Relating Me to UXD
Hello there! I’m Ymmannuelle. You can also call me Emms. :)
My academic and career background is in Computer Science and IT; however, I’ve had an interest in psychology due to my principle that “everyone has a unique story”.
When I stumbled upon the growing discipline of User Experience Design, I had a eureka moment. UXD marries my IT background with my life principle!
Because of that, I have started to steer my career towards UXD while bringing with me a slew of skills from my diverse experience in software development, QA and testing, project management, and audit and compliance.
My Experiences and UXD
Where Am I Now?
I completed a specialisation course in Coursera on Interaction Design. While my interest lies in user research, content strategy, user testing and information architecture, the course exposed me to the different aspects of UXD.
Below had been some of the work that I did in the online course.
The Goal
Let me begin with a story…
A few years ago I stayed at a friend’s place in London. The first time I had shower in her place, I could not figure out how to operate it. I ended up crouching and squatting and taking a bath on the faucet under the shower! Relaying this story to my friend, she simply said I should have discovered it since I was a QA analyst. I felt bad for not being able to discover how to turn on the shower, even though I spent a considerable amount of time trying to find out how to get the water out of the shower.
Fast forward to the present, and I will quote…
Two of the most important characteristics of good design are discoverability and understanding.”
― Donald A. Norman
If the system lets you make the error, it is badly designed. And if the system induces you to make the error, then it is really badly designed.”
― Donald A. Norman
Therefore, nobody should feel bad about bad design. I want to matter by making people’s lives, in this digital age of apps and products, easier by designing products that are useful rather than encumber, that enable rather than disappoint, and that empower rather than limit.