The Winding Path: My UX Design Journey
I was fascinated with design since I was a young. My mom bought me an illustration book called How To Draw, The Marvel Way. I really appreciated the illustrations and sketches in the book. Some of them were too difficult to draw at the time, but I began to revisit the book often as I grew up.
Eventually, I ended up leaving high school on a soccer and art scholarship. This led me to UNC Asheville, where I majored in Fine Arts with an emphasis on photography. Having a background in fine arts and liberal arts has truly shaped my way of thinking. I approach issues with a mindset, that allows me to compartmentalize my objectivity and begin to process information in a way that tries best to remove as much bias as possible.
The act of drawing and sketching has permeated its way deep into all things that I love. If I want to think of how to achieve a goal, I fall back on my drawing courses and come up with quick sketches that allow me to visualize and achieve what I want. Photography and film has also helped me because I learned how to block shots to tell a story with narrative and five-act structure. This is often the case when conceptualizing a product or service in UX research and design.
Later on in life I graduated and moved to the OBX. I moved to the beach, worked as a screen printer, managed a surf shop, cleaned windows and beach homes, painted rental houses, surfed beaches and couches.
One day, I decided to leave the OBX. The seasonal work was too difficult for me to make a living and I decided to live with my older brother Robert in Raleigh, NC. I have lived in Raleigh ever since. Raleigh has been good to me. I studied simulation and game development. I began working seasonally for Ubisoft in Morrisville, NC. I became a bartender. I sold computers. I did landscaping. I moved furniture and I did security. I worked a lot of jobs to pay my rent.
I had fallen on hard times. I was existing, but not living. I worked as a bartender often. I earned good money, but I did not feel like I was living to my fullest potential. I began to question often how I could get back into pursuing a career that utilizes technology to enhance my love for design.
I often thought about working again for a AAA title video game company. Maybe I would go back to Ubisoft and try my luck with another application in 3D animation? Maybe, I would learn more about programming and get a career involving web design?
Then, after long months under COVID-19 restrictions, I saw an advertisement on Instagram. Thinkful was offering a chance to take an intensive bootcamp program.
My experience in all my fields were going to be challenged and tested. I felt like a student in a sociology or anthropology course and at the same time I was thrown back into my fine arts and design courses at UNC Asheville. I learned UX design tools like Google Analytics, Figma, Miro, Sketch, Squarespace, Webflow and other programs.
With these new tools came newly learned skills. Skills, that I had to hone. Skills like conducting surveys, gathering data, creating user flows, making wireframes and clickable prototypes. These skills have the capability to emulate a client and agencies potential product or service and really impress them with potential possibilities.
The only way to truly master these skills is to keep on this winding path of learning. I have come this far and I don’t plan on stopping. Like the Pablo Picasso once said, “Everything you can imagine is real”. This has been a creed of mine for quite sometime.
I want to become involved in the production of AAA title video games. I also want make creative solutions for complex issues for lots of companies, not just companies that make video games. Why not do both? With augmented reality and virtual reality soon becoming readily available, I see myself finding a niche among these emerging fields in UX and UI design.
With my background in liberal arts, fine arts and technology I can begin to realize that all along I was meant to become a UX designer. It has been a long and winding road for me, but, every step of the journey has allowed me to become the person I am today. And, those experiences have shaped me to become a more empathetical and knowledgeable UX designer.
