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Week 7/31–8/6/22
Work Updates:
Wrapped up a project; thank f*ck! The senior designer started annoying me cause she made me present during an internal on the fly, which was right before a client presentation (that she also last-minute told me to present) while I was still working on the deliverable that was due then! So I had to pause my work, talk (my worst nightmare), and stress about not finishing the work on time.
Off-boarding was bittersweet tho; it was as if I was leaving the company. Got lots of sweet farewell messages lol, and sent out a goodbye note too.
And also onboarded into another project and I really like it so far! The team is really nice, and because we’re all kind of Clueless / the work is Ambiguous I feel Empowered to speak my thoughts and ask dumb questions lol.
The project entails working in ~design systems~, which is something I want to learn more about! We’re auditing some design libraries right now for the client, and I helped established an approach!
Also two leadership figures are leaving the company rip (well, one of them is the VP who declined my request for a merit-increase lmao so goodbye!), and the other one is actually a Cool Dude. Also stirred up a storm before exiting; called out leadership on not crediting historically marginalized creatives’ work and now leadership is Scrambling.
Honing-The-Craft™ Updates:
Mastering Figma: N/A
Learning ~Graphic Design~: Started an IG to create posters to practice 🤪
Working on presentation / public speaking skillz: Presented in an internal review and during a client presentation.
Networking more lol: N/A
Figuring out a note-taking / organization system: N/A
Learning wtf a nft is: N/A
Improve industry / company knowledge: N/A
Inspo content:
N/A
General Updates:
N/A
Takeaways:
N/A
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Week 7/24–7/30/22
Work Updates:
Applied edits to wireframes in prep for another round of reviews
Compiled all the wires and approved mockups into an interactive prototype
Honing-The-Craft™ Updates:
Mastering Figma: N/A
Learning ~Graphic Design~: N/A
Working on presentation / public speaking skillz: N/A
Networking more lol: N/A
Figuring out a note-taking / organization system: N/A
Learning wtf a nft is: N/A
Improve industry / company knowledge: N/A
Inspo content:
N/A
General Updates:
Basically wrote all my case studies, formatted them, and redid my portfolio website the day before my scheduled review sessions with rando designers lmao
They provided good feedback tho!
Wrote a cover letter
Submitted to a job, reached out to rando team members on LinkedIn, not expecting anything but hoping for the best ig
Takeaways:
I’m over a year into working at this company and after documenting all of my work so far, I realize that I did do a lot! Most of the time it feels like I’m not growing or learning at all, but progress is being made.
Talked to 3 in-house / tech designers and 1 agency designer to review my portfolio, and the agency person was trying to reassure me that I should stay at my current company lol. Also learned that I need to do some journaling / soul searching so I can be Intentional with my career, and that public speaking and concepting skills takes a long time to master so I shouldn’t be beating myself up over those things (my two biggest weaknesses lol).
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July faves
Movies/TV/YouTube:
struthless
Elliot Ulm
Jesse Nyberg
Kelsey Rodriguez
Top Gun: Maverick (2022) dir. Joseph Kosinski
Do the Right Thing (1989) dir. Spike Lee
Ran (1985) dir. Akira Kurosawa
Ocean’s Eleven (2001) dir. Steven Soderbergh
RRR (2022) dir. S. S. Rajamouli
Mad God (2021) dir. Phil Tippett
Music:
“Daytona Sand” by Orville Peck
“Lipstick” by Raavi
“i feel everything” by Amelia Moore
“When He’s Done” by Tei Shi
“留給你的我從未” by Sweet John
“The Pink Phantom” by Gorillaz, feat. Elton John and 6LACK
“Broke” by Samm Henshaw
“If I Can Dream” by Elvis Presley
“Annie” by skirts
Misc.:
Joined this virtual creative community...it’s ok so far, but glad to being seeing faces that are not from work lol
Went to see the Eric Carle Museum with some friends and got a cool hat. Then went hiking and got ice cream at a farm afterwards!
