For several years, Sophie Hendry worked at a mid-size mushroom supplement company designing email and social media content. Now, she’s a UI designer at Voxels in New Zealand—and in the Metaverse.
Sophie started her career as a digital marketing assistant, but quickly gravitated towards graphic design work. While this was a great move, there was another career shift that she wanted to make.
“I enjoyed my work very much, but wanted to level-up my career and gain a more specialized design skill set. I saw UX design as a fascinating combination of my interests in visual design, communication, and psychology—and the research-based nature of the field was especially appealing to me,” says Sophie.
Sophie completed a site design that featured all the different businesses under the Marmo Gallery umbrella - a gallery, shop, cafe, publishing house, and more!
Sophie’s UX Academy Foundations and UX Academy Experience
Sophie knew she needed to continue to work full-time while taking classes part-time, and the UX Academy format allowed for that.
“The format seemed to me like a happy medium of self-paced learning and structure. I also liked how I could test out the program by taking UX Academy Foundations before going into UX Academy, which is a huge commitment,” Sophie says.
“It wasn’t easy keeping up with coursework while working full-time. It helped to have my twin sister taking the program alongside me so we could motivate each other. I would definitely suggest finding a buddy in the Designlab community.
One of our Group Crit leaders, Robbin, was such a great role model, which definitely inspired me to keep going through the tough times. Seeking out opportunities to hear her talk about design and her experiences in the industry in and out of group crits was really helpful.”
Sophie researched and executed the branding and responsive website for an insurance agency called KAUS.