Woah 7 months? I meant to write this at 6 months but procrastinated and here we are. At the 7 month mark, where my UX internship turned into a full-time role designing front line applications (i.e. stuff tellers and advisors use) at CIBC.
So much has changed and I’m still terrified daily. Still amazed that I am here. Still thankful for all the help I’ve received along the way, so I write these often to provide some sort of insight, and maybe even guidance to anyone who may read it.
I’ll do a quick update on what I’ve been up…
Baby blue ball bursting boy
A metaphor for everything unsure
A trail of unfinished poems and unsung ballads
Did anyone tell you that even that is beautiful?
That even you…
Remember learning to ride a bike?
How after countless crashes into walls
Parents, friends, cousins,
Laughter, shame, and shy smiles,
You never thought you’d pedal miles with an unusual grace
…
God, first and foremost.
Love, always.
Purpose abound by grace.
Honest eyes and one-sided smiles.
Joy in the realization of self.
A desire for new policies,
Often mistaken for rebellion.
A thousand waterfalls,
The boy who always was.
What is in this man?
The gunshot before a thousand false starts thus far.
I return once more praying this will be the last,
But grace has it that we start over
So inevitably I’ll be back but
today, today here it is.
After a day of hard work,
all of which could be anything from sweating over a hot stove,
To sweating over a warm body
…
Panny = Pandemic = Panini = Panoramic
I will tell you what I’ve learnt these past few months but first things first! My biggest shock amidst 2020s plot twists? At work, you actually have to…work? Like even when you’re working from home in a panny????
Enough drama. I actually like my job which unfortunately makes me complicit in capitalism but one system at a time friends. One system at a time.
In the past, the daunting three-month probationary period was a reminder that my employer could let me go at any time. No explanation necessary. …
How therapy is helping me become a better designer and person.
Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been working on my personal brand as a product designer with a career coach and all-round great person Jacquie Wortley. We’ve been thinking about where I want to be in a few years, mapping out that journey, and building my marketing strategy for the business of Funmi. It’s been fun mostly, but, you know what? This feels a lot like therapy.
How?
Well, like untangling emotional baggage, this exercise forces me to look inward and decide how I want people to experience me as a person, as a brand. …
Why I think I’m perfect for the UX world
Hey guys, my name is Funmilade Taiwo. My friends call me FTaiwo or F.T. Are we friends? You decide.
I’m only writing this because:
- I could not pass on the title!
- My days are pretty free right now. p.s. Hire Me if you want me to stop writing!
- I needed to remind myself why I ventured down the ambiguous field of UX Design.
All of this will make sense with some context.
My background like many UX designers is in psychology. We all took a psych 100 class and never looked back. Now, here we are hosting Sketch vs Figma…
Heuristic evaluation and redesign.
Project Overview
Role: Heuristics Evaluator, UX Designer
Timeline: 2 weeks
Tools: Sketch
Contributors: Chris and Carolyn
The Challenge
Conduct a heuristics assessment of the Zara mobile app, with design suggestions on how they can be improved. A.k.a, are there any usability issues with the Zara mobile app that negatively affect the user experience? Yes! But don’t take my word for it.
I used the O.G heuristic evaluation developed by THE Jakob Nielson, so you know it’s real. With this heuristic evaluation, digital products are scored using this rating scale where 0 is not a usability problem and 4 is catastrophic. Strong words my friend.
When the sun forces the breath out of me
Urges me to stare into its wonder
At 5:45am
- The cusp of answered prayers -
Whispering back as though I’m the last man on earth
“Isn’t this what you asked for?
One more chance?
It’s yours,
It’s yours,
It’s yours”
Hone Mobile App.
Project Overview
Role: UI/UX Designer, Brand Designer
Timeline:10 week digital mobile app solution
Tools: Sketch, Figma, InVision, Maze Design
Goal: Find a problem. Apply design thinking and empathy in creating a solution.
Problem
My “Why”
COVID-19 hit the food industry hard. It’s impossible to overstate that. Having worked in the food industry, I’ve been in the shoes of young chefs struggling to strike a balance between passion and an engaging life. It’s almost expected, if not an unwritten rule, that such balance is a myth.
With the recent pandemic, I found that this could be an even more impossible task.