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I don’t remember if this was in the book or if I heard her tell a story in an interview, but I learned somewhere years ago that when Allison Bechdel sent her mother a draft copy of Are You My Mother? (Bechdel’s frankly very exposing graphic memoir about her relationship with her mother), asking for, I don’t know? Feedback? Permission? Absolution? her mother’s whole and entire response was “It coheres.” Two words and a period. And it’s absolutely true about that book and the most impressive thing about it, actually. The book collages an enormous amount of time and space and thought into a coherent piece of art. It could so easily have failed to do so, but it succeeded. I think about this all the time both because of the efficiency of Bechdel’s mother’s commentary and the myriad conclusions I find myself itching to leap to about her personality based on that single anecdote, but also because it got my thinking about coherence as an artistic value. As perhaps the final artistic value. So, you had something to say. Did you say it?
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Week 7/17–7/23/22
Work Updates:
Still in wireframe land...presented a page at an IR and client reviews and was kinda incoherent again.
Learning to Communicate Better and leave comments for ppl other than my discipline on the figma board...trying to Think Less and just do whatever I feel is right, cause i can’t make mistakes tbh i’m only a junior lol
Honing-The-Craft™ Updates:
Mastering Figma: N/A
Learning ~Graphic Design~: N/A
Working on presentation / public speaking skillz: Presented during the client and internal reviews this week blegh.
Networking more lol: N/A
Figuring out a note-taking / organization system: N/A
Learning wtf a nft is: N/A
Improve industry / company knowledge: N/A
Inspo content:
Just looking through portfolios for inspo, and I just like how an illustrator, Rose Wong, has an animated illo in her bio lol
General Updates:
Started updating my resume
Started writing up some case studies. I’ve been dragging my feet with it, but am giving myself a deadline next week, so I scheduled 4 meetings with random mentors via ADPList to review my job materials so hopefully that adds enough Pressure to keep me accountable lmao...ngl, I /am/ stressed!
Takeaways:
None!
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Week 7/10–7/16/22
Work Updates:
Had my call with the VP re: my merit increase and i felt so crappy afterwards! I knew I wasn’t getting anything, but she was kinda cold / curt about it, and it made me feel p undervalued as an employee lmao, am definitely open to jumping ship. Luckily, I have coworkers who were p comforting and encouraging, so I felt alright after a couple of days. But work Isn’t It, I’ll slack off whenever I can!!!
The new senior designer is really encouraging me to give feedback and express my Thoughts (I have no thoughts lol), but I really appreciate it and it helps me contribute more to projects! She worked on the next sprint’s brief, but I was able to give helpful feedback after she asked for it...we’re getting a head start on wires, and I’ve been following her lead of leaving my own comments / questions on the Figma board and answering her q’s too!
Honing-The-Craft™ Updates:
Mastering Figma: N/A
Learning ~Graphic Design~: Taking inspo from the poster challenge on IG and trying to learn some graphic design skillz by trying to create 2 posters a week...only made 1.75 this week tho rip
Working on presentation / public speaking skillz: Signed up for this “Confidence and Public Speaking” class at the company and the first session was wack; idk if it helped lol.
Networking more lol: Reconnected with one (1) mentor and it was awk jfc, but we’re still keeping in touch hah
Figuring out a note-taking / organization system: N/A
Learning wtf a nft is: N/A
Improve industry / company knowledge: N/A
Inspo content:
I really like Sonos’s learn section of their site! Hits all the right narrative beats, all modules are visually pleasing, and I like how they avoid the lengthy page scroll by breaking out content into separate pages, but navigating to these pages is seamless and still feels contained in the overarching “learn” section.
General Updates:
Genuinely enjoying graphic design! Found some cool YT’ers, and learning my “learning style” to accomplish my Goals is cool too (e.g. i need a curriculum to get anything done)
Takeaways:
Need to work on self-advocating skills...I’m p spineless as a person hah.
