The field of design is so much more than its aesthetic side. Beyond graphics, illustration, typography, and art, there’s a whole world under the design umbrella that fuses both strategy and vision. That’s where UX (user experience) research exists, an essential element of the design process that keeps the user’s point-of-view front and center. It’s not just data collection and trend analysis or studying and interpreting customer needs – it’s a creative expedition into a business’ innovation potential.

MacKenzie “Mac” Baker is a UX researcher for Disney. Her position is one that lives at the synergetic junction of design, technology, and entertainment. From developing research plans, meeting with stakeholders, and interviewing users to conducting focus groups and sending out surveys, Baker’s mission is to grow and enhance Disney’s streaming platforms, Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, and Star+ by converging her tech and media ingenuity. 

“When I graduated I didn’t even know UX research was a career of its own … I always thought of it as a component of UX design. That’s what you do in the beginning before you start drafting designs. You ask customers questions, you try to figure out what kinds of problems they have … I realized this is my favorite part of the design process,” Baker explains. “It was really kind of a no-brainer for me. I think when I graduated from the Academy I always knew I wanted to go into UX. At the time I just didn’t know UX research existed.”

Baker kicked off her career as a designer at Bank of America. After discovering a love for user interviews, surveys, and “making sense of the chaos,” the company allowed her to switch into a full-on research role. With a longtime interest in entertainment igniting further aspirations, Baker decided to enhance her professional pivot and follow her dreams to Disney. She’s working proof that an eye-opening trajectory can guide you to a career “aha” moment. 

 As a USC Iovine and Young Academy alum, Baker’s academic training was interdisciplinary and fittingly unconventional. She remembers forgoing textbooks for learning digital skills like Adobe Photoshop, 3D modeling and exploring interests such as cinema. Throughout her studies, Baker flexed her technological, artistic and entrepreneurial muscles, even launching her own startup, Nomi, a platform that partners with restaurants to provide “QR-enabled menus built with allergies and diets and mind” in her senior year.

For Baker, the Academy's unparalleled “emphasis on doing” has had a major impact on how she approaches work and life at Disney and beyond. From pitching executives, design, sculpture, to software engineering, Baker’s college experience allowed her to emerge from school with a differentiating versatility in the workplace.

“I always felt being a jack-of-all-trades is important and can only help you in a professional setting, especially even at a large corporation like Bank of America or Disney, where I find myself having to wear many different hats. As a researcher it’s really helpful that I have the design skills to create a prototype or create a visual design that can then be used in testing, having that skillset, and making sure we’re on top of trends in that industry.” 

Baker is embodying that “Mac of all trades'' philosophy in her job now. It’s clear the Academy paved the way for her multifaceted role as a UX researcher, a position that feels organic to her, working alongside collaborators with diverse points-of-view. Community and intersectionality is at the heart of Baker’s academic history and the professional title she assuredly embraces today. 

“Maybe I have an interesting perspective on this because I’m in such a unique field, but UX research is very small, it’s very new as an area. Because of that, all of the people I work with have crazy different backgrounds. Some of them were special education teachers, some are PhDs in cognitive science, some people are computer science. I felt very natural being a part of it,” she expresses. “I felt like I could relate to a lot of my coworkers because I have an intersectional degree.”

The field of design is so much more than its aesthetic side. Beyond graphics, illustration, typography, and art, there’s a whole world that fuses both strategy and vision. MacKenzie “Mac” Baker set out for a career in design and unearthed a facet of the field that might not be on everyone’s radar–user experience research. Now she’s a UX researcher at Disney in a position that lives at the synergetic junction of design, technology, and entertainment. What does a UX researcher do and how did she land an unexpected dream job?

A Different Side of Design: Discovering a Career in UX Research

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