I moved around when I was younger, and I often landed in places where I didn’t know the language. And even though I could not understand what people were saying, I could understand the signage, icons, posters. Visual elements became my way of understanding the world around me. That created a keen interest in non-verbal ways of communicating and how different your culture, upbringing, as well as language, will influence the way you understand the world. That’s where my love for design started; I was fascinated by how typography, photography, icons, layouts, technology, etc., played a part in communicating either the personality of a brand, the genre of a movie poster, etc.
The more I deepened my knowledge of design principles, the more fascinated I became by how intentional design can be; it is not just about making something pretty. During a UI internship, I was in charge of redesigning a mobile app. I used all my knowledge to make this app as pretty and functional as I could, but when I started showing it to my friends and family, I was met with some puzzled faces. They all agreed it was beautiful, but I noticed the difference in their understanding. That’s when it dawned on me that just because something seems logical to me does not mean it is for other people. My problem had been a lack of user testing and user research, an assumption that everyone would think the same way I did. After this I started more asking questions, observing people doing an everyday task, using technology, seeing their frustrations as well as their satisfaction while using a product. I am now able to ask the right questions to get inside other people’s minds and create aesthetic and functional design that will communicate effectively.