Inside the Mind of a Senior UX Designer at Adobe

“If you were stranded on a desert island and could only take one item, what would it be?” I asked.

“I think I would…Frick…” She laughed and continued to mull over it. “I would probably…You know that magic mirror in Beauty and the Beast? I would take that. It’s a less techy way of saying the internet.”

Meet Ash Huang. Illustrator, author, artist and senior experience designer for Adobe XD.

For someone who’s been using Adobe’s creative products for more than half her life, and just presented a new Photoshop Sketch product feature in front of an audience of 12,000 people, Ash Huang’s #AdobeLife has certainly kicked off.

Last month Ash was given the opportunity to present at MAX, Adobe’s creativity conference—just another perk of working at Adobe as an artist and designer. “It was my first time at MAX and presenting was so surreal. We did a lot of preparation for my presentation and I always get excited for opportunities where I’m a beginner again. It’s very humbling to get up there on stage and to feel that exciting energy from the crowd,” she said of the experience.

Check out Ash’s Adobe MAX session above!

As a senior experience designer, Ash’s day-to-day includes working with a diverse group of product managers, engineers, and other designers to shape the future of Adobe XD. This includes how it’ll look and how it works. She describes her work as “varying between getting deep into pixel land and deciding how a feature will look, or if we should build it at all. It’s really collaborative.”

Introducing Adobe XD. Design. Prototype. Experience.

Ash, who’s been with Adobe since January 2017, never imagined working here though, despite her incredibly creative background. “It’s pretty unbelievable to be a part of Adobe. A 15-year-old me, who was doing digital paintings in Photoshop, didn’t realize that designing apps like Photoshop could be a job, much less one I’d be doing,” she said.

And now that she’s part of the action, she’s surprised to see how much is happening behind the scenes and the care that’s taken into creating these products to create the best possible experience. Even more, Ash gets to toe the line between being a user and an influencer. “I pay close attention to how changing tools can affect the customer. For some designers and artists, their livelihood depends on doing their work quickly—so changing something can have big ramifications—we take potentially changing artists’ workflows very seriously.”

But the best part about working for Adobe? The answer was easy for Ash, “I appreciate that so many people here have artistic and creative endeavors they’re pursuing. Adobe feels that everyone should be creative, and employees bring that back to work.”

So when I asked what “being creative” means to her, Ash was candid.

“That’s a hard-hitting question! But for me, it means being able to take your all experiences and worldview—everything you want the world to be—and turning that into something people can digest and share. If you’re an artist you’re taking your observations and turning it into something people can consume. As a designer, you’re imagining this ideal world and making it into a reality.”

Based on this answer, it’s clear that Ash is designing products that are truly extensions of herself, where every day she gets the opportunity to bring her passions to work.

Inspired to turn your vision to life? Explore opportunities on our career page and apply today!