Shadowing Practice: How I'd learn UX Design (if I could start over) - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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This is how I would learn UX design if I could start over.
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This is how I would learn UX design if I could start over.
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I'm a full-time product designer.
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I've done agency, I've done freelance work.
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My route to breaking into tech is a little bit of a weird one.
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So in order to find out what I would have done differently,
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let's go back and find out how I got there in the first place.
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So I've been designing since I was 18 years old.
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Sort of.
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My parents have their own tattoo studio.
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They've been tattoo artists for decades and I wanted to follow in the family footsteps and become a tattoo artist as well.
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This taught taught me the basic principles of design
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and communicating with a client on a vision but ultimately I found out
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that I didn't really want to be doing that forever.
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Fast forward to university I was doing a business degree which taught me the foundations of general product design,
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market research, competitor analysis, product life cycle
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which in my day-to-day job is actually really helpful
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when talking about the bigger picture of tech products to companies that I'm working with.
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Fast forward again to now and I'm currently working as a freelancer working with big enterprise companies on their tech products.
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My work involves topics like competitor analysis,
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market research, user personas, success mapping,
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user testing, affinity mapping, Kano analysis,
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feature prioritization, and service blueprinting.
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And if you're looking to break into tech or learn UX design,
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you should definitely take note and go research some of those.
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And let me clear up the difference between UI and UX.
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UI design, so user interface design,
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is the very very front-facing screen that you see when you open an app or a website,
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some sort of software, what the buttons look like,
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what is the pixel width between certain icons,
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color palette, even sometimes information architecture.
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UX design, user experience design,
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involves UI design towards the end,
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however it encompasses quite a bit more in terms of the research,
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figuring out what features are needing to be included in the first place,
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creating the experience that the user is going to go through when using the software.
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You You might think becoming a UX designer,
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the main thing to learn is visual design,
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but I'd actually argue that one of the most important things to learn is about psychology and user research.
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Empathy for what the user is going through,
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empathy for what the user needs in certain specific kinds of software.
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When it comes to user research,
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I think one of the best ways I can get across how important it is is the way
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that a 90-year-old granny is going to use her banking app
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is completely different to how someone of my generation is going
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to use their banking app user research needs to go in
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to discover how can you make a software usable for every kind of person that needs to use it.
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Doing research into the user gives your design purpose
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and lets you know who's going to be using it and in what context they're going to be using it.
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All other parts of UX design can be traced back to user research.
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So you think that I'm about to tell you that you should learn about user research right?
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Not exactly.
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If you are just trying to break into UX design with no experience who are you going to research with?
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What are you going to research?
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You don't usually have have access to a user base to test with.
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In addition to that, you're just starting out.
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You wanna play around with designs,
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you want that instant gratification and that's okay.
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Doing a bunch of user research and all
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that kind of stuff is not going to give you the
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most bang for your buck at this stage in your learning process when you're just starting out.
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However, if hearing that makes you want to just jump straight into designing, hold up.
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Jumping straight into design without any sort of logic behind it
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or or reasoning is gonna result in a probably pretty but useless design.
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UX design with no logic or no ground, no basis is useless.
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That kind of defeats the purpose of UX design in the first place.
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I would really recommend going to the Laws of UX website
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and doing a little bit of research there first about the different kinds of principles
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and laws that we apply to our designs.
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For instance, the aesthetic usability effect where users perceive designs that are more aesthetically pleasing as more useful and functional,
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or Hicks law, showing that the time
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that it takes to make a decision on screen increases with the number and the complexity of choices presented to the user.
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Also look at the M3 website.
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They go into detail about certain kinds of components.
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The material design content and the laws of UX come up all the time in my job.
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I'm always referencing them.
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So once you've got familiar with design,
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you can start to think about applying these ideas to breaking into the industry via course,
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a bootcamp, volunteering, an internship.
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A lot of people are learning,
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studying, and changing their career path.
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And Course Career is changing the way that people start their careers without degrees.
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Many of their graduates don't have previous experience or a degree
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and are using their course as well as their own skills
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and talents to get ahead in the job market and break into that new industry.
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I don't have a degree,
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anything to do with tech yet,
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here I am, years into my dream career.
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So if I can do it, you can do it.
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Course Career helps people like you start at entry level position without that prior experience.
