“Hey Jaz, where were you?”
”Finishing assignment, and then starting new assignments, and then in the grip of COVID. That last part was not fun. Stay safe out there, people.”
I’m mostly fine now, if a little annoyed at how slow I walk these days. I’m getting much better very quickly, and I’m happy about that. On to the UX post.
There’s an uncomfortable mental desert between projects. I’ve felt it all my life, between each project and the next. I stay in “go” mode, panicking that I’ve forgotten to finish something and waiting to get an email about it. I’ve gotten better about it over time, but it never really goes away.
So I’d finished my first case study. I’d gotten it critiqued by my mentor, some colleagues, and the guests at a virtual critique session. I’d made revisions, and while it wasn’t perfect, it was certainly better than the original. The fictional app, Down Time, could be put to bed for now.
Now what?
A design sprint, that’s what. A sprint is a solution built for a problem in a short amount of time. The classic sprint, explained by Jake Knapp in his book Sprint!, starts and ends in 5 days. As an aside, Sprint! is one of the holy texts mentioned over and over by The Church of User Experience. The writing is clear, and overall it’s a quick read with lots of useful information. I give The Church a pass for recommending this one, since it honestly is a well written, helpful book. Give it a perusal, and light a candle to Knapp in thanks.
While my capstone would be built over a few months, this project needed a presentation in less than a week. The overview was provided, as well as the persona, survey and interview highlights, and pain points. It was less intense than a real world sprint for this reason, but still a lot of work.
Long story short (too late), I got it done. I chose to end on wireframes, not high fidelity, since I needed to see if the frames would even work for users before making them look pretty. I got some useful feedback, did some reworks, and called it a day.
This project happened, of course, several months ago. I am currently at the end of my Springboard experience, with the capstone, the sprint, and a team project for a real world client completed. It took me nine months instead of six. I perhaps could be annoyed with myself, but I’m happy I was able to stretch it out to essentially a full school year. I had a great mentor, and the design critiques were a huge help. I’ve still got a ton to learn - and there are still things I balk at - but I got to learn about a new thing, and that’s my favorite.
I don’t have a solid ending for this post. I still have a little leftover brain fog from the virus, and have accepted my current situation as a moment of necessary rest. Studying to be a death doula last year, and learning about user experience this year, have given me a lot of ideas about the direction I’d like to go. It’s going to be a good time.