Daily practice for non-designers

[lei]

Hi Kaiting,

After reading your story about how to teach yourself UX design, I have some questions that I would like to discuss with you. I am a photography student and have no design background at all, so sometimes I am so overwhelmed by all the resources coming from different platforms. My daily routine is simple: Reading UX related books and stories on Medium. I know it is far from enough, but what should I do daily to improve my design ability or product thinking? Like the learning path you talked about in the story, I can easily borrow books from the library and it really helps me build a general idea about what UX is. But I still feel lost when it comes to how to improve your skills day by day. What other resources I can make use of to improve all other related skills. Do you have suggestions for students like me?

Best,

Lei

[kaitinghuang]

Hi Lei,

If you are brand new to UX, I recommend following a structured course so that you have a better sense of the UX discipline. Free courses offered by reputable institutions are great starting points: https://www.topuxschool.com/program/mooc

Once you finished a course, you will have a better idea about WHAT to learn. And then you can start “teaching yourself” by reading books and Medium articles. This could mean sharpening your hands-on design skills (e.g. draw a pretty interface), or diving into a particular case study (e.g. redesign an app), or expanding your research methodologies (e.g. run a cafe study).

If your goal is to find a UX job at some point, you want to start thinking about building your portfolio as you take those courses. This includes the portfolio itself (the website) and also the portfolio pieces (usually the UX case studies that go into your portfolio). Take a look at other designers’ portfolios to see what to expect.

Welcome to the UX community!

[lei]

Hi Kaiting,

Thanks for your reply. I hugely appreciated your time.