Alumni Stories Helen Nic Giolla Rua

"The robust education I got in studying industrial design at NCAD has given me so many transferable skills that I’ve been able to utilise in every job I’ve had. I really believe Industrial Design is such a versatile course, it’s applicable to so many industries and sectors."

Name: Helen Nic Giolla Rua

Current Career: UX Designer 

Graduation Year: 2009 

Discipline: Industrial Design (now called Product Design)

Location: Dublin  

What career path did you want to follow as a child?

I always wanted to be an artist just like my uncle Paddy McElroy. I loved drawing and making things. My Dad was very handy and loved to make and fix anything around the house. I got interested in materials and how things work from him. In school I loved art and physics and the only industry I could think of that brought them together was architecture. When it came time to make a decision for the CAO, the career guidance counsellor in school guided me towards industrial design, as a previous student had done it.   

Why did you decide to study at National College of Art & Design?

As I said, I always dreamt of being an artist, but it was becoming increasingly obvious that I wasn’t a natural artist. I always knew academic courses weren’t for me - the idea of sitting in lecture halls and having to do essays filled me with dread. So when I heard of industrial design it seemed like the perfect fit for me. It was very hands on. There was some written work which was practical and the lectures were all on really interesting topics like architecture and period furniture, and of course Irish designer Eileen Gray featured prominently.

How did you develop your career towards your current job or practice?

When I graduated the recession was in full force. It was tricky to get a job in anything related to my degree so I took a job in a coffee shop while I kept looking. I was really bad at making coffee, so I really appreciate a good coffee now! A few months later I got a job in a signage company as a designer and project manager. I learned so much about how small businesses work and how to manage clients and projects. It was such an important learning curve for me. Unfortunately, times were still tough during and after the recession in Dublin and the work wasn’t as secure as I would have liked. 

Between 2012-13, I retrained by studying UX design. I did a night course in IADT over the course of a year. Then I went to every single UX and tech meet up in Dublin that I could find and networked. Through my networking, I was able to get an interview for a junior UX designer with Each & Other, a great digital agency right beside NCAD. I worked as a UX Analyst for IQ Content for fourteen months before moving to London to work as a senior User Experience Architect for Imagination for three and half years. I returned to Dublin in 2018 to start a new job as a Digital Product Designer in Workday in Smithfield just across the river from NCAD.

I’ve gained lots of experience and understanding from every job I’ve had, even from my first part time jobs in Centra and Penneys.  

The robust education I got in studying industrial design at NCAD has given me so many transferable skills that I’ve been able to utilise in every job I’ve had. I really believe Industrial Design is such a versatile course, it’s applicable to so many industries and sectors. 

What is the one experience during your time at NCAD that has informed you most in your career and work to date?

Learning to work with people with very different opinions and approaches and seeing it as a net positive for the project at hand. Being able to compromise on your personal approach to work to allow for multiple viewpoints is a very important skill in my working life. I won’t say it was easy learning those skills - but growth can sometimes hurt!  

If you were chatting with current NCAD students today what is the one piece of advice you would offer?

Take the opportunity to explore exciting and unusual ideas and problems in your work in college because it can be difficult to get the opportunity to do those kinds of passion projects in the working world. When working in the industry, there are business constraints and budgets that really limit the scope of what is possible. College offers you the most free time to explore without such heavy constraints.

What new opportunities have developed for you as a result of changes in work practice during the Covid pandemic?

Work has been a lot more flexible and my work life balance has improved immensely. The flipside of that is that communication and community has suffered. We’re in a really interesting time where we’re figuring out what a post-Covid hybrid way of working looks like. And as always there are pros and cons to everything!

Links:

Defuse Talk 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLAk16Z4tYs

Mobile UX conf 2016: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPPFhxj8moo 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenngr/