How I Discovered My Passion for UI & UX Design

A self-reflection of personal aspirations.

Annie Chen
Sep 5, 2018 · 8 min read

As I look back at my interests, I am hit with the gravity of just how much the role of a UI & UX Designer is a fit to me as an individual.


Human Understanding

As someone who personally strives to be empathetic, open-minded and understanding, I challenge myself to get to know an individual before placing judgement. I love meeting new people, reading personal narratives, and philosophizing the multitude of equally valid, yet differing perspectives humans can have on a range of subjects. It’s fascinating to me to see polarizing views on identical topics, bidding me to ask: Why did that come to be? What shapes people’s opinions? How does experience and background influence attitudes? Seeking communities that strive for human understanding in college, I served on the leadership board of APSA (Asian Pacific Islander Student Alliance). In this organization, I led awareness efforts in subjects such as mental health, diversity, representation, LGBTQA+, privilege. In my spare time I created Label Fables, an online community where users can share and discuss the impact of labels in a safe and anonymous space. In my time in JPL, I co-founded a Women’s organization to create a wholesome environment where women can discuss subjects such as the Women’s March, Work-Life Balance, Higher Education, Communication. All in all, I strive to facilitate understanding and foster safe and educational communities.

Translating this to the topic of technology, I am fascinated with the connections humans have with the applications they use. A UX Designer works closely with each unique customer while paying heed to the goal of a product. Since technology can’t speak for itself, the designer becomes the facilitator of understanding. It is important to objectively and holistically approach bridging the gap between human interests and product interests. It is additionally important to be conscious of the impact that design can create on topics such as ethics and inclusion.

Questions that Human Understanding can address include:

  • What type of environment and community is your product creating?

Art & Design

Drawing for fun and fiddling with animation softwares since elementary school, I have always had a predilection towards art and design. I actively took classes in cross-hatching, acrylic painting, and still-life for the first half of my childhood. As I moved forward, my artistic endeavors spread into digital photography, digital illustration, vector art, graphic design, and interface design. I became fascinated with art that serves a meaningful, impactful purpose. Following various applications such as Facebook or Google, I am that person who notices every little UI change, ruminating over the pros and cons of each decision. I am that person who travels to a new city just to appreciate the novel architectural decisions, wondering why a structure was built the way it was. My most recent extracurricular engagements include serving as a Product Reviewer on the JPL UX Review Team and a Graphic Designer in the Dribbble community.

When addressing interface development, a designer needs a strong ability to create intuitive and clean applications. For example with the advent of responsive and mobile considerations, designing a successful product has multiple layers of consistency, clarity, and branding to address. Having a strong artistic eye and attention to detail for interface design certainly boosts a product’s marketability, aura of legitimacy, and strength in functionality.

Questions that Art & Design can address include:

  • How do you minimize the number of necessary steps a user needs to engage in?

Technology

It is without a doubt that I have found myself heavily involved in the technological world, having majored in Computer Science and taken on an area study in Cognitive Science with a specialization in Human-Computer Interaction. I am all too familiar with pulling all-nighters in the CS dungeon, debugging bug after bug until that euphoric moment where all your efforts pay off and the magic runs on your screen. Coding, video games, digital art, digital photography surround my everyday world. I am enamored by the boundless capabilities and efficiency technology has brought into our daily lives. I can still remember the moment I received my first iPod Touch. I was blown away by the ability to control the screen at the tip of my finger. Needless to say, technology has rapidly improved since that moment and I want to rapidly improve with it.

When approaching the design of interfaces, it is important and useful to be aware of technological trends in order to build up-to-date, strong products. For example, when approaching the task of a navigation bar there are a multitude of different options to consider such as a side navigation, sticky navigation, horizontal navigation, accordion navigation, etc. Depending on the goal of the application, certain navigations may be more suitable than others. Knowing what navigation types are available allows a designer to propose interface decisions that maximize the relevance and needs of users and application goals. Additionally, knowing how to code can give designers an edge towards understanding the programming complexity of interface decisions. By comprehending the length of development, designers are empowered to offer interface choices that realistically approach the development budget and time at hand.

Questions that Technology can address include:

  • What options are available to you when solving a problem?

Leadership/Constructive Criticism

Tracing back from K-12 through college through full-time work, I have actively taken on a multitude of leadership roles ranging from Student Council, Junior Varsity Captain, Board Positions, Team Lead, Technical Lead, Design Lead, Mentoring, Tutoring, and Product Reviewer. I am confident in my ability to lead and speak in front of crowds and teams of various sizes. I take responsibility and ownership to the role I am given, spending extra time to personally understand my team members, strengths, and weaknesses in an effort to help each other grow. I care very much about creating a team dynamic that is sustainable, trusting, and effective. That said, I am a strong believer in constructive criticism for both the good and the bad. Receiving objective feedback in all areas is important towards longterm growth in any role, and I am fully open to actively seeking this growth.

The ability to lead studies, engage with customers, and serve as a person of design expertise in a project just screams leadership, leadership, leadership. It takes a certain level of confidence in your work and ability to speak to maintain strong relations and facilitate understanding between multiple stakeholders. Furthermore, addressing every users’ needs calls upon iteration in design. It is important to receive active constructive criticism well and move forward with the work objectively.

Questions that Leadership/Constructive Criticism can address include:

  • Do you evoke a level of confidence and trust in your team?

Writing/Analysis

Whether it be poetry, personal narratives, technical, argumentative, comparative, philosophical, and everything in between, writing has always been my forte and a mode of critical thinking. I have a knack for explicit clarity that helps readers accurately understand the world from the perspective I craft through my words. I love how writing challenges me to think deeply and holistically analyze topics of various natures. Looking back at every writing course taken, I have consistently earned top marks, participated heavily in discussions, and rapidly improved from editors’ feedback. Related roles that I have actively taken on include serving as a Staff Writer for a student newspaper, a Mentor for the Writing Center @UCSD, and an Editor to countless peers throughout the years. In college, I have an area study in Literature with a specialization in Writing. And just for fun, I also keep a list of words that orally captivate my attention since middle school. (That list is still going!)

A UX Designer is heavily immersed in the role of analysis in various areas such as users, interface design, research, and design studies. The ability to objectively assess a multitude of requirements becomes vital when developing an application that best serves the needs and interests of all users. Furthermore, writing is directly important in the documentation process — to present findings in a clear and easy to understand manner.

Questions that Writing/Analysis can address include:

  • How was the study performed? What did your study achieve?

Documentation

Looking back, I have always found myself neatly keeping track of important events and items in my life. As a photographer, I strive to capture meaningful experiences visually. As a blogger, I push my thoughts and realizations into well-thought out words. As a student, I store significant work produced from the classes I take. As a planner, I actively mark down events on Google Calendar. Inundated with more and more experiences over time, I very much appreciate creating spaces where I can look back at my progress and discover noteworthy material at ease.

Documentation is essential when tasked with sharing the design process. The ability to showcase how and why a designer arrives at a decision becomes paramount when interacting with stakeholders who may not necessarily understand the role and work of a designer. The position is more often than not an educational role — one that requires proactively enlightening team members to the value and worth behind the process.

For brownie points, documentation is additionally essential for the ever-prized portfolio. Believe it or not, the most common question I’ve encountered when interacting with fellow designers and recruiters is, “Do you have a portfolio?” The ability to document work to showcase on a portfolio is critical for establishing credibility of accomplishments in the field.

Questions that Documentation can address include:

  • How are you establishing credibility to your recommendations?

All these areas —

- Human Understanding
- Art & Design
- Technology
- Leadership/Constructive Criticism
- Writing/Analysis
- Documentation

— are core to my identity.

I am grateful, confident, and happy to be in the role of a UI & UX Designer, my career passion!

Here’s to more drive, growth, and self-reflection. ♥

— — —

Annie Chen is a designer & developer.
You can follow her @:
Dribbble, Twitter, Behance, CodePen, Tumblr, Medium

Musings of a Designer

Thoughts and musings as I journey through the world of Design.

Annie Chen

Written by

A space to share my Design Journey

Musings of a Designer

Thoughts and musings as I journey through the world of Design.

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