My First Day in UI/UX
For me, Techies are the most amazing set of people; like the real deal! I mean, it takes a lot of intelligence to write codes. Not to talk of the time and commitment usually put into it. I was practically satisfied and happy to have this set of people as friends and buddies even when I had no iota of interest whatsoever. My lack of interest was obvious whenever the topic came up and I told myself that I would never go into computers or software.
I kept running from it until it caught up with me. You know how? I study mathematics. As a student of mathematics, I have had to deal with different soft wares like R, Python, LaTex, MatLab, and likes. It took me two years to realize that I had to do something about the trap I had set for myself.
For me to do well in school, I realized that there were two things involved; one was to source out all my coding assignments to colleagues, the other was to embrace these softwares and learn them. I decided there and then to stop running away and face my fears. Something I always say inspired me; “What is worth doing at all is worth doing well.”
Now, I was ready to be a Techie. I didn’t have any clues as to what I was doing but, I wasn’t scared anymore. I started with Python then, I came across UI/UX.
UI/UX is User Interface/User eXperience and it does not even deal with codes! What pushed me into it was the fact that I had determined to put my hands into whatever I could about softwares and tech. A friend introduced me to UI/UX and I became interested when I learnt that I didn’t need to code as a UI/UX designer. On the 27th of October, I attended an “ Open house session” hosted by Kitan David Consulting of 115Garage. This would be my best decision ever! We discussed the “Future of Work” My passion grew. Mr. Kitan David advised us to try out as many areas as possible (Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Web Design, Mobile Design, UI/UX Design, et.c) so, I decided to sign up for “The Experience Circle November Cohort” as soon as the opportunity came my way.
Up until my first class, UI/UX to me, meant front-end web design. First class was superb! I was able to understand what UI/UX really is and it was so much more than what I had in mind. In class I learnt that UI is different from UX. While a UI designer is concerned about how a User interface appears, a UX designer is also concerned about how users interact with the interface the UI designer has built.
Also, a designer’s top three skills are Creativity; I define this as the ability to put thoughts to paper and imaginations to realities, Emotional Intelligence; this is when a designer is able to stand in the shoes of the users of the interface he is building, and Persuasion; being able to influence users’ decision.
Furthermore, the simplest of things usually require a lot of processes. And, every detail of a design is intentional and has a purpose. There are no chances for mistakes.
Finally, statistics has it that by 2022, sixty-five million jobs will be lost due to technological advancement, machine learning and robotics while a hundred and thirty-three more jobs would be opened in this decade. It becomes imperative that as a young individual one plugs into this current trend and makes sure that he remains relevant to the society. This will also determine if he has to upskill or reskill altogether.
They say time waits for no one. It’s okay to be busy but more importantly, what are you busy about?
