Turn it up to 11
A reflection on my journey becoming user experience designer
A year-long, project-based, accelerated graduate program
How did I end up here? Looking back to 2018 I found myself stuck in my career path. I had taken what was supposed to be a temporary job in the mental health field a few years earlier. While I found it interesting, after some time, I learned I was not that passionate about it. Little did I know that my experience there would help me on my design path developing soft and leadership skills. At its core design is about empathy for users/customers who are just people. Knowing that nothing would change if I didn’t put the work in, I looked at my options. I decided to give Graduate school a serious look, something I had never considered before. Having studied graphic design during my undergrad, and wanting to get back on that path. I looked into UX focused programs. I applied to several, which had its own set of hurdles. In the end, I picked the CMCI Studio program at CU Boulder. Flash forward to 2019 I went all in, I quit my job and moved to Boulder, CO.
Time, Teamwork, and hitting the ground running
Like anything new, I felt a mix of emotions on my first day. I was excited at all the possibilities the year held. I knew from talking with others that I was essentially paying for time, time to fail, time to learn, play, and grow. I assure you the year was filled with all of those things and more. One aspect of grad school I hadn’t factored in was how close I would get to my cohort. The 18 of us are the 11 class of what started out as Boulder Digital Works and then BDW. At the time it was considered a groundbreaking program and while it has become more formal, it still has its original spirit. While we all have very diverse backgrounds, one of the many unique aspects of Studio, we all worked well together (some conflicts but that’s normal).
In the first two days, we did several workshops to get to know each other and more importantly, to get to know ourselves. In retrospect, this was a powerful way to start things off. We were introduced to Foresight, a method of finding out what type of creative thinker you are. I learned that I am an Ideator, knowing this so early on helped me focus on the areas I wasn’t as strong and lead in the areas I was naturally good at. This also helped me navigate what it means when working in a team setting. Design leadership was a new focus of the program this year and I found it to be very valuable.
It’s one louder, It’s not 10
– Nigel Tufnel | This is Spinal Tap
The first semester had what felt like slow weeks and lighting fast ones. While user experience fundamentals were the focus of the first half of the fall semester, we really were focused on learning how to learn. This idea is at the heart of the Studio program and has helped me along the path to today. The class that embodied this the most for me was Critical Making studio. Each week the class was introduced to a new media, technology, or process. We covered topics from basic coding, physical computing, CAD, 3D printing, CNC milling, and more. After getting a feeling for how and what something worked we were set loose to apply it to an idea we wanted to communicate or prototype. Most of my weeks in that class were comprised of failures, but once I figured it out and got it working it made the win taste that much sweeter. This class really helped me learn how to fail and learn from it quickly. It also got me in the habit of documenting my process, something I never really did before. This was key in producing a weekly blog post about that week’s project. Writing about design is not the same as writing about other topics. While there are many technical aspects to any given project, there is the emotion, the struggle, the win aspects too. Finding the right balance I found to be key in writing an interesting post. I also enjoyed the mix of physical and digital aspects of most of the projects. I have a background in letterpress printing, something you know if you have been following me along on this blog. I love that the tools, skills, and thinking I have learned in this program can just as easily be applied to something as antiquated as letterpress printing. At times I found this course to be the most time-consuming. This was in part to a given week’s topic. Only having seven days per project, I quickly learned how to wrangle realistic goals with meeting project requirements.
Time management
Perhaps one of the most important skills not just for grad school but for life is the management of one’s time. Adjusting to a dramatic life change has a set of challenges but I found this one harder to figure out. One of the many topics we covered in the Design leadership course was a healthy work-life balance. I found it to be helpful and practical. The spring semester put all my skills to the test. It was the heaviest credit hour load with a whopping 15 hrs + a Lab. For those of you wondering that is five classes and a three-hour lab. At times I felt like I was drowning in work but always managed to pull through. It was during this semester that team projects were at their peak too. My time management skills pull through in accommodating my schedule and those on my teams. While showing up to class and meetings is an easy task, it was the long workdays and nights that I look back on with pride. It was in the moments I applied the skills and techniques I had learned. Managing time is just one pivot skill I mastered in the past year. Little did I know that a global event would not only influence my learning but the projects and products themselves I was working on.
Going remote
Like most of the world, my program transitioned to remote learning in early March 2020 due to COVID-19. Having had a few classes over Zoom in the fall semester due to heavy snow, we had a fairly smooth transition to remote learning. That’s not to say mistakes were not made but I viewed them as opportunities to apply my design skills to solve them. In looking back I am extremely grateful that I had the time to get to know the personalities and working styles of my peers and instructors while in-person. This made group work and reaching out for help a lot easier and helped us all adapt faster.
It was also during this time I struggled the most during the program. I found myself alone in my studio apartment a lot. Before going remote this was not a problem, I could go to the gym, work on campus at the library or Idea Forge, meet up with a peer at our off-campus studio space. At that time I also felt the loss and joy of once being able to design something digitally and physically producing in one of the CU maker spaces. This process and act of making is uplifting and empowering. It gave me the confidence to dream and create. It set the mindset of “no excuses, only opportunities” for me, but with everything shutdown, I felt defeated for a time.
Another aspect of the Studio program that I liked is the instructors, many graduates of the program, are working in the field in addition to teaching. This help throughout the program but I found to be the most helpful during this remote transition. Some shared how they and their companies pivoted projects and timelines to help navigate the new reality. This opened my eyes and got me excited to apply the current pandemic lens to the projects and products I was working on. This ultimately made them stronger and helped to weed out weak ideas.
Hindsight is 2020
Having what ended up being a hybrid program I feel confident and more skilled for the real world. I don’t think working remotely would be something I would have considered before but I now feel confident to do so. I know I can figure out how to do something if I don’t know how too. I know I will look back at this time with fond memories and look forward to the time when I can return as a mentor to a future class.
Thank you to everyone who supported me on this journey.
And to my cohort peers, remember you have the skills to TURN IT UP TO 11.
