Creating mock-ups

In my attempt to relate this assessment to my world as much as possible, I’ve decided to create my website ‘mock-up’ on an event I’d like to be planning for the later half of 2016.

The Sydney podcast festival is aimed at being a local/grassroots festival that celebrates the creative freedom that podcasts allow their creators to explore and share with their audience.

When building this site, I utilised the 12 column grid to ensure that all elements were properly positioned. The eye is guided around the page, starting the the logo and the brand name – Dead Horse Podcast Network. The menu sits neatly underneath and the image below directs the user to the Podcast Festival that is being hosted. The most important information lives within this element with the call-to-action being a ‘buy ticket’s’ button.

Underneath split neatly into columns are more information on the event in regards to what it’s about and how to get there, as well as an episode of one of the podcasts that can be streamed directly from the site.

The footer provides another menu that is consistent with the menu above for easy access for a user that has found themselves at the bottom of the page, links to social media to interact with the company and details on the design.

 

Mock up #1

Mock-up of the landing page for Dead Horse Podcast Network

Mock up #2

An example of how the website provides feedback to the user.

Working in UX

The steps and skill-set required to be successful in UX

Source Image: Onwardsearch.com An analysis on the UX designer’s job description and salary expectations

Making the decision to study a Digital Media degree was a strategic one. After a restructure at the company I was working at, I was offered a job working with our business development team and though this would have been a great opportunity, it wasn’t right for me.

I took the redundancy on offer and took stock of what I wanted from the next five-to-ten years of my career. I knew a considerable amount about production management, understanding product creation life-cycles, scheduling and budgeting and I wanted to continue to work in a creative field, but what I lacked were some of those technical skills.

I didn’t know HTML, my design skills were self taught and my understanding of interaction had come from collaborating with more senior members of my team. I knew it was time to up-skill and the best option seemed to be full-time study.

My goal after completing my study is to work in production again, but with more of a focus on digital design. I’m also considering becoming a UX designer.

Looking into these type of jobs, I wanted to see what skills were desired to understand what were I needed to develop and what advantages I may already hold over the competition.

After finding a couple of relevant roles, I found similarities in regards to the skills required.

• Web Design (HTML, CSS)
• Adobe Creative suite
• Project Mangement
• Interface design

UX and Digital Developer role available on theloop.com.au

One of the UX roles, found on theloop.com.au

Knowing what good design looks like

Understanding good design principles and being able to articulate the decisions made to stakeholders and clients is important. By learning design fundamentals, interaction design as well as exploring areas like animation, 3D and graphic design I feel I’ll be able to communicate with authority and lead design teams with much more confidence and clarity.

Being competent in using the Adobe suite of products is a required skill-set for a number of the UX jobs I found. Whilst I’m quite good at creating visions and rationalising concepts, executing this ideas can sometimes prove a challenge. Becoming more competent in the Adobe suite and other design tools will be critical to my success.

So, treating this degree like a full-time job and approaching assessments like projects will ensure I get the most of out of this experience.

Web Design language

Of nearly all of the UX jobs I looked at, understanding HTML and CSS was highly regarded. Others were also looking for people who understand Jquery and PHP. When it comes to these languages, I have a long way to go. Though I understand the basics of HTML and CSS, I am yet to design a site that truly excites me with its layout, functionality and information structures. Again, I believe working through this degree and networking with people who are more skilled in these areas will put me in a good place to find employment as a UX designer in the coming years.