#60120

dualipa: I would only ever pluck up the courage to do this for @theellenshow 😝 I had so much fun doing the “Speak The Lyrics” prank and i’m so excited to be on the show performing this week‼️

dualipa: miami miscellaneous

I can’t believe this is the final assignment for this course! The last seven weeks have passed more quickly than I expected, but I’m grateful to one course under my belt already. 

As I predicted, the actual design work was the part of the class that I struggled with the most. Even though most of my assignments were submitted late Sunday evening/night, I actually worked on them for days leading up to the final click of the “Submit” button. Every time I thought I settled on something I liked (particularly with the workflow and typography assignments) I’d let it rest only to come back to it a few hours or a day later to scrap everything and start again. I remain so impressed with people who do this sort of work for living - those that have to create, share and defend/reexamine their designs constantly. 

This week was tough. I have so much respect for designers who have to make the kind of choices that we had to practice making this week. For some folks this probably comes instinctively but I found myself second guessing every choice I made.

The benefit of a survey course like this, which has us exploring so many different facets of UX design, is that you start to realize the areas of design focus where you struggle, where you feel like you excel, where you’re interested in the challenge and where you might like to avoid at all costs in the future. 

I’ve spent the last few days in Seattle, Washington visiting family and friends and reliving the days of 5 years prior when my husband had a contract job that brought him to the Pacific Northwest for several months in 2010 and 2011. On Friday we visited the Chapel of St. Ignatius on the campus of Seattle University. When you travel to any city with an architect spouse, no matter why you came to that city, the trip turns into an architectural pilgrimage. We also spent time at the Rem Koolhaus designed Seattle Public Library. 

Visiting the Chapel of St. Ignatius this week was particularly fitting given our lesson on asymmetrical design. The Chapel is totally asymmetrical, once anathema in the design of sacred spaces, but feels completely balanced within. Weight in one side of the building is balanced by space in another. And while the Chapel doesn’t appear particularly large from the outside it feels quite spacious on the inside. 

I think I’d like to continue to keep my eye out for asymmetrical design moving forward. Now that I know what I’m looking for, I see it more readily in website layout (and recognize it’s strengths) and it’s functionality in other types of design as well. Think of the typical home - definitely not symmetric. The layout of cities - not symmetric. And viewing all these as design choices help enhance understanding of them overall. 

Once again, impressed by how reading and lessons from this class are benefitting me in many other areas of life.