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You get a free introduction to the course,
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teaching you about the career and what kind of people are suited to it.
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And then in the paid course,
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they teach all the skills and knowledge that you need to be able to build your portfolio and land your first role.
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As you're learning, there's going to be some ups and some downs.
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You're going to be discouraged,
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demotivated, and you're going to find that passion again.
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Just keep pushing through because it's a skill that you can learn like any other.
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If you're wanting to make a career change,
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it's going to be a bit awkward at first.
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You're learning a new thing,
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and that's part of the joy of learning something new is feeling like a complete noob.
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Embrace the first days and the first stages of learning something new because you only get to experience that once.
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In addition to skill building and portfolio building,
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Course Career also helped you to network and make those connections that you need to break into the industry.
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They help you to format your CV,
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your LinkedIn, how to find jobs,
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what to do in an interview,
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and when you finish you get a certificate of completion as well as a shareable website portfolio of your work.
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You'll also be added to an employer platform where employers and hiring managers can find you,
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request interviews, and you can secure a job without actually having to directly apply to companies.
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Course Career has If you have a free introductory course,
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click the link in my description to sign up
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and find out exactly how you can start your UX design career with no degree and no experience.
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In order to begin actually designing,
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you're going to need a desktop or a laptop and learn a design platform.
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There are so many tutorials online you've got Figma tutorials,
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Sketch tutorials, WXD tutorials.
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All of these kinds of platforms are what UX designers use in order to create their designs.
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They all function a little bit differently so you can try them out and see what one you like working with best.
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Specifically Figma is starting to become more industry standard.
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You see a lot of the job listings that are posted nowadays require you to be able to use Figma.
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It's hard to exchange information and designs if you're all working across different platforms
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if the job listing says we use figma then that's the one
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that you should be proficient in i love figma i'm a figma girly look up a couple tutorials
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and as you go through you'll learn about things like frames
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wire frames prototyping once you have the basics down of how
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to use your platform i want you to take a screenshot
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of an app in your phone paste it into figma or sketch or wxd whichever one you choose
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and make a one-to-one copy of it.
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Just trace it.
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And as you're tracing it,
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you'll learn how it was put together and what goes into the design in the first place.
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Once you have the basics of how to use the platforms and the basics of design down,
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you're ready to start designing your own portfolio piece.
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I'll tell you a little bit about my first portfolio piece in a little bit,
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but my advice would be to start with an app
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that already exists on the app store
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and look to make some improvements on it based on the reviews that you can see down below.
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Take a note of what the most common theme that comes up in the reviews is.
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What is the most consistent thing that people are complaining about or that they wish the app had?
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Compile them into some solutions and a feature list.
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I have a stab at making a redesigned version.
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For me, one of my first portfolio pieces ever was redesigning the Steam app.
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If you have ever used the Steam app,
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you know how dated it is.
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It's pretty much just the website squeezed onto a phone screen.
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I did the same process.
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I went on the App Store,
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took some screenshots, looked at the reviews,
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found the pain points that people were talking about and tried to redesign around that.
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So as I was studying and building up my knowledge,
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I used the reviews on the Steam app app store to redesign something and add that to my CV.
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While you're doing your redesign,
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you're going to naturally learn about topics like information architecture and a bit about wireframing,
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a bit more about prototyping,
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and a little bit of that user research comes up there when you're taking those reviews,
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implementing that into features and a redesign.
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If you want to try something a little bit more unique or close to home,
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personal,
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you can try to come up with a design idea around something
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that already frustrates you in day-to-day life so you know
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when you're going to the grocery store and you forget
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if you already have soy sauce you could create an app design
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that allows you to keep track of your groceries
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or something that's something that I tried out
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when I was first beginning it looks terrible
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but it's just a learning process or just think about an app
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that you already use
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that you wish had a certain feature just to make life
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easier those little hints of frustration are exactly the things that you should be looking out for.
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They're like little pearls of inspiration that you can turn into a portfolio piece.
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When you're designing, steal things, steal ideas, steal concepts.
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Get inspired by everything you possibly can.
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Don't steal one-to-one, come on,
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let's be smart about it.
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You need to start learning from people who are already good at what they do.
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Absorb all that information, you need to be a sponge.
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And again, for just portfolio pieces,
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there's no point reinventing what's already there.
