2017 Design Resolutions

During the month of January of 2017, we find resolutions to be a common practice for the goal-setter. Professional growth and perfecting our craft is very important to our design team. We asked our team members:

What is important to you and your growth as a designer?

What is your design focus for the new year?

What goals do you hope to accomplish in the new year as a designer?

How do you plan to tackle those goals?

Let’s hear what they said!

Adaoha said,

“The most important thing for me as a designer is continuous growth. I have this phobia of becoming irrelevant and design is an ever growing field, so I like to hone my skills each day. I also make sure to read an article a day to stay current.

Learning new tools! As I mentioned before, I have a big phobia of becoming irrelevant, so my main focus this year is learning new tools. My top three are: UXPin, Invision, and Framer. Next … Prototyping! Prototyping! Prototyping! Third, user research and fourth usability testing. My first few months back on the Poughkeepsie site were focused on creating mockups and wireframes. This year I would love to focus on actual prototyping to show interactivity. This would make life such much easier when it comes to getting my designs in front of users.

Onboarding my team with Sketch as a tool. Since the start of the 100 Day UI Challenge and IBM Design Camp, the main tool of choice for designers alike was and still is Sketch. And so far my team has been working with two different tools, Axure & Sketch. It would be great if we could all unify on one tool. This would make updates and sharing much easier. If I could get them to completely migrate from Axure to Sketch, I’d say that’s a huge win!

I’m planning on having tutorials, maybe lunch and learns. So far, I’ve been creating templates and organizing my files in such a way that you can play with resuable elements, building libraries and making my designs scalable.”

Ann said,

“When I think of the times that I’ve felt like I’d really grown as a designer they were mostly in situations of discomfort at first. Anytime I’m trying something new or facing a challenge I hadn’t considered before, it’s uncomfortable, but that’s the space in which I grow the most. Being surrounded by inspiring people who are energized and passionate about there work definitely helps me as well. Those are the most important pieces I would say: new (slightly uncomfortable) experiences and engaging mentors.

My role in my day-to-day job has changed to involve less of a visual design practice, so this 100 Day UI Challenge and any other side projects I take on have become even more important to me. When I look at the design field there are so many areas to focus on and specialties to discover. I’m hoping to explore hand lettering a bit this year. I also want to work with new tools for prototyping interactions.

By the end of 2017, I plan to have a much more robust portfolio that represents me and my style (I’ve been wanting to dedicate time to it for a while, and this year is the year!). I also hope to spread Design Thinking throughout our company and change the way people think about products. And of course, in 2017 I will complete the 75 UIs I have left in our 100 UI Challenge!

I’m a firm believer in planning and to-do lists. I don’t always stick to them after I make them though, which is the much bigger problem. I recently just started a notebook to keep track of pretty much everything in my life (which is a dream come true for an organization freak like me), so I will use that and my rainbow collection of post-it notes to keep things on track. I also really like to tell a trusted friend or mentor exactly what I hope to accomplish and by when. I find that I’m more sensitive to disappointing others than I am to disappointing myself.”

Kevin said,

“Three things that I believe are important to succeed in anything are knowledge, the drive to innovate, and consistent practice. So, this year, I plan to read at least a few books related to usability and user-centered design, try to make my own discoveries in the field, and practice the skills that I learn as consistently as possible.

Three words: real world validation. Sure, I’ve made my share of designs over the last few years, but I haven’t often sought out ways to improve upon those designs. So this year, I plan to seek out more useful feedback from friends, family, and other potential users so that in the end, I’m designing for them, not at them.

In 2017, I hope to become more knowledgeable about the field of design and the direction in which it is headed, to give back to my local community in a creative way, and to develop something that I can be really proud of. New year, same me — just a more polished version.

With a very visible progress schedule. And by very visible, I mean in my face, every day. I’ve used this method before and I’ve found it to be a great motivator while at the same time acting as a surefire way to hold myself accountable — there’s no room for excuses when you’ve accumulated rows of red slashes across your calendar. However, it’s unquestionably encouraging to see yourself string together a number of green slashes. Don’t break the chain — consistency is key!”

Theresa said,

“It’s important to me that I continually grow as a designer and not let myself get stuck in any one routine. My biggest fear is finding myself in a design rut! When you are first starting out, everything is new and exciting and you want to try different tools, different styles, different ways of working, anything different at all. I think that it’s important to always look at design like that and force yourself out of your comfort zone. So it’s important for me to never get bored with my own work and constantly be trying new things.

Because I think it’s important that I don’t get stuck in a rut, my design focus is to challenge myself. Whether its challenge myself to creating a new UI every day or learning a tool I never thought I’d need to use, my focus is to continuously be pushing myself this year.

My goals this year are to broaden my horizons and skill sets. I know I wont be a pro in anything over night, but I want to make sure I’m “in the know” about the latest trends and am at least doing everything I can to build those skills and move along the path to pro.

I plan to tackle these goals using some good organization and documenting everything in a notes file. I am keeping track of interesting articles I read, new tools I try, and projects I am working on. I’m hoping that holding myself accountable will not only inspire me to build that notes file more and more, but will also help me to see where I’m still lacking and could grow more as a designer.”

Yasmine (that’s me! that’s me!) said,

“The most important thing to my growth as a designer is continuously learning. Readings news articles, books, blogs, etc. Learning new skills such as design programs and tools. Attending workshops, webinars, conferences, etc.

My design focus of the new is professional growth and presence. The first quarter of the year I plan to redesign my portfolio, resume, post more on my Dribbble account, tweet more, in order to enhance my presence. For my growth, I plan on finishing a 3 month design training, complete one my passion projects (website redesign), and get back on board with the 100 Day UI Challenge.

I plan to tackle these goals by journaling every morning: my goal focus of the day, my targets to complete these goals, an hour by hour schedule of when I’ll work on these goals). Every night I intend to journal my wins, my areas for improvements, and what tasks were carried over.”