Also need to work on interpersonal skills at work...the new senior designer was out sick for a day and i slacked her anyways, what’s wrong w me hah.
A career is a long-term game, ig...a mentor figure is leaving the company to work at a Great Place, and she sympathized with me feeling like I’m falling behind because she was in my shoes a couple years ago! But because she entered our company at a lower position than expected, she was given opportunities that she wouldn’t get at a higher role, and it helped her secure a role at the Great Place...so she tells me that if i keep at it and build genuine connections, I will Receive things back in tenfold...we also talked about the universe / manifesting a bit here too lol; I agree that honing the Craft never hurts, and can only Benefit me in the future, just gotta trust the Process and be Intentional with what i Want ig
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Week 7/3—7/9/22
Work Updates:
So ig our workstream is still marching forward; rushed until the last sec to pull together wires again for a client review 🙃 but luckily the senior designer presented and again, she’s sooo cool and articulate; she also did a really good job including the copywriter into the convo! Lowkey obsessed with her lol
Refined the work and prototyped it before the official sendoff
Helping out with one (1) slide on a design systems pitch deck, and everyone keeps hyping me up which is making me Shy and Embarrassed and like an Imposter lol, they’re so nice tho
There’s like a monthly discussion with other people in my discipline and i didn’t participate at all in the convo re: AI art and ughghgh idk how to Improve...no thoughts, head empty constantly...
Addressing feedback for the latest wires...basically done tho, v minimal
Back in May for Asian heritage month, we created a digital zine and now we’re trying to realize it as a physical one...started looking up dimensions but I’m Confusion
Honing-The-Craft™ Updates:
Mastering Figma: N/A
Learning ~Graphic Design~: N/A
Working on presentation / public speaking skillz: N/A
Networking more lol: Reached out to my mentors from undergrad for our biannual catch up call lol...we’ll see how many respond lol
Figuring out a note-taking / organization system: N/A
Learning wtf a nft is: N/A
Improve industry / company knowledge: N/A
Inspo content:
https://ny.cornell.edu/#map for map interaction inspo. Like how it neatly formats content (copy, image) while also including a really clean interactive map!
General Updates:
Looking through people’s portfolios for Case Study Inspo
Takeaways:
I gotta learn deck design sometime lol, I feel so Useless on this pitch
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Week 6/26–7/2/22
Work Updates:
Dang the senior designer joined and hit the ground running; she’s so cool and On Top of it and the work is just Immensely Better on the project...like I admire how she presents work (how she walks through the wires, the interactions, her design thinking which is informed by feedback, how she includes the copywriter to explain his work too), sets up internal regroups / communicates with the team, annotates her wires and brainstorms ideas. She’s just so cool omg.
Continuing to edit wires for a handoff to our internal design team...now am stepping into more of a supportive role as the senior designer applies the next round of edits on the pages i did last week...probs need to take on more of an active role with that ugh
Design systems lead is walking us through on how to get a POV on design systems documentation...also brought in a guy who’s trying to help us but he’s also confused on our project lol.
...and then was told that the account dropped us and all work streams are terminated 🙃 ...except ours! For now. But it looks like we’ll all have to find Other Work in the network, but thankfully the design systems lead is pulling us into another project...
...which is also super hectic! Completely lost; gotta brush up on whatever a headless design system is
I have a call set up with the VP (who rescheduled it to 2 weeks out 🙃) to talk about my request for a merit-increase...doesn’t sound like I’m gonna get it but ig it’s good to connect with her or whatever
Honing-The-Craft™ Updates:
Mastering Figma: N/A
Learning ~Graphic Design~: N/A
Working on presentation / public speaking skillz: N/A
Networking more lol: N/A
Figuring out a note-taking / organization system: N/A
Learning wtf a nft is: N/A
Improve industry / company knowledge: N/A
Inspo content:
https://lesroom.avadev.ru/projects/gostevoj/ << taking inspo on how to lay out specs in a clear, not-overwhelming way.
