It’s been a year of self-discovery, evaluation and education. Being a visual designer for more than 8 years just doesn’t cut the mustard in the design world. Over the years I’ve developed my skillset in one area but now the lines are blurred between UX and Visual Designer. Companies want a one in all person… UX, Visual Designer and Coder/Developer all rolled into one.
How can I be everything to everyone? It’s that Jack-of-All-Trades, Master of None aspect.
Start at the beginning?
Where would the starting point be? I thought coding would be a good starting point. All of the job post required some HTML & CSS. It seemed overwhelming at the start. I thought I needed to “be all that”. How could I be, I’m just a little fish in the big pond of code.
I had to repeat to myself, “Start a plan of action, learn something new every day”. Repeat it the next day and add on something new. Build the skill on a day-to day basis. It was not easy, sometimes discouraging. I would review the lesson, do what was in the exercise to find the outcome just did not look the same as the example. What was happening? why was it not working? Overload!!
I would review the lesson again. Ah, there it is a misplaced bracket to no tag. But the more I did the work, the easier it became to do the exercise or just recognize the mistake and make adjustments. Again, one day at a time, the plan was working.
It began with parts of a website, a navigation, content areas. Then, it was finally time to put it all together. I’ve been able to hard code a website, Medical Center Options. The site was part of a sales pitch. The client did not have the funds at that time to sign on. I decided to use the design as a skill development exercise. The knowledge will help in the communication with coders.
Now, I’m on to learning the ins and outs of WordPress. This will enable me to give a client the CMS system so they can continue to update their own site.
It’s great to have come this far and everyday I learn something new, something to help me start all over again.
Learning Sources:
- Codecademy
- w3Schools
- YouTube Videos