This course has been the most daunting of my college career so far. Although I've taken classes which subject matter was new to me, like speech or statistics, this is the first class that has to do with my degree that I wasn't confident in my abilities to create good work. I remember coming to the first day of class not knowing what this class would be about and only that I was required to take it for my major. When I found out it was a UX class I was shocked, even though it totally makes sense with the name of the class. I had actually been talking to a co-worker a lot over the summer about UX and UI Design, because she is really interested in it (and actually just got accepted as a transfer student!). Through all of our talks about her UX experience, I never expected that I would be doing work so narrowed into the topic as well!
This class has taught me a lot, especially about software I didn't know even existed. The first project in Adobe XD was daunting, but extremely informative on how the rest of the class would go. Just as soon as I thought I found my footing, Meena hit us with the SC HOC project and I had to learn how to use Word. That was a huge curve ball and extremely difficult but also beneficial in a general knowledge of a wide range of software. I appreciate that this class had different software requirements for almost every project. Although it was a pain, I do think I also learned how effectively learn something quickly, which Meena has repeatedly talked about how much of an asset that is as a designer, if not a requirement.
One thing that has really stuck with me is the idea of people not reading things. After getting this advice, I noticed that I often fluff up my work with a lot of words that are unnecessary. Even while editing these blog, I almost put at the bottom "Posted on Month XX, 2022", until I realized I don't need that at all. only need the date, and I can communicate the other information with a change in the text, whether that be color or italicizing. This started to really stick after I heard Dean talk about website design at truematterUX.
I also, surprisingly, loved the coding exercises. I thought they were a lot of fun, and was kind of sad when they were over. Maybe, spread them out a bit more. Coding is something that I've always been generally interested in, but never thought I would be able to learn or comprehend it, so the very user-friendly modules were a huge help. It was also nice to use a website that was so focused on the user in a class like this. It was a good example of many things we talked about in lecture. Meena is good at picking out examples and supplementary material that backs up what she's saying, without having to explain it. They just have good design!
After we went to truematterUX, Meena talked about how a lot of illustrators end up changing course and going into UX Design like she did. Although, I do think I learned a lot of beneficial things in this class, I'm still pretty sure that UX is not what I want to do for the rest of my life, and honestly, I don't think I'm suited for it. Although, I put out generally good work, I couldn't help but be much more impressed by a number of my classmates who I believe will do great things in UX while I will do something much different. However, even if I don't go into UX Design, I definitely learned a lot of skills that I will carry into my career.
December 5, 2022