Episode #30: Testing Cross-Device Experiences Step by Step with Romina Ideses

A cross-device experience asks more of a product team than resizing a familiar screen. The physical setting, input method, connected hardware, and user expectations can all change. In Episode 30, Romina Ideses explains how gradual testing and deliberate communication support her design work at Dialpad.

What you'll learn

• How graphic design, community events, and networking led Romina toward UX

• Why larger interface changes should be tested in smaller steps

• How design critiques and Figma prototypes create fast feedback loops

• What makes conference-room and connected-device experiences distinct

• How structured practice can build confidence in presentations

Learn UX through people as well as practice

Romina studied graphic design and became interested in design systems because they offered a way to create consistently and at scale. She saw visual design as communication rather than art alone. Her move toward UX developed over time through professional exposure, local community events in Buenos Aires, and conversations with people working across technology.

A friend helped introduce her to the local UX community. Romina attended talks and ProductTank events, where she met designers, engineers, product team members, studio employees, and freelancers. Those interactions let her hear how different disciplines approached the shared task of building digital products. Later work gave her more exposure to product thinking and the question of how to create something valuable for users.

Her path shows why networking is more than job seeking. A useful product community gives people access to different mental models. For designers, conversations with engineers and product managers can reveal constraints, decision processes, and definitions of value that are difficult to learn from design practice alone.

Test change in manageable steps

Romina's approach to feedback depends on the scale and type of project. A component update does not require the same process as a larger change. She cautions against changing an entire screen at once, based on an earlier experience where that approach did not work. Smaller steps make it easier to observe how people notice, understand, and use each change.

At Dialpad, design critiques and design reviews help the team test ideas and receive feedback quickly. The team also creates lightweight Figma prototypes, then speaks remotely with customers about what has been built. Romina presents these as practical ways to test ideas and gather feedback quickly. The critiques and reviews create an internal feedback loop, while the prototypes give the team something concrete to discuss with customers.

Her preference is to learn step by step from each screen change, including how people see it and learn to use it. She bases that preference on a past attempt to change an entire screen at once, which she says did not work.

Design for the device in its real setting

Dialpad brings calls, video, messages, and other communication functions into one application. Romina worked on a devices team rather than focusing only on mobile or desktop interfaces. She describes conference-room setups where a controller may connect with a computer and television, as well as devices with headsets, cameras, touchscreens, and different physical arrangements.

These contexts change interaction design. A phone is held close and operated directly with fingers. A conference-room controller may sit on a desk and be used at a different distance or angle, while its actions affect another screen. The product team has to understand not only the interface but the relationship among devices, the user's posture, and the shared environment.

Romina learned by examining how these devices worked and what competing products did with their controllers. For any team designing connected hardware experiences, this is a reminder to test beyond a desktop prototype. The real use context can introduce visibility, reach, coordination, and feedback issues that a single screen cannot represent.

Build communication confidence deliberately

Working with teammates in the United States and Canada made spoken English a significant daily challenge for Romina. She describes colleagues at Dialpad giving her patience and room to keep learning. The international environment was a major career step, but it also became a setting where she could develop through repeated use.

Presenting to a large audience had also made her feel insecure. She responded with specific practice rather than vague preparation. She recorded videos of herself speaking to observe her gestures, expressions, and hand movements. She created a structure before presenting, rehearsed, and used a stopwatch to check timing. Over time, that process helped her feel more confident communicating work she understood well.

This is relevant to product teams because design quality alone does not create alignment. Designers need to explain what they learned, why the direction follows from that learning, and where feedback is needed. A repeatable preparation routine can make those conversations clearer while confidence continues to develop.

Episode 30 connects thoughtful design iteration with the personal work of learning and communication. Listen to the full conversation for Romina's experience moving into UX, testing ideas at Dialpad, and adapting design decisions to connected devices.