In this Profiles in Design interview, we turn the tables as Matylda Mcilvenny interviews Elina Papanaoum, Head of UX at KYAD. Elina shares her journey from engineering to UX, offering valuable insights into her work in the field, along with lessons she has learned along the way, providing a wealth of knowledge for those interested in user experience.
Matylda Mcilvenny: At Scania, it’s common to find professionals with engineering backgrounds, but your unique journey from engineering to UX management sets you apart. How did you make the transition to UX and what motivated you to pursue a career in this field?
Elina Papanaoum: I grew up as a kid who was too good at math not to be an engineer. But my passion was always creative activities like playing the piano, drawing, and always trying to find creative ways to solve problems that no one had ever thought of before. I don’t necessarily see UX and engineering as disconnected, in fact both, on an abstract level, give us a bunch of constraints and require creativity to solve problems and create value. Maybe the obvious difference is empathy. If you add empathy to engineering, you have UX. And I guess I was too empathetic not to follow the world of experiences. Finally, I believe a good understanding of technology and engineering is a plus for UX designers, especially while designing experiences around an engineering-heavy product, like a Scania truck.
MM: How would you describe the value of UX in an industry like Scania’s? How does it contribute to the success and competitiveness of a transport solution provider?
EP: Understanding user needs is crucial for businesses transitioning from products and services to solutions, with an emphasis on growth and scalability. Better experiences play a crucial role in our choice of companies for listening to music, online shopping, and navigating through life, especially in the B2C world. If we speak about Scania and the B2B world, our customers initially choose us for our premium solutions, fuel efficiency, and better performance of our vehicles. However, what will make us profitable is customer loyalty. By offering great sales and after-sales experiences to our customers, we can keep them satisfied, keep their Scania trucks on the road, and have them continue to visit our workshops — helping us continuously collect vehicle and behavioural data in the digital ecosystem. We’re then able to continuously experiment, improve our offerings, and build more innovative solutions that keep our customers profitable and satisfied. When electrification becomes widely spread and we have no obvious competitive advantage anymore, nor our profitable service business, we’ll need to grow by offering the best customer experiences on the market.