Váry Boglárka
Váry Boglárka is the UX designer that always loved art and design but also wanted to help people – so that’s what she intends to do, every day! I (Amanda) call Váry on Zoom on a Friday afternoon. She seems thrilled to talk to me, which I soon discover is not only because the weekend is coming up, but because she enjoys talking about, and doing, what she does.
Váry grew up in Budapest and moved to Sweden during high school with part of her family. They ended up in Växjö, however, a few years later other adventures came up. After high school, she moved to Stockholm to take a preparation course before university. She was planning on applying to art school after this since it seemed to fit her big passion for creating things. In the course, one of her classmates told her about a bachelor program in Norrköping, given by Linköping University, called “Graphic Design and Communication”. She fell in love with the city and realized that this could be the perfect way for her to, as she puts it herself, “Make use of her design”. After all, art school seemed a bit too broad, and she describes herself as a person who wants to be given a task to solve, which seemed more in line with what a graphic designer does. So, even though she had never heard about Norrköping before, she packed her stuff and moved there to start the program and an unforgettable student life.
For her Masters, Váry moved back to Stockholm to start a new chapter that she was not completely sure of in the beginning. She started her masters in “UX and interactive media design” at Södertörn, with a little knowledge of what UX is really about. UX, or User Experience, turned out to be just what Váry had in mind when saying she wanted to help people with her design. Here, she got to practice her skills in using design to solve problems. She describes it as a quite broad program, involving both social studies and more technical parts, as well as interactive media and how it affects people.
UX is a rather hot topic right now, and often you can find posts online suggesting, “If you need a new fresh start in life, become a UX designer”. Váry agrees that it is a field that everyone can relate to, as we are all users. Everyone has basic knowledge of how to experience different products, services, and applications, as we do it in our everyday life. This is what UX is about – understanding how we could create better experiences of already existing experiences. These experiences can be many different things in connection to the digital and physical space, from how the experience of an app could be improved to optimizing the experience of a space where the interactions take place at. UX, in a nutshell, starts with understanding a situation and then closely going step by step, understanding all parts of the experience, what is working and what is not, and then finally coming up with ideas on how to improve it.
“Don’t be afraid to try out different things!”
So, what does a UX designer at Teledyne FLIR do? According to Váry, it’s a dynamic and rather unique workspace. Teledyne FLIR manufactures thermographic cameras, which produce infrared images that show the surface, i.e. the reflected temperature, of the inspected areas and subjects. This technology is used in a variety of products in different segments, such as monitoring different behaviors of electrical cabinets in the industry or inspecting housing isolation, or even searching for missing people with drones. This is what Váry loves – that there is a possibility to get an understanding of many different fields and also have an impact on them. Something unique with the workflow of a UX designer at Teledyne FLIR is that you get to work both with the digital and the physical product. When it comes to cameras, an equally important part of the experience is how one holds and uses the camera, what it feels like and how it will be displayed. Testing and, after gathering insights, implementing changes are parts of the workflow that Váry enjoys the most. You test a prototype and, based on the feedback, you brainstorm ideas for solutions with a team, and then repeat the entire process.
I ask Váry what advice she would’ve wanted to give her 15-year-old self if she could. She answers without hesitation; “Don’t be afraid to try out different things”. She emphasizes that young people too often focus on picking the best possible way forward, but in reality, there is no such thing as the best possible way. All paths lead somewhere exciting, so if you have a tiny interest in something and want to know how it is – just try it!
Thanks for the chat, Váry!
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