Things You Can't Tell By Looking At Me

So, I did a video for my UI class, and it's not too embarrassing...

Wrapping Up the Semester: Mobile/Interactive Design

I don't own a smartphone, and I had never even held a tablet before this class. I had an inkling I was behind the technology curve in that regard, but it was really cemented for me when, at the beginning of the semester, the professor, Pattie Belle Hastings, had us lay out our phones on a table so we could talk about the average user profile of the room. Out of the whole class, I was the only person who didn't have a smartphone. At least it was unique.

Yes, that does say 6:32 am. Don't judge.

From there on out, though, I had to do a lot of research to keep myself on par with the class. Even the most basic elements of apps, like menu structure and icon placement, I had to research. Personally, I think this gave me an edge, since I essentially had an excuse to really delve into the things that most smartphone users simply take for granted, learning about the design decisions that influence smartphone design. It also let me criticize the system a bit and find my own ways to do things (for better and for worse; I've never heard the phrase "This is a safe place to fail" so many times in my life!)

All told, I don't think I failed (Well, at least I hope not, since I kind of need this course to graduate in a few weeks!) I learned the most I ever have in any one class from Mobile/Interactive Design, mostly because I started out knowing so little. I feel like I was able to effectively research to make up for my technological deficiencies and come out with very strong designs and layouts. I really enjoy the field of UX/UI; it's something I would definitely consider for a career in the future. There's a nice cross-section of print design and game design in the field, it almost feels like that could be where my whole career as a designer has been headed all along!

And who knows, maybe one day I'll get a smartphone to test my own designs on :P

Deliberate Practice

I don't do nearly enough research outside of projects. Some of my design friends will spend hours looking through Behance, deviantArt, or Dribbble, percolating ideas and admiring work, but that's not me. Don't get me wrong, when it comes to doing projects, both personal and professional, I'm all over the place researching, looking at ideas and inspiration. But in my downtime, I find it difficult to sift through it all.

Of course, if I do want to get better at design research, I need to practice.

And as always, the things I read manage to shame me. One of the sections in the 99U book Maximize Your Potential, is all about building your expertise. One article in particular, Developing Mastery through Deliberate Practice, scolded me fairly effectively. "Practice undeniably lies at the heart of mastery," it reads. This isn't anything new to me; as a guitar player for six years now, I've seen the value of practice and the improvement it yields. Heck, if you want to see the value of deliberate practice, look at the harmonica, which supposedly takes only ten hours to 'master.' I've put the time in on that, and it shows.  I want to be a designer more so than a guitarist or a harmonica player, so I need to put in the work to prove it.

So, if I want to hone my creative mind, I have to start taking the deliberate practice to my design. One thing I've done toward that end is something I've taken to calling "tutorial binges." These are like the productive side of a Netflix binge, when I come across a neat tutorial on a site, I do it. Then, I hop to another one on that site and do it, and so on and so on, etc., etc. I've spent hours on sites like Tuts+ or the tutorial section of Creative Bloq, trying out little techniques and styles I can use in my projects. It's an ongoing process, and I won't be able to tell how much it helps until years down the line when I can hopefully look back and see improvement.

But rather than a corny line, I'll leave you with my favorite gif

(courtesy of colleghumor.com)