Chapter 16 – You Need a Beautiful and Meaningful Portfolio

Bad design is like wearing a rumpled suit. It doesn’t mean you’re a bad person,but it may give people the wrong impression.~Unknown You cannot have an ugly design portfolio. Period. Absolutely unacceptable. “But I have great case studies!” Doesn’t matter. Make it look better. “But I’m primarily a UX designer.” That doesn’t forgive ugly. Make…

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Chapter 15 – The Best Isn’t Always the Best

Be stubborn on vision but flexible on details.~Jeff Bezos You will sometimes know deep in your heart, guided by all the empathy and experience you have, that a particular design decision is the “right” one. You will be convinced to fight for it with every fiber of your being, to “win” for the sake of…

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Chapter 13 – Learn How to Fight Through Ambiguity

Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next.~Gilda Radner Demanding perfect clarity on a project before you get started greatly diminishes your value and your potential. If you create a scenario where you can’t possibly begin your design work…

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Chapter 12 – Learn to Love and Appreciate Your Coworkers

Coming together is beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success. ~Henry Ford Grab a coffee with anyone who’s worked anywhere for a couple of years and it’s guaranteed you’ll hear a coworker horror story. It’s near impossible to navigate a career without having terrible run-ins with those you work with day in…

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Chapter 10 – Make Developers’ Lives Easier

The most fundamental problem in software development is complexity. There is only one basic way of dealing with complexity: divide and conquer. ~Bjarne Stroustrup With the rise of “Design Thinking” and “Design is the how the thing works” concepts, designers can be forgiven for thinking that developers are serving them. They are the ones who…

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The best free courses for UI / UX Beginners in 2022

As opposed to running out and buying any number of design courses, I’d suggest starting with some free Youtube courses to get some experience and momentum on your side. Learning a UI / UX Tool To best begin learning aspects of UI and UX, it can be useful to have familiarity with the tools that…

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