Weeknotes #1
Last week when I was drafting my personal OKRs, I decided to include ‘writing’ as an Initiative for my Objective of ‘developing as a digital product designer’.
Why? I see it as a great reflective method and keeps track of the key moments that occur during the week. I keep a personal diary; architecture has always endorsed ‘design journals’, this practice is something I find very effective so I want to incorporate it into my professional learnings.
In all honesty, I previously attempted to do this a daily basis however I wasn’t too happy with the format and quality of writing. Then I came across a series of others’ Weeknotes and this post, thus decided to restructure my reflections with the ‘Stretching Questions’ format.
Here’s my first Weeknote!
What did you enjoy?
- Health of a Nation presentation
Internal lunch & learns / showcases are always great to see what is happening across the company. Seeing what was being presented was also exciting, as the design team can definitely incorporate the research for customer-centric products. Considering the scale and dimensions of data the Analytics Team was working with, it was impressive seeing it all come together! - Volunteering for LFIA
Outside of work, I have been volunteering my UX research skills with Suma and Rohan for LFIA. This week we had a very productive session, where we developed our personas and customer journey map. I facilitated the synthesis of the customer journey map; it was a great opportunity to consolidate my understanding of this artefact from what I have already learnt and practised at work. - The weekend sunshine! 🌞
I am based in Melbourne, where we have endured 6 months of lockdown. So the weather was actually a big mood booster this weekend!
What was fun?
- Nat’s ‘unboxing stream’ 👟
This happened during a ‘social break’ at work, given that we are working fully remote, I particularly enjoy these non-work-related sharing moments. (Taking and scheduling regular breaks is also part of a healthy practice!)
What was hard?
- Dev-Design Review
I wouldn’t call this ‘hard’ but it’s definitely a new thing for me. As we are now in the delivery phase, our designs are getting built by the Dev Team and we need to provide feedback on the work they’ve done. I am familiar with the practice of design critique through architecture, however, giving feedback with a ‘Dev lens’ — with the correct terminology and level of technical detail — is something I am hoping to improve in!
What did you learn?
- The importance of colour and contrast for accessibility
Already I have previously heard of this, it only registered when I was doing this Design Rules Skillshare course — Joe the instructor frames achieving accessibility as a dialogue between colour and contrast, where contrast gives the colours you’re working with visual depth. This made me conscious that I previously overlooked accessibility when designing (shame on me), checking the contrast is only one Figma Plugin away but it will greatly improve the experience and maturity of designs. - Documentation
With the nature of the project scope and current phase, we found it hard to keep track of design changes and of why those changes were important — as information would supersede others. So we implemented a process of keeping a ‘decision log’, similar to the concept of this Weeknote, it’s to have design decisions in the one place and with dates, so you can refer back when you need to. Rather than just ‘pumping out work’, planning out and making sure you’re doing the right work is an important first step.
Who did you talk to outside of your organisation?
Honestly, I usually don’t speak to this many people outside of work per week; but this week it just happened. This week also made me realise how much I like and miss talking to people and sharing experiences — something I would like to try and keep consistent.
Markus — An aspiring UX/UI designer, we shared our stories of how we ‘found’ UX and talked about finding personal flavour as a designer.
Joseph — We both embraced how this industry is very fast-paced and ever-changing; there is a need to upskill and develop professionally — in a fun and because you’re passionate way!
(Note to self: Read and share thoughts on the article that Joseph linked me to.)
Kelvin — My past student from architecture who is considering making a career change into digital design. We shared frustrations on the architecture industry and what our personal values are as designers.
Anna — We caught up and discussed my Startmate interview. I shared my ambition on maintaining Weeknotes and she said this practice and this ‘stretching questions’ format is something that Startmate also endorses (what a coincidence!)
What would you have liked to do more of?
- Usability tests
The more feedback the better — especially before the product is getting launched!
What are you looking forward to next week?
- Being more succinct during the handover to Dev
- Running 10k!
