Vivianne Castillo is a UX Researcher with more than 8 years of psychology and research experience spanning multiple contexts, cultures, and industries. She has experience working as a UX researcher at Weight Watchers, Google, and Salesforce with a background in counseling and human services. She is also an active writer on multiple platforms like Medium.
Vivianne dedicates to bring humanity into the tech industry. Prior to becoming a UX Researcher, she worked primarily in the arenas of human services and counseling, where she tackled issues like shame, empathy, vulnerability and compassion.
Very recent in May 2020, Vivianne founded HmntyCntrd, an online learning community for UX professionals to deepen their social awareness and practices. Through the online community that connects the UX professionals, they aim to revolutionize the way human-centered experiences are defined and to create an equitable, inclusive, and more humanity-centered future.
We hold onto buzzwords like empathy so tightly because they’re almost a part of our identity as UX researchers. Yet, I don’t see or hear a lot of conversations [in UX] about psychology, counseling, or therapeutic relationships.
Vivianne Castillo
Vivian pays close attention to how extended empathy affects the designer’s mental state. With a background in psychology and counseling, she knows the negative effects user research can have on the researcher, which she calls up as “compassion fatigue”. She promotes conversations about self-care and encourages people in the industry to be aware of how their personal relationships are impacted by their works.
Reference:
Castillo, Vivianne. Ethics & Power: Understanding the Role of Shame in UX Research. 15 May 2018, uxdesign.cc/ethics-power-understanding-the-role-of-shame-in-ux-research-dafc08bd1d66.
The Iowa Idea Podcast. 19 Oct. 2020, www.theiowaidea.com/2020/10/19/45-vivianne-castillo/.
Shannon, Gene. Building Empathy…for Yourself. 5 Feb. 2020, ux.shopify.com/building-empathy-for-yourself-766570040650.
Tran, Tony Ho. Why Self-Care Matters in UX Research. dscout.com/people-nerds/vivianne-castillo-self-care-ux.
she has an interesting background. i agree that there’s a huge connection between psychology and design
Empathy is an essential psychological state for interaction designers. I like your talk about Vivian’s psychological background to help designers learn and care for themselves. I think this is very important.
Nice work! Thanks for sharing!