📰 3 ARTICLES
From Sound Recordist to Adobe UX Designer
- UX designer Adolfo Hernandez Santisteban delves into his unconventional career transition from a sound recordist to a UX designer at Adobe, highlighting how his deep understanding of audio enhances his user experience in his new role.
- Discussing the value of transferable skills, he details how he solves design problems using a sound design mindset, while also sharing insights into his design process and the value of integrating sound with visuals to create immersive experiences.
- “Beyond technical skills, I’ve consistently advocated for audio’s value, even in visual-first environments… In meetings, I champion audio as an equal partner to visuals and emphasize its importance across projects, from bug fixes to user experiences.”
Testing Visual Design: A Comprehensive Guide
- UX specialist Megan Chan champions the importance of visual design in user engagement, emphasizing the need to test how users respond to UI elements as a method of improving overall design.
- The article provides tangible testing suggestions for the UI components of design, such as eye tracking to see what elements draw the most attention, or first-click tests, which can help establish whether or not users can easily find what they need on your site.
- “Designers often choose visual elements they believe effectively represent specific brand traits. However, since you and your team are not the users, it’s necessary to gather feedback directly from your target audience to assess the effectiveness of your designs.”
Product Designer POV: Establishing Data Tracking for a New Feature
- Product designer Anfisa Novikova chronicles her experience applying lessons from our Data-Driven Design course to improve data tracking and analysis for a B2B sports-focused app, leading to better insight into user engagement and feature performance.
- Through meticulous analysis and collaboration with data analysts, a robust baseline for future analytics was established, enhancing the feature's impact on user engagement and demonstrating the critical intersection of data analysis and product design.
- “Quantitative data complements qualitative user research. Think of data as a shortcut to help you quickly find problems, opportunities for improvement, or other crucial insights you can follow up on with your design process.”
💜 PORTFOLIO INSPIRATION
Tim Yang, a UX Academy graduate, integrates his passion for creative mediums throughout his portfolio work. With Dash Pad, he creates an end-to-end app to help writers who experience blocks, using simple but engaging UI in his design for the motivational tool. He also designs an additional feature for film streaming service Criterion Collection which aims to better engage users with their platform through additional information and higher-quality organization.
Got a portfolio you love that you’d like to share with our audience? Email your suggestions to hello@designlab.com.
💡 INTERESTING STUFF...
- Using FigJam for Creativity in the Classroom
- Where Have All the Mascots Gone?
- New Types of UI for AI
- A Dive Into Upwork's New Brand
If you can design one thing, you can design anything. — Massimo Vignelli (designer)
🧪 FROM THE LAB
🚀 Jumpstart Your Design Career in 2025
We’re giving new students the ultimate flexibility to take the first step in their UX career with two cohorts of UX Academy Foundations running this coming January, with start dates on January 6th and January 27th.
Next week, we’ll be running two informational webinars where you can learn more about what Foundations and UX Academy has to offer. In these live sessions, we’ll discuss how Foundations prepares you for UX Academy, and also delve into the structure, curriculum, and mentorship that both courses offer.
Register for either session below—even if you can’t attend, we’ll send you a recording.
⭐️ Courses Launching in the New Year
We have a slate of courses for working designers starting early next month. Whether you're looking to further your UX design career or are simply looking to add design skills to your toolkit, we have something for everyone.
Learn more below, with each course launching on January 10th, 2025.
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Spread the word about our programs and earn cash doing it through our Affiliate program. Sign up today and we’ll send you dedicated links so it’s easy to share our info with your network. Earn up to $725 per enrollment that you send our way.
