Class 1

Reaffirmation of myself

I’m not sure exactly what to capture in this first entry, but I thought I’d give it a shot. Class 1 was basically: What is UX?

And I was sure this would be a snoozefest for me, but it was actually really encouraging to hear someone else define this very nebulous field in a way that was neither too prescriptive or too loosey-goosey.

Some moments that stood out for me:

1. Good job majoring in psych. My favorite subjects as a psych major were: Perception, developmental psych, and social/community psychology. How do we experience our world and what causes us to think as we do?
2. “A UX designer is a voice for the unheard user.” Yikes! Never thought of it quite that way.
3. I’ve been wondering how to evaluate myself and my progress, but it’s hard because good UX is so dependent on its context. So rather than trying to judge my skill at a single tool/skill, I also need to know when appropriately apply them.
4. Lastly, I’m never going to distinguish an affordance from a signifier! Damn you! Don Norman!