General Updates:
Feeling kinda terrible at work and in my UX journey tbh...I don’t feel like I’m growing enough due to my personality and capabilities (I have major imposter syndrome lol)...and now that another coworker is accepting a job offer elsewhere, it makes me doubt the opportunities available to me at this company...and also what’s the Point if my friends aren’t with me at work!! So now I think I gotta plan to prepare to jump ship too...
...and I’m starting to draft an updated portfolio 🤪
Takeaways:
There’s a Process to presenting wires (starting with overall points we addressed, walking through the page and opening each section with what feedback informed the section, then explaining interactions...ending each section by inviting the copywriter to speak to the copy), and I think I can learn it from this new senior designer!
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June faves
Movies/TV/YouTube:
Anne of Green Gables (1985) dir. Kevin Sullivan
Music:
“Sci-fi Silence” by Florist
“Age Carry” by Jane Lai
“Sugar” by MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS
“Easily” by Bruno Major
“killer” by FKA twigs
“Cracker Island (feat. Thundercat)” by Gorillaz
“Catch Me In The Air” by Rina Sawayama
Books:
“Anne of Green Gables” by L.M. Montgomery
“A Memory Called Empire” by Arkady Martine
“Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup” by John Carreyrou
“The Blue Castle” by L.M. Montgomery
Jeff Lemire’s Descender series...got thru vol 2!
Misc.:
Had a picnic and an afternoon of reading with a friend at these gardens / historic summer home, so that was kinda Enchanting lol
Went to a hs reunion and it kinda sucked, but glad i hung out w some old friends
Went to Montréal and it wasn’t as Good as it could be (vibes were a lil off w the group i went with) but still enjoyed it! Got a moomin book from a bookstore, visited the botanical gardens, saw a cousin who i haven’t seen in years, etc.
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Week 6/19–6/25/22
Work Updates:
Morning ‘til eod for the whole week, just staring at a screen; yikes! Presented wires at an internal review and was not that prepared yet again. Also was a few mins late to the meeting and it was noticeable apparently...nbd, but it made me feel Bad.
Presented wires to client and it was so awk jfc
Design systems lead showed us an Asana board that she built out / how ticketing works so that we’re all Aligned on tasks...we’re gonna do a “discovery” / audit phase for each component, write out the specs and design it, and then document it for both design and tech handoff.
Honing-The-Craft™ Updates:
Mastering Figma: N/A
Learning ~Graphic Design~: N/A
Working on presentation / public speaking skillz: I still write scripts ugh, but presented twice this week!
Networking more lol: N/A
Figuring out a note-taking / organization system: N/A
Learning wtf a nft is: N/A
Improve industry / company knowledge: N/A
Inspo content:
https://shapefarm.net/about/ << clear and concise narrative for an “about” page. Also appreciate that they list out the departments and number of ppl in that role...was wireframing a similar format so took inspo from this page lol.
General Updates:
N/A
Takeaways:
Need to orient myself with design systems work cause I feel stupid in our weekly meetings (altho to be fair, I never know when I’m about to have a meeting with the lead cause she just dm’s us “ready to hop on zoom??” randomly)
Carve out time to prepare to present!!! Always be prepared to present tbh...practice while creating the deliverable, tbh
Notice flow of how ppl present their work more so I can improve my flow lol
Figure out ways to minimize the number of prototypes...if we want to show another screen, try to figure out how to click to it in one prototype.
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Week 6/12–6/18/22
Work Updates:
Asked my manager for an out-of-cycle merit increase lmao so we’ll see what happens...
Reviewed a design system with the design systems lead to learn what works / what doesn’t...i was Mute during the discussion, i’m so dumb lol
Presented part of the page narrative brief to client
Built out a page narrative outline deck for the copywriter to start populating while I start wireframing...
