Growth
Growth and learning in the areas of design, business, and life in general, are very important to me. Recently, I’ve been focused on going beyond the pixels, to improve my design process and strategic thinking. Here are some of the areas and ways that I’ve been emphasizing growth both this year and in the past.
PODCAST
During the pandemic, a UX research friend and I started We’re Jabbin’, a weekly podcast where we discuss and debate topics broadly related to the field of UX design and research.
If you are interested in learning more about my passion for design and why I am constantly enraptured by this field, this episode goes into this topic in depth.
READING
I love reading in order to continue learning, having read over 160 books in the past 5 years.
Most of the books I read fall into one of three categories: Social Sciences, Autobiographies, and Design. I especially like to dive deep into topics once my interest gets piqued—recently, I’ve been diving deeply into OOUX and the related field of Semantic IxD.
See a running list of the books I’ve read along with their ratings.
Client work (wireframe) for a dashboard redesign
DATA VISUaLIZATION
One design topic that I have particularly explored deeply has been data visualization. In September 2019, I had the opportunity to deliver a work presentation on “Visualizing Data for Presentations, Dashboards, and UIs”.
UI DESIGN Practice
In 2019, I particularly emphasized a daily study and practice of UI and visual design.
I read numerous books, invested a considerable amount of resources into several online courses, and practiced getting better at UI design everyday. While I have had more formal training in UX and Business (in graduate school), I’ve enjoyed diving into UI and visual design on my own.
Phase4, a tool to measure product/market fit that colleagues and I pitched to Ford leadership.
“MBA TO UX DESIGN” KEYNOTE
In the fall of 2018, I was afforded the opportunity to give the keynote speech at the annual Design + Business conference at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.
My talk, geared towards business school student interested in design and design thinking, touched on my journey from business school and thinking about entrepreneurship to a career in UX and product design.
CEREBRAL STROLLS AT FORDLABS
One of the the practices, I kicked off during my time at FordLabs was the concept of Cerebral Strolls. The health, mental, and creative benefits of walks are well documented, and I wanted to combine this with interesting conversations to bring new ideas and innovation to the Labs.
Cerebral Strolls was a program where 2-3 employees were randomly grouped together once a week to go on an hour walk, taking a few conversation starters with them to entice interesting conversations and new ideas.
Diversity and inclusion
I’m a strong believer in the benefits of diverse teams and organizations for better outcomes (and workplace culture). Working with others at FordLabs, we started the Diversity and Inclusion Crew, with an aim to improve the diversity and inclusion at our office.