This lecture will be focusing on my future as a designer, considering what professional practice I should be considering going forward, we will be looking at the following
What kind of designer do you want to be? is a good question, as there are many opportunities in the design world, a designer has
We have Medium to go into the following areas - Mobile, web, AR, VR, Cars, screens, TV and games. A lot of the things we learn in class applies further to the list above and further. We have skills in UI/UX, Digital, product, service, operations and engineering. It’s a very specific role, you’re sitting in a ledge of discipline, your either focused on the art and design or the function and programming, but to succeed you need to balance those skills.
Design Ops is a full design system being used by a team of designers, someone has to be there to look after it and enforce it, it’s usually in house. Engineers would be front end coding and back end coding, front end is how it looks and back end is functioning.
You make the thing do the thing first, then you make it appealing. So for example you create a chair and ensure it works and is strong, then you make it fancy. So if you’re doing UX, you have to own it and know it.
Large organisations are good as there are loads of people there, there’s safety in numbers there, and so working in somewhere like Google, it’s hard work but once your in, you could have an entire career there, but somewhere like BT you could progress but it’s somewhere to retire, clock in, clock out. The structure/system can be disadvantageous, Ronan told us a story about middle managers fighting over funding and how it affected the project, something to keep in mind
Small agencies are really nice as it can feel like a family, Less than 100 people in the same location and everyone knows each other which is nice. This allows for more opportunity as well as a designer, as stuff can come up that you could help with or get the opportunity to help with. There can be groups and cliques in a small agency, but there is a chance for mentorship and help when working at a small agency.
So remote or in office, Do you prefer structure in an office and be in a social setting which allows for easier feedback and a more social experience, remote is good as well as you can work anywhere with a wi-fi connection, It has been made more popular since lockdown, I find it personally a little boring, Humans are born with a social instinct.
Starting a company or joining a start-up can be very advantageous but can be risky if you don’t put the work in and it can fail, but you can learn from that. if you’re team can’t work together, if Egos get challenged it won’t work and your company won’t work. Joining an existing company can be safe but can leave little to grow as there may be baggage joining a company as it’ll take a while to get used to as well. For either though if you don’t put the work in or struggle during the growth phase, you will get fired. And as rough as it is you need to get good.