Honing-The-Craft™ Updates:
Mastering Figma: Finished 1 more vid from the From Noob to Pro playlist (now have completed 5 / 38 videos blegh)
Learning ~Graphic Design~: N/A
Working on presentation / public speaking skillz: N/A
Networking more lol: N/A
Figuring out a note-taking / organization system: N/A
Learning wtf a nft is: N/A
Improve industry / company knowledge: N/A
Inspo content:
I don’t know spanish lol, but I think IKEA Family made an interactive site to teach customers about sustainable habits, and then they can enter a raffle at the end. The user scrolls through really engaging illustrations, which do a lot of heavy lifting in terms of teaching the user about circular living, and the copy seems engaging too and light enough that it isn’t overwhelming.
General Updates:
N/A
Takeaways:
N/A
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Week 6/5–6/11/22
Work Updates:
First time work gave me heart palpitations LMAO; genuinely thought we weren’t going to deliver on time to a client (esp. since figma decided to have rando outages throughout the day rip).
Took a first pass at translating wireframes from the page narrative and presented them at the internal review which kinda caught me off guard (didn’t quite get them right), was kinda embarrassing for me that a person outside of my discipline was able to give a solution, took another pass at the wireframes to incorporate said solution (still didn’t quite get them right; had to have the creative lead sketch it out for me rip), then had to enlist the help of two ppl outside of my discipline to help me create wires and input them into a deck so I feel like I’m just Not Competent at my job blegh.
Apparently I’m now a co-chair of the Asian employee resource group at work; I feel Fear but ik it’s a good opportunity to develop Leadership Skillz!
Someone else from my team is leaving the company, which is a bummer! And the person I asked to be my mentor a couple of weeks ago might leave in a few months too...and there was a round of layoffs this past week so times are Tumultuous.
Honing-The-Craft™ Updates:
Mastering Figma: Got through 4 / 37 lol figma tutorial videos from this From Noob to Pro playlist.
Learning ~Graphic Design~: N/A
Working on presentation / public speaking skillz: N/A
Networking more lol: N/A
Figuring out a note-taking / organization system: N/A
Learning wtf a nft is: N/A
Improve industry / company knowledge: N/A
Inspo content:
This children’s brand called Woset has a site that really brings its brand / illustrations / characters to life! Very playful and cute.
General Updates:
N/A
Takeaways:
Ig in the end, as long as the work gets done it’s nbd so I should stop taking everything so personally lol.
Also I think it’s important to know when to ask for help / when to delegate tasks! I wouldn’t have gotten anything done if I hadn’t checked in with some other designers who miraculously had some free time on their hands and were willing to help.
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Summer 2022 manifestations
Summer:
I will get a therapist lol
I will get a hobby lol
I will have an updated portfolio / resume / deck of work
I will go on at least two trips with friends
I will complete one (1) passion project, or make substantial headway into it
I will make meaningful connections with people
I will make 2 new friends uwu
I will connect with 5 new designers / creatives uwu
I will reconnect with my mentors
I will focus more on my physical health
I will learn how to play Mahjong
Fall / Whole Year:
I will move out of my parents’ home lol
I will get back into soccer (or at least try it out again to see if it’s fun lol)
I will get promoted at work
I will complete the Ultimate Digital Cleanup
I will begin to build out a new wardrobe
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Week 5/29–6/4/22
Work Updates:
Lots of client feedback from the first round of our wireframes reviews...missing a person from our team, and the other took PTO, so it was just me and the creative lead lmao
I’m not very helpful, but worked on rewriting the webpage narrative while also trying to “onboard” this rando dude who’s supposed to fill in for like 2 days but he was p lost which is completely fair.
Worked a couple hours this weekend to nail down the narrative, and i feel like we got to a good place!
