me a long time to understand how we plan and execute science activities on Mars using rovers and relay communications.

So I stuck to the things I was comfortable with, which was doing the design work: conducting interviews with users, doing the interfaces, doing the final visual design of those UIs. I was certain that building tools through the user experience and supplemental UI design would be my role at JPL.

But I also noticed that mission planners have this really challenging process of creating the processes for missions in the future, and their findings are usually documented in these esoteric and exclusively expert languages on slide decks and wikis. So, I questioned why we didn’t try to visualize these processes, and why didn’t we make it so that more people can have conversations about concrete artifacts? Can we do that?

And that’s what I’ve been doing with Mars 2020. So it’s a huge 180 from when I first started, and I think that’s the thing that keeps me here. Not only is it that the projects are fascinating, but also just the fact that I don’t feel constrained by one role. The roles I’ve had have been vastly different, thus keeping my interest.

Looking back at your time in the UW design program, what did you find to be the most valuable part of your education, and has it carried on to your work now?

In the Visual Communication program, professors always asked, “Why did you put this element here? What is the reason?” Every single piece had to have a reason, and had to have a story behind it.

The same in the industrial design program. In a physical work, every kind of form factor had to be accounted for and had to have a purpose behind it.

In interaction design, Tad Hirsch (Assoc. Prof. of Interaction Design) and Axel Roesler would also throw us into this world of self-examination, by saying “Why does this story have this part? Why does the movie have this music? Does it need the music?” You’re really forced to think about what it is you’re actually producing.

So, I learned that everything has to have a practical application and a reason behind it—some sort of intention. That’s a thing I really appreciate from the UW Design program. Everything has intent. Because I find myself thinking about purpose all the time. I’m like, you made this slide deck or you’re showing me this model that you created—why? What do people need to take away from this? Let’s talk through that.

Anything in school that you wish you had learned?

I was really surprised by the number of questions I had to ask actual operators at JPL. It was really hard for me to understand what they do in their control rooms, and how they triage off-nominal events. I think that was something really difficult for me starting out: how do I ask the right questions to understand this complex process?

‘Asking questions’ is a hard skill to be taught: I think asking good questions comes from practice and truly understanding how you learn. Yet, it’s so essential in this environment because so much of what I design is embedded in this complex domain that I had zero exposure to previously. But it is so important, because when you have a really good sense of the context in which you’re designing for, your designs are so much stronger.

It’s hard to let go of the fear of asking ‘dumb’ questions. I truly believe now that there is no such thing as a ‘dumb’ question. By asking rudimentary questions, your audience will simply think you’re genuinely curious about what they do. Questions aren’t vessels for judgment. They’re instilling trust and a connection to the people you’re trying to help.

It would have been nice if I had put myself into more classes at UW that were just not design related. I have a much deeper appreciation for the phrase “If you want to be a good designer, don’t read design books.” There should have been a lot more variety in my life to supplement my design education. I think non-design courses would have forced me to be uncomfortable and would have fueled my curiosity. I think I have learned so much at JPL because I have been so severely uncomfortable sometimes.

What does NASA JPL look for when they’re hiring designers?

We’re looking for individuals all year-round, so people can send their portfolios and their resumes to us anytime for consideration. For a long time, we were trying to find more senior people to facilitate the group and build the culture, but now we’re actively looking for junior design candidates as well, which is very exciting.

When we’re hiring, we’re most interested in seeing an individual’s design process. I need to see how they solve problems. Sometimes I scan portfolios where everything is beautiful and there are plenty of high-fidelity projects.  I love it—I’m a huge fan of nicely displayed artifacts—but I need to see how the designer thinks through a problem.