{"id":11376,"date":"2020-05-13T16:08:07","date_gmt":"2020-05-13T20:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/blog\/?p=11376"},"modified":"2021-01-28T15:25:12","modified_gmt":"2021-01-28T20:25:12","slug":"portfolio-highlight-makeeda-johnson-ux-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/blog\/portfolio-highlight-makeeda-johnson-ux-design","title":{"rendered":"Portfolio Highlight: Makeeda Johnson, UX Design"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

When entering the field of design, a strong portfolio<\/a> that showcases completed work is essential to highlight your skills and experience and help you stand out from the crowd.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Makeeda Johnson, a recent graduate of BrainStation\u2019s UX Design Diploma Program presents a great example of a portfolio<\/a> that demonstrates her project flow and design process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Launching a UX Career<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Johnson was happy with her job as a Finance & Compliance Coordinator at a pharmaceutical company \u2013 she was often promoted and thought it was the perfect place for her. But, over time, her perspective changed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfter a while, I realized that, aside from helping people, I had completely abandoned all the things I was passionate about. After a candid conversation with a friend, he asked if I had considered UX Design and I thought, \u2018What on earth is that?\u2019 A few Google searches and workshops later, I fell in love.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not to say jumping into UX Design wasn\u2019t a big leap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt took awhile for me to make the decision to leave my full-time job to pursue UX, but I knew it was right for me. I just knew that if I applied myself, the reward would turn out to be much greater than the risk. Looking back, I have no regrets and I’m happy I took the leap of faith.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Design for Travel<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Johnson designed Trip<\/a>, an app to plan your travel itinerary and log your experiences. After traveling, Johnson was often faced with the same onslaught of questions, asking where she\u2019d been, how she rated an excursion, or what venues she recommended, so she thought, \u201cIt would be cool to create something that would help facilitate that interaction, somewhere people can  see their friend’s entire trip and easily recreate the experience for themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through her experience, Johnson learned three crucial design practices that led her to create a successful project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

1. You aren’t the expert, your target users are<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Target user feedback is crucial if you want to improve your product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Embrace ambiguity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes the feedback you get will be as vague as “I just don’t like something about the way this feels” or “make this better” and it’ll be up to you to figure it out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Be confident<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imposter Syndrome is a topic that comes up often and I learned it’s important to be confident in your design ability. Feedback is very important, but it’s also important to be able to stand your ground and justify your design choices when necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn as You Go <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

User research is an important step in developing user-friendly designs, but it can be difficult to manage all the feedback. Johnson quickly learned that she\u2019d have to prioritize suggestions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy initial strategy was to try and accommodate all the feedback I received. This worked well up until someone’s feedback directly conflicted with someone else’s. Going forward, I had to prioritize feedback by asking myself if it was a recommendation based on universal design guidelines or personal preference.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Now that she\u2019s earned her Diploma, what does Johnson remember most?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe highlight of my time at BrainStation was definitely the people! I met so many amazing people and formed such great friendships in such a short amount of time. We started out as this shy bunch of people who were afraid to present our work to each other and now we’re basically like a big BrainStation family.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interested in launching a career in UX Design? See our Diploma Program’s curriculum<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A strong portfolio highlights your skills and experience. We spoke with UX Design graduate, Makeeda Johnson, about her design process creating Trip.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":11535,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1145,83,157],"tags":[1115,979,116,322,112,122],"yoast_head":"\nPortfolio Highlight: Makeeda Johnson, UX Design | BrainStation\u00ae Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A strong portfolio highlights your skills and experience. 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