Why I Shifted from Graphic Design to UX
My career shift from graphic design to UX design was definitely not a lightbulb moment–I had to think thoroughly throughout my college career about what I was really passionate about and what strengths I have as a designer in either fields.
Researching about both fields, talking to industry professionals and graduate students studying HCI were some of the things that helped me ultimately decide that I wanted to shift from Graphic Design to User Experience Design.
Before discovering UX design, my skills and experience were mostly in branding, layout design and social media management through my internships and freelance work. I didn’t even think to switch to UX design because I had a lot of preconceived notions about the field and thought my skills lie solely in graphic design.
In April 2018, I was exposed to UX design for the first time through CreateSC, a one day ux-designathon by BCG-Ventures. Although it was my first time, I found myself enjoying the process of finding a solution to a real-world problem and with research and interviewing, executing that visually.
After this competition, I continued to focus on my graphic design career–working at a fashion company as a social media and graphic design intern, creating designs for my classes at USC Roski.
Fast forward to two years later in April 2020, I had the opportunity to work with Mount Sinai Hospital and National Institutes of Health to develop a COVID-19 mobile application for New York City residents to navigate the pandemic. There were health disparities in COVID-19 incidences and deaths in NYC and specifically, people of color have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic.
Our solution was to create an app that distributes accessible, reliable and practical health information on COVID-19 to New York City communities who are most impacted by this pandemic due to systematic health inequity.
This was my first work as a UX designer by executing Ideation, User Testing, Interactive Prototyping, UI Wireframing and Visual Branding in 2 months. I learned the complex issues that UX designers have to think about, the amount of concrete research and testing needed and the importance of communicating with the engineer as well as the other Community Based Organizations (CBOs) that were involved.
This was the point when I realized: I want to make a shift from focusing on graphic design to UX design.
Why? I thought about why I want to shift, and I didn’t want it to be simply because “it was the trend” or it was the “future” of design careers.
I wanted to become a UX designer because:
1. I can use my creativity to solve problems for real people.
2. I want to incorporate and constantly investigate cultural perceptions, societal shifts, and individual experiences to make designs that change people’s everyday lives.
How is the next question I am working on answering by finding ways to develop and grow as UX designer, talking to other professionals and working on my own UX projects and learning from my mistake.
So where am I now in my career?
I recently published my first app on the App Store & Google Play called Sellege, the first exclusive college marketplace where you can only interact with those at your college.
I am still learning and growing as a UX designer, and I am excited to constantly challenge myself to solve problems with empathy and think in multiple perspectives to not be bounded by my own bias.
