How's it look?

Since my last post I have realized there is one thing I wasn't quite prepared for on this transition journey. I have lots of experience with the design process and research. The wireframing seemed like a natural thing maybe because I have done technical drawing (?). My short foray into learner design has helped with understanding some of the terminology and made learning some of the design software easier to learn. It also helped me with accessibility since I put work in during that time to learn about Web Content Accessibility Guidlelines (WCAG). The thing that has tripped me up is user interface design (UI). I am a creative person but have always had problems with color which is kind of a big deal if your going to be a designer of any kind. I am a colorful person and want lots of color in my life, so I am learning to edit what I am using so that it makes sense and doesn't overwhelm people (or just look like a hot mess). I have spent the last week learning a lot of things about UI design. I have discovered several good resources that have been very helpful. I've learned about hue, saturation, and brightness and played in Procreate to see what happens when they are changed. I have looked into color theory and meanings. I've done a lot of research on how to size things for a mobile app including text heirarchy and button sizes. I've also looked into WCAG for UX design.

I started the mockup of my app yesterday. This morning I was getting stressed because I thought my original plan wasn't going to work and I would need to start over from wireframes, but then I did some googling and looked at some other apps and came up with a plan to make alterations. There is still a bit of anxiety about color and layout. I like the layout and icons that I am using right now but am still unsure about the colors. I drew a logo for the app using the palette for the app. I may end up changing it because I'm not sure it goes with the other images/icons on the app.

I have started posting my work to various online feedback boards and got helpful comments there. This is what led me to start the UI design research. I am meeting with a mentor this afternoon to talk about my portfolio and plan for transitioning. She is a designer who has experience with helping people start their careers in UX Design so hopefully she will be a big help.

My plans for this week include:

• finishing lesson 4 of the Google certification course. That means user research and iteration that it may suggest

• continue working on lesson 5 which is about mockups and prototypes. I was excited to start this one before I finished lesson 4

• get feedback on my updated portfolio and the mock up I am working on.