So What Exactly Did We Do This Week?
A look back at my future.
Friday’s are what is known as “Sprint Challenge” day. Now normally this is an intense day, but lucky for me it’s the first week. The challenge we were presented with is to summarize what I learned this week, and how it makes us feel.
I’m going to be honest, the first day was a lot of information because it combined two days’ worth of lecture into one. We discussed what UX is, and what it encompasses. UX design is any experience you have when you use a product. It asks who, what, where, why, when, and how about everything. UX designers want to get in the minds of consumers with the goal of make their life easier when using their product.
As a consensus, I have noticed that the general population views UX design as having something to do with strictly web design. This is the complete opposite of the truth. UX design has expanded into a wide variety of specializations:
- Content Strategist: Focuses on the content strategy and overall content structure for a product.
- Information Architect: Responsible for the structural design of a product, especially large or complex websites.
- Interaction Designer: Concerned with user interactions, motion, and animations and how they impact the user experience.
- UI Designer: Focuses on designing user interfaces for products.
- Unicorns: UX generalists who can do everything. They are called unicorns because they are incredibly rare.
- User Researcher: Research users and how they perceive problems that products try to solve.
- Usability Tester: Test products to ensure they are usable.
- UX Architect/Strategist: Focused on the big-picture user experience and guides the team towards a unified product vision.
- UX Designer: Responsible for designing a comprehensive user experience for a product.
- UX Engineer: Can refer to engineers who focus on implementing user experiences, or UX designers who can also implement their own designs in code.
- UX Writer: Focuses on writing copy and content for products that match a user’s understanding.
It’s just a matter of figuring out where your niche is and going for it. I’m excited to learn about each specialization and which I am going to relate to most.
That being said, we had to create a Unique Value Proposition (UVP). This is a short and simple description about ourselves that communicates what makes us special as a designer. My UVP is definitely a work in progress. I chose, “Kyla Oyamot is a former tattoo artist with a unique perspective looking to make waves in the User Experience world.” Although my UVP needs some work, it makes me proud of what I’m doing and causes me to feel that much closer to my goal of becoming a UX Designer.
Now to go with that UVP, we need to make sure we start our networking early. I created a Medium account and starting blogging. I created a Behance account, of which I still have no idea how to use. We were reminded to keep our social media cleaned up or completely private. I do have multiple social media apps, but most of what I post are tattoos, family pics, and memes. So, I am not too worried about my content.
I think creating a Medium account and blogging has been really good for me. I give kudos to Lambda for guiding myself and my cohort (if I may speak for them) out of our comfort zone. I never realized how much I missed writing, and how actually decent I am at it. It’s exciting for me to be able to share my thoughts as well as my art. I plan to keep my Medium account as honest, open, and thoughtful as possible. I am a little hesitant because I’ve never done this consistently. I’ve always had the intention, but thanks to Lambda, I am going to hold myself accountable. That is one of the most important goals I have going forward: to be accountable and consistent.
The next thing we learned was common UX misconceptions. I did create a blog about this in my previous post. To summarize, UX is commonly confused with User Interface, Customer Experience, and Product Manager. I enjoyed the clarification, and am confident with the path I have chosen, to become a UX designer.
Lastly, we worked on embracing the UX mentality. Being a UX designer is not just a profession but a mindset and world view. Not only do you need to be a good designer, but you should also remain curious, empathetic, and have a user-first focus. This mentality excites me. I relate to all these qualities and feel the culmination of my life’s experiences have brought me here to Lambda School to become a UX designer.
Overall, I feel incredibly excited and grateful for this opportunity to learn this ever-expanding field. As far as fears, I don’t really have too many. I just worry about being burnt out and tired, but hey! that is most everyone’s fear when they start a new path while still needing to support themselves. I am comforted in knowing I can rely on my classmates and PM’s and teachers. There is so much support within Lambda, my worries subside a little more as time goes on.
