My Design Journey 101
Let’s learn photoshop. No. It’s not that simple
It all started with a google search
I vividly remember the white & pink website which displayed the result — “UI Design”. Although, the interesting aspect was the search query behind the results.
Going back to how it all started, I had this deeply rooted stereotypical clichéd background. The only thing that I’d dream of was pursuing software engineering for obvious reasons. In other words, it pays well, is technology related so long-term viewpoints & whatnot. We were taught programming back in school, basic java — arrays, loops & the not-so-interesting shit that surrounds programming, which made me fixated on NOT pursuing anything which involves programming. This takes us back to software engineering being an absolute no-no situation later down the line.
Coming back to that super interesting search query, it was “What are the best career opportunities in technology that don’t require coding.“ That was the very first time I came across UI design as a term.
The most stand out thing to me was that I could see this image of a person doing something related to website design, having shades of colors beside it, which was similar to my interests since childhood. Photography, graphic design (not photoshop, illustrator fanboy), and music production (although I never tried it) are a few to count.
Drumrolls.
The next big thing on my mind was — UI Design.
Assumptions turning into reality
I was lucky enough to have started searching for career options early, which made me aware of things like LinkedIn, Glassdoor & career sites of companies.
Three questions I had to answer -
- Does this pay well?
- Is it a good career option? LONG-TERM SHIT?
- Is there a degree for this?
- Is this interesting enough for me to pursue?
I would look at profiles on Behance & would find their handles on Instagram. Being immaturely passionate was the new normal. I made a few mistakes as well — I went on asking people for their salary numbers to know if the design was well-paying. I mean, who had the guts to do it? DAMN.
Practicing stakeholder management at the age of 15
Yes, stakeholders, you heard it right. Now the next big challenge was -
💡 How might I convince my family to make them realize the long-term value of UI design”
I was ready with everything that could build my proof of concept. I had job descriptions from top companies, salary numbers, and some people with their LinkedIn profiles. I gathered everything needed to convince my parents and let them know what I wanted to pursue. In the end, it was a smooth process, we went ahead with a collective decision to choose design as my career option.
Practicing design while everything flows
My first UI Design tool was Adobe XD. Yes, I come from the era of “No-Figma/only Adobe XD” short-lived, but significantly important. Dribbble was an extreme cult back then. Johny Vino was like the Elon Musk of design. HAHA.
I had used illustrator for more than a year at this point. Adobe XD was just so beautiful because of its simplicity. Prototyping felt like magic with my shittiest designs using harsh shadows, ugly colors, and whatnot. Guess what? No one knew about Figma. Seeing all the hype about Figma and eventually using it was a holistic set of disappointments. It just felt uglier than Adobe XD.
Soon, I started preparing for design entrances, which was its own different story on the chronicles of the Indian design education system, I will be writing on this later someday.
Exploring design just felt impressive somehow. The journey was difficult until I got admitted into a design school for my undergrad. Now, this was a not-so-cliched story coming from a cliched background. Who knew I had so many exciting times ahead?
