Welcome to the latest in our series of UX Academy success stories.
Last month we talked to Wendy Pei, who went from a customer service role to UX Designer at Microsoft. This month, we meet Celeste North, a UX Academy graduate who made the transition from a job as Country Manager for MUBI to become a UX Designer with Backbase, based in Amsterdam.
Before Celeste joined UX Academy, she was working as Country Manager for MUBI, a subscription video-on-demand platform serving curated, high-quality cinema. With a background in entrepreneurship and filmmaking, she worked mostly on business strategy. Building on her previous experience of building a startup, NuFlick, Celeste wanted to get more involved in the product design process. We talked about her time as a UX Academy student with Designlab and how it helped her get her new job.
What got you interested in signing up for UX Academy?
I am excited about being part of the process of creating a product, and solving complex design problems through prototyping and testing. I decided to take the leap and enroll in UX Academy so that I could polish up what I’d learned from personal experience, and reach for more challenging projects. Although the mentors and syllabus were a powerful motivation for me to enroll, what finally convinced me was the 6 month money-back job guarantee.
Did you have any concerns or reservations about enrolling?
I wasn’t sure that three months were going to be enough to get me ready for a new job, especially a remote one. I was also unsure the companies I was planning to approach would be comfortable with my lack of formal experience. Initially, I was also unsure whether I would have enough time or budget to pay for the program. Luckily, I had some savings and was able to quit my job and enroll in the 40 hour week program to focus solely on Designlab.
How did UX Academy help Celeste overcome these concerns?
Phase 2 of UX Academy is made up of 2-3 "Capstone" projects, with a final portion dedicated to professional practices.
In each Capstone students work on a series of real-world design projects. The goal of these projects is to learn how execute against a UX project brief both independently and collaboratively, and to see the project through from start to finish. Each project involves research, analysis, interaction design, and user interface design.
The final Professional Skills module shows you how to position yourself as a prospective hire through designing your personal brand and website. It also teaches best practices for a job search, including building a portfolio and how to prepare for job applications.
One of Celeste's projects as a UX Academy student
UX Academy Experience
How did UX Academy work out for you?
It was a great program. I enjoyed the lessons and interaction with the mentors, staff, and other students. My favourite part of the experience was doing the projects in the second phase of the program. That was where I put in most work, and everything from the previous lessons came together.
So what was the hardest part?
Sticking to a schedule and presenting my work. Getting feedback is crucial to improving our work, but it's not always easy to give or to receive. Learning how to do a design critique really helped me with this.
What tips would you give to the next intake of UX Academy students?
Find a way to get organized so that you have enough time to complete the work without feeling overwhelmed. Also, read and listen to as much further information about design as you can.
An example of Celeste's website design work for desktop