Author: Julie MeridianPage 3 of 4
Julie Meridian is the experience design consultant behind Make It Legit, where she helps companies hone their strategy, interaction, and visual design. Prior to that she designed for LinkedIn (member growth, Recruiter, Groups) and led design of the Adobe Creative Suite, Photoshop, and Illustrator. When away from the screen, she pursues fine art and illustration.
One of the misconceptions I see frequently is the idea that you must have a complete sense of who you are and what you do before you “present” yourself by participating. In fact, exercising your voice is one of the best ways to discover how you want to represent yourself.
Getting feedback can be revealing in more ways than you might expect. Listen for the emotional reactions, the ones that comes from that deep-seated “reptile” part of our brain, for cues that there is more to be understood.
You’ve thought about the happy path your users will take — time to anticipate how it could break so you can build in some safeguards. Time to put on your infosec hat.
No matter how well-arranged your interface is or how simple your flows are, the imagery you use in your designs will have a disproportionately large influence on how it will be received. Beautiful imagery, when done right, can be a powerful force for progress.
If you do it yourself, how far should you go? If you’re feeling like you should do it yourself, especially if you have some skill or knowledge about it already, weigh the DIY option carefully.
Everyone loves a good story. While you may not remember all of the details of a story, you’ll remember enough of the setup and the emotion to recall it at a moment’s notice. Use that same stickiness as a way to keep other points of view in mind.
The opportunities to be successful don’t necessarily come when you’re ready for them. Though going down a particular path will not necessarily lead you to your dream job, don’t discount where you’re at now – you may be more ready than you think you are.
Designing for a product that’s been around means working within expectations. How do you (gently) break someone free from a timeworn path to discover a new one? Use a few cues from magic to shake things up.
Projects shown in the light of success – like portfolios, or client stories – will naturally emphasize the best, but this doesn’t mean it was a smooth process. Most projects will reach a point where something is off or not quite right.
Think about the lead characters in a story. They don’t go it alone, and neither do your users. In any story there are always other characters that support or challenge them.