My experience of crossing over from traditional design to UX/UI.

The upside down guide for designers.

Okay so maybe I’m tapping into pop culture a bit, but it’s a good setup to talk about crossing over from two parallel worlds.

I recently joined the amazing Life.Church interactive team as a UX Designer. Before this, I was in the daily grind as a traditional Graphic Designer. I’m sure there are others out there just like me, a traditional designer with my head in the digital clouds. Maybe you find yourself thinking about switching things up and moving into the world of wireframes, user stories, and prototypes. I share my journey so far, and hope it inspires you to find the confidence to do that same.

No longer designing with a fixed mindset.

I’ve always strongly believed that a strong sense of design transcends time and titles. So far I’ve found this to be true. I am fortunate to have graduated with a BFA in Graphic Design. Not saying this is the only route, but taking the time to study and practice basic design principles in a controlled environment builds a strong foundation for future problem solving. That said, much has translated over into the world of UX.

The biggest challenge is that things aren’t fixed.

For years, I‘ve problem solved within fixed environments and isolated contexts. A business card is meant to do mainly one thing and usually contains specific info. I know longer need to be thinking in fixed fields. The digital world is almost frameless. Having a boundless playground is fun, but also disorienting. I find that asking more questions frames the problem; so the better the questions, the better the solution.

What value am I building into a product?

A challenging question that is not always immediately apparent. When someone interacts with this thing, what about it is going to bring value to their life. Is it just white noise, or will it enrich their life.

Value = what you get / what you give

Printed goods are mostly face value. Their are a few layers a designer can use to their advantage. For instance, the type of paper can speak volumes about the quality and love behind a piece. But for the most part, design is relatively flat and one dimensional. I now think more like an architect than ever before.

Ironically, I initially studied architecture my freshman year of college. So some of the same things that attracted me to that profession, I now get to practice. I now think of users being like people in buildings. Space, proximity, size, and texture play into how pleasant an environment is to interact with.

So every pixel and interaction is put under the microscope. Build value. Don’t take it away.

My approach isn’t the only thing that has shifted. I’ve needed to add a few new tools to my bag. Here‘s what I use on a daily bases.

Sketch

I initially thought this would be an intimidating process, but it’s not like learning Ps or Ai for the first time. Sketch is fairly intuitive. There are plenty of resources out there to quickly learn the in’s and out’s. New helpful plugins almost seem added daily. There is a free trial version available. Download it and give it a test drive.

Zeplin

When things are ready to ship for development, Zeplin comes in very handy. With a simple command+E, your Sketch file is exported and ready to hand over to a developer. Zeplin has the ability to break the elements down and translate components into simple code, this is really helpful for pixel perfect design. Have a quick last minute change? No worries, Zeplin updates seamlessly with Sketch.

InVision

I use this for quick simple prototyping. It also has more robust features that help teams collaborate and give feedback. This is a great tool for stakeholder presentations. It gives viewers the ability to see your design in action with investing a lot of time into development.

All in all, the role of Graphic Designer and Interactive Designer translate really well. Each requires a practiced knowledge of solid design principles. The tools are similar and prototyping is an easily acquired skill. I still have a lot to learn, but a month(ish) into the job and things are running an all cylinders. So if your thinking crossing over, don’t let the unknown be the thing that stops you. Let this be a twinkling light among many that guides you to the upside down.

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Have a question? I’d love to chat! Leave a comment below, and I will try to respond quickly.