As a User Experience designer and developer graduate, we must find our voice and angle when tackling the real professional world right after finishing or degree. The opportunities are endless one is to join a reputable non-per-profit organisation to endure a few placement months doing volunteer work or land a job as an intern and hope for promotion. The other reflection is to put ourselves out there and see if we have what it takes to go on as a freelancer *solopreneur.
I have been working as a professional designer for the last fifteen years. I have been on roles from screen printing in fashion, to branding for fast-moving consumer goods designing products and packaging for really heavyweight brands. At the time of my studies, apple computers were very new. I got to study the technology pretty much on my right after Design school, back then we only had the clanky Word Express and glimpses of Illustrator and Photoshop were still very new.
As I got better suited and became autodidactic of technologies, I got bitten by the bug of wanting to do some more. I frequently became, frustrated at not being able to design websites and grew frustrated at being at the mercy of web designers who back then really did not much about aesthetics and design principles. Therefore I once had to dive in headfirst to try to fix a website that a colleague left half-finished, so I made the mistake to raise my hand and go for the challenge. It was then that I decided that this thing was something that I could do and become great at.
I decided to study a postgraduate degree for UX and Web design that way, I could consolidate my branding, design and illustration skills all in one yielded into the digital realm. One thing is for certain studying web development is not for the heart faint, there are so many technical aspects which have to be methodically studied and thoroughly understood in order to advance to the next subject. In the end, if all elements technical and aesthetic are thorough and adhering to methods and processes taught, there is absolutely nothing that can go wrong. If it does, I feel confident that I can take a step back to advance and succeed in delivering a great product.
Reflection, a plan to succeed in a UX web-based world.
In respects of what I want to do, I have already taken the plunge into doing freelance as a UX as well as combining my branding and graphic design prowess. I have designed a number of webpages for clients that are starting their businesses and need to plant their brand as reputable business entities, some of these are also artistic figures which I know many.
I think that I can be of great service to start up and non-per-profit organisations, the word has got around and I have more and more clients wanting to work with my in the pipeline, so the business is getting better and better. My aim is to keep on growing as a consultant in UX and Branding services, so I have adhered to maverick groups of web agency owners and also to international UX groups in which we attend webinars and share Intel, skills and information online that can benefit us all as one.
I have also joined a couple of businesses schools for savvy digital agencies entrepreneurs as well as technology courses to further engage in new UX skills to evolve my future professional endeavour and direction.
*Solopreneur. “Typically, entrepreneurs seek to grow their business to eventually sell it to a bigger brand or business, but a solopreneur wants to keep their business their own.”
You can also read my blog on Marketing Strategy
