Week 1 reflections
Back to school. Since graduating 6 years ago from Fashion Design I considered a range of Masters degrees, in textile innovation, in marketing, or graphic design. What made me finally decide to take the leap and study UX design at Falmouth?
I’m at a stage in my career where I have explored diverse ways of working. From fashion industry workaholic to living in a digital nomad community in the jungle, teaching myself graphic design and co-founding a creative studio. I’m lucky to have learnt a lot from colleagues and collaborators, made plenty of mistakes and learnt a wealth of lessons along the way.
In the past two years of running Ardea Creative with my business partner, I’ve come to realise that there are some areas of my knowledge and experience that I’d like to explore further. I’ve found myself to be a natural project manager, clients are relieved when I take control of their projects and organise their workflow. I enjoy research and combining data with creative design to communicate messages that people relate to. I enjoy creating digital experiences that marry the playful and the functional. All of these things I’m doing okay, but I know that with some challenging and pushing from an academic and professional perspective, I will be able to better my skills and further my impact as a UI/UX designer.
I believe that the Masters in UX design will be an excellent entry to working on more complex projects with bigger teams, that I will develop my eye for detail and commitment to accessible, easy & fun to use digital interfaces. I believe that I’ll be able to take on projects for organisations that I care about with more confidence and able to offer more value to my clients.
I’d also like to explore the human – digital relationship. Gather data on how we’re being affected mentally and physically by the digital interfaces we interact with on a daily basis. How our close contact with technology affects our relationships and our way of being in the physical world. Overall physical and mental wellbeing is of upmost importance to me, I have been enjoying listening to the Podcast Your Undivided Attention from The Centre of Humane Technology (Harris et al 2020) to start learning from experts in this area.
I would love to hear of any other Podcasts or other content that covers this topic, please do share in the comments.
My Goals
As part of my Masters degree we’re encouraged to reflect on our goals for the upcoming years, imagining where our studies and professional development in UX will take us. So here goes:
• Develop my own creative methodologies & rapid ideation models so that I have a streamlined design process that works for me and my team members.
• I will be able to present data and research-driven strategy to stakeholders so that they trust in me to deliver their desired outcomes for a project.
• I will explore innovation and gain the skills to have an impact in the areas that interest me, including: climate action, fem-tech, mental health.
• Supplement my UI Design skills with UX skills, particularly an eye for detail, function and usability, to confidently create beautiful, fun and easy-to-use digital interfaces.
• Become more confident writing about my fields of interest and gain theoretical knowledge in the fields of UX and human-computer interaction so that I will be able to back up my opinions with data & facts.
References
HARRIS, T & RASKIN, I. 2020 – 2021. Your Undivided Attention. The Centre For Humane Technology [online]. Available at: https://www.humanetech.com/podcast
Fig 1. Personal photo. Taken by author. 2020.