Honing-The-Craft™ Updates:
Mastering Figma: Learning some misc. shortcuts (e.g. creating a png of elements in the workspace & setting a frame as a thumbnail)
Learning ~Graphic Design~: N/A
Working on presentation / public speaking skillz: N/A
Networking more lol: Signed up for this casual creative accountability cohort thing, so hopefully that’ll make me more motivated to complete some projects while also meet new people! Also reconnected with a prev. manager and a colleague this week.
Figuring out a note-taking / organization system: Continuing to organize my work Google drive…documented 5 / 11 projects. Started moving designs into my personal Figma for ~ documentation ~. Also started organizing a website inspo spreadsheet.
Learning wtf a nft is: Watched this primer video from BFF (an open-access community with a mission to help women and non-binary people get educated, connected, and empowered in web3), but kinda gave me more questions than answers lol
Improve industry / company knowledge: N/A
Inspo content:
https://jesse-zhou.com/ << really cool portfolio site! Like, perfectly executed in terms of art direction & interactivity.
General Updates:
N/A
Takeaways:
Need to be better at being ~ proactive ~ and have agendas for meetings, so probs need to start blocking off time to prep for meetings.
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May faves
Movies/TV/YouTube:
Mike Shake
Sarah Park-Matott
emi grace
Music:
“Vape Nation 2.0″ by Mom Jeans.
“春雨Spring Rain” by Elephant Gym
“Say So” by Doja Cat
“run it back” by Dino Gala
“Parliaments” by Thank You, I’m Sorry
“Please Don’t Come Too Near” by FIG and Snøw
“SHALLOW (PPL SWIM IN SHALLOW WATER” by Saya Gray
“This Hell” by Rina Sawayama
Michael Bublé’s cover of “Driver’s License” lmao
“Grapefruit” by Harry Styles
Books:
“A Cook's Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines” by Anthony Bourdain
“Upstream: Selected Essays” by Mary Oliver
Misc.:
Tried out this braised turnip recipe and yum
Kind of started playing tennis with a friend after work...she has to teach me cause I literally know nothing lol
Went to Cape Cod with an acquaintance but we became better friends out of it I think! Was really relaxing; biked around, went to 3 beaches, caught a sunset, touched a lighthouse, saw some whales, another friend met us for dinner, etc.
Friend from nyc visited; we ate at a Top Tier seafood place, vibed in the city park, and watched the doctor strange multiverse movie...p pleasant
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Week 5/22–5/28/22
Work Updates:
Feeling p dejected at work...apparently lots of ppl had a successful review cycle and i Did Not, so I flagged it to my manager who’s taking it up with leadership so I feel stressed and i’m kinda spiraling in self-pity lol
Feeling p sad that my mentor left the company, and I can’t tell if I was in “panic mode” but I reached out to another person asking if they can be my mentor and she said yes lmao, so new “mentor”!
Continuing to wireframe, helped write a section of a webpage experience brief, etc.
My manager showed me some prototyping tricks, what a guy!
Honing-The-Craft™ Updates:
Mastering Figma: Working through Figma Ninja to learn shortcuts (found the opacity shortcut super helpful)
Learning ~Graphic Design~: N/A
Working on presentation / public speaking skillz: N/A
Networking more lol: set up a meeting cadence with my new “mentor”, who is a strategist!
Figuring out a note-taking / organization system: N/A
Learning wtf a nft is: N/A
Improve industry / company knowledge: N/A
Inspo content:
Illuminating Radioactivity combines cool interactivity, a really sharp narrative, and just a visually varied / interesting format! If essays were Cool.
General Updates:
So many zero weeks..also advocating for yourself is Tiring blegh.
Found another well of inspo sites called Mindsparkle Mag; similar to awwwards
Takeaways:
Reach out to people you want to stay in touch with after projects!
Also should probs plan my exit from the company I work for just in case I continue to feel blegh
Need more experience in / be in the know of best practices when designing for mobile screens; idk even where to start when translating desktop experiences sometimes
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Photo
Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts (2017), dir. Mouly Surya.
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