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Figma community has an amazing resource of icons,
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vectorized shapes and stuff, flat icon has so many cool PNG icons,
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as well as Pexels has great stock photos that you can just drag and drop into your design.
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There's no point sitting there trying to design your own iconography or take your own pictures for your designs.
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Take that from the resources that people are sharing online and learn from your fellow designer.
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You're ready to start building a network.
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There are a couple of things that I wish I knew
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when I started doing this as someone with little to no experience.
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For starters, I wish I just understood how much asking for help can get you further.
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You don't have to pretend you know everything because let's be honest, you don't.
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You don't know everything.
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And acting like you do will only make people think that you're up yourself.
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It's better to just be honest.
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You're never gonna know as much as a UX designer who's been doing this 10 years.
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Just ask for help, ask for advice.
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Reach out to some people on LinkedIn and ask
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if they'd be kind enough to review your portfolio and give some advice and feedback.
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Try to build that relationship with multiple designers on LinkedIn in sort of industries and companies that you're interested in working in.
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And eventually they're gonna see you grow as a designer from your posts or your messages,
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they'll see your progress and they will keep you in mind for future positions.
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And when you are applying,
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always, always, always reach out to a designer on the team of the company you applied to and ask them,
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hey, what does the team look like here?
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What's the design team like?
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Do you like working here?
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Do you have any tips for the hiring process?
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I've done that so many times.
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I've messaged people on LinkedIn asking for help on the hiring process or tips for the hiring process.
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And a lot of the time,
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they're really willing and open to give me some hints,
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either of what the questions are gonna be or at least what I should prepare for the interview.
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Throughout the stages of learning how to design the theory,
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the practice, applying to jobs,
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getting knocked back from jobs,
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you're going to feel discouraged or demotivated,
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and that's okay, that's normal,
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it's natural, but just keep pushing through.
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This is a skill like any other.
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You can relearn and change your career path at any stage in your life,
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no matter your age, no matter your experience, you've got this.
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I've known people who have broke into UX and tech from all different kinds of backgrounds,
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from like finance, people who studied law,
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people who studied psychology, people who just did art.
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There's so many avenues.
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Also, definitely look into your local area to see if there's any career building days,
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UX design days, UX design functions,
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events, all that kind of stuff.
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It helps you build those connections and see what opportunities are out there that you didn't even know there were.
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Subscribe, comment, like, and I'll see you in the next video.
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Context & Background
This video discusses the journey of a full-time product designer specializing in UX (User Experience) design. The speaker shares how their initial interest in design stemmed from a familial background in tattoo artistry, leading to a broader exploration of design principles during their business studies at university. Currently working as a freelancer, they highlight key practices in UX design, emphasizing the importance of understanding user needs through research. This insight is particularly useful for aspiring UX designers and anyone looking to enhance their communication skills, especially in English.
Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication
- "Empathy for what the user is going through" - This phrase emphasizes the need to understand user experiences in product design.
- "User research needs to discover how to make software usable" - Highlights the importance of research in creating user-friendly designs.
- "Market research and competitor analysis" - Essential strategies for formulating effective design approaches.
- "Creating the experience the user is going to go through" - This underscores the significance of designing for optimal user engagement.
- "Learn about psychology and user research" - Encourages a deeper understanding of user behavior beyond just visual design.
Step-by-step Shadowing Guide
To practice your English speaking skills effectively while learning about UX design, follow these steps utilizing shadow speech techniques:
- Choose a Segment: Select a specific goal-oriented segment of the video focusing on user experience concepts.
- Listen Closely: Play the video and pay attention to how the speaker articulates phrases, especially the top phrases provided above. This not only aids in understanding but also improves pronunciation.
- Repeat After the Speaker: Engage in shadow speech by mimicking the speaker's tone, pace, and intonation. This can enhance your English speaking practice, helping you become more comfortable with complex ideas.
- Record Yourself: After shadowing, record your attempts to compare with the original audio. This will highlight areas for improvement in your own speech.
- Discuss with Others: Finally, share your insights about user experience design in English conversation groups or forums, further solidifying your understanding and communication skills.
By incorporating these practices, not only will you improve your English through shadowing, but you will also deepen your understanding of UX design principles essential for breaking into this field. This method aligns well with IELTS speaking practice, ensuring you are prepared for real-world applications of the language.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.
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