I pre-date web design. I remember seeing a NeXT machine in 1990 that left us all ewwing and awwing. I had a Sun Workstation as my primary compter in 1994, I wore two "pagers" for work and had dial-up installed as soon as it was available to the household. Geek. I worked on ISDN phone designs. Double geek. And here I am, 20+ years later battling html, css, & javascript for fun. No one asked me to put this up. This is all fun for me.
Before there were "apps", there were apps. And then there were apps on the web. Someone had to help start it all up and there were a handful of us leading the way. Still designing 29 years.
Working in a real Bell Labs usability testing facility gave me a high respect and understanding of what a great research team can provide. I have tried to continue that bar in representing human needs. From ensuring that participants are protected by ethical research practices to prioritizing the end-user’s experience in design decisions. Alas, I did say I try.
My personal preference is the good ole pencil and paper: note taking, sketching, observing, flowing...all low-fi. However, I am just as comfortable on Balsamiq, Sketch or Figma to finalize all specifications. Hi-fi? of course. Photoshop, Illustrator or comparible applications. After all, wasn't I just hitting the career pavement when these were hatched?
Short stories that would make you poke your eyes out. ... A,B,C childrens illustrated book for grandchildren. Magazine on sourdough bread-making. What won't I write? On the horizon I have a screenplay in mind. Good grief, she says.
Control your workday, your career and your life. You pick and you decide. Most of my freelance started as pro-bono. Give and you shall receive.
The backbone of who I am. I volunteer myself? Freely giving time and help.
I am a UX designer, first and a product designer (currently). First things first (Idiom 001). I have worn the hat of a UI (user interface) designer, too....which is not necessarily a UX (user experience) designer or product designer. Huh? And I'm really not a visual designer. As much as I love the arts and fancy myself a wannabe artist (of all the arts) I would rather design the loom and not the blanket or rug. I analyze things. I observe because I am Alice (see Top 19). Observation is key to UX design but I think my dad really helped my career by allowing me to take apart all his old radios, clocks, watches...things in his garage. That engineering mindset. I wanted to understand how that thing worked. But my curiousity didn't stop at things and I watched people. Yes. I'm a people watcher. Nice crossfade: tech <-..->people.
The most beautiful blankets can be built on terrible looms, I assume. But that would suck. That 'experience' would sucks. A well designed loom where the artist can create beautiful things to their enjoyment is a gratifying experience.
I try and design good user experience. [Just one more time. User Interface (UI) focuses on anticipating what users might need to do and ensures that the interface has elements that are easy to find and understand whilst providing those actions as efficient, responsive and aesthetically pleasing that will foster a good user experience.] I know. A UI is like a joke. If you have to explain it, it's not that good. (Some late night blog I was reading)
I have a long boring portfolio. I worked on RIAs and the blossoming of Web 2.0 applications. I still work on web applications but they have bloomed into quite the garden of possibilities...all before our eyes. I'm not above showing anyone my portfolio but it doesn't belong to me - my designs belong to the companies I worked for. These are heavy hitting applications for heavy hitting companies that are due that respect: Pacific Bell, Documentum/EMC2 , Veeva Systems.
Interested in contacting me about work? We can talk then.
Word of caution - AI will be taking our jobs, guaranteed. Pixel pushing and many UX elements will be replaced by AI systems that will be able to do many things faster, better and uniquely for each and every user. Websites (this small html/css hand coded jewel of mine) and apps as we know them today are dying. I see AI retrofiting solutions for customers in real time in the future. So what, I say. Everyone should have goals. Perhaps I could someday say i'm the designer of these AI Systems. Wow.