Well, this blogspot page didn't last that long. Researching the best options and recommendations for a UXD folio encouraged me to make a full on website of my own.
So, please head on over to
www.willjohnsnow.com
Where my blog continues, and there's much more to see.
Showing posts with label Career Change. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Career Change. Show all posts
Wednesday, 10 June 2015
Thursday, 4 June 2015
Website sneak peek
My soon-to-launch website is primarily to show my portfolio of user experience design work.
One project is my wireframing work I did for Pinewood Studios, another is my 'fate' course project from General Assembly, and the others are existing problems with a range of things I've been inspired to fix by applying UXD practices to.
One of those existing problems is HSBC's Business Internet Banking website, which I hope you don't have to use. Its main problem is it doesn't 'show the data', and the user has to work incredibly hard to work out what transactions they're not being shown, and then how to get them shown.
A final touch I've just made HSBC redesign page is an animated GIF showing how the user interacts with my new UI elements, and how the data is now shown to them:
It took me an afternoon to make, which makes it even harder to understand how a company the size of HSBC can have such a woeful banking site.
This, and much much more will be launching soon on willjohnsnow.com (there's just a placeholder there at the moment).
One project is my wireframing work I did for Pinewood Studios, another is my 'fate' course project from General Assembly, and the others are existing problems with a range of things I've been inspired to fix by applying UXD practices to.
One of those existing problems is HSBC's Business Internet Banking website, which I hope you don't have to use. Its main problem is it doesn't 'show the data', and the user has to work incredibly hard to work out what transactions they're not being shown, and then how to get them shown.
A final touch I've just made HSBC redesign page is an animated GIF showing how the user interacts with my new UI elements, and how the data is now shown to them:
This, and much much more will be launching soon on willjohnsnow.com (there's just a placeholder there at the moment).
Almost ready...
Wow it's been 1 month and 1 day since my last post. At least I have a good reason for not blogging ... I've been building my new website!
After doing more research in to UXD portfolios, it seems getting my own site is the best way to go.
I have a range of projects I'll be showing in my portfolio, and the final one I need to put on it is my course project, fate.
This blog will be closing down once I launch the site and I'll blog instead on the new site (it makes this blog space look like Berkshire Hathaway's design.)
Once the site is launched I'll have much to say about the process of getting my site up from scratch, and more detail on why I did it.
Coming soon, folks!
After doing more research in to UXD portfolios, it seems getting my own site is the best way to go.
I have a range of projects I'll be showing in my portfolio, and the final one I need to put on it is my course project, fate.
This blog will be closing down once I launch the site and I'll blog instead on the new site (it makes this blog space look like Berkshire Hathaway's design.)
Once the site is launched I'll have much to say about the process of getting my site up from scratch, and more detail on why I did it.
Coming soon, folks!
Sunday, 3 May 2015
Studying User Experience Design
As part of my career change (I've learnt the trendy new phrase is 'pivoting') I've decided to take the plunge and enrol on a course.
It's a very tough decision, as there's so much information out there already on the tinterwebs, you kind of get the feeling you could learn all there is to know online.
But there's limitless information and then there's curated knowledge.
The other main thing is that to get hired - or even noticed - you need a kick-ass portfolio. And studying the knowledge only works if you practice the craft (left side/right side of brain) to have something to show for it.
So I decided to do General Assembly's part time course (there is a full time, 10 week immersive course, but the cost and time commitment dissuaded me).
So far, so great. It's taught by Matt Isherwood who's worked at the BBC and recently did One Fine Stay.
And after my first bit of homework doing some user research, I can already feel the huge benefit of doing a course that forces you to "get out of the classroom" (to adapt a Lean Startup phrase) and get practicing the theory in the real world.
So one week down, another 12 or so to go.
I'm pretty sure I've settled on my project idea for my portfolio piece, something I wrote about in the previous post, which is a shopping list app to save shoppers money, called Fate.
I'll be writing much more about the philosophy behind Fate as it ties in nicely with why I started my career change, sorry 'pivot', in the first place.
It's a very tough decision, as there's so much information out there already on the tinterwebs, you kind of get the feeling you could learn all there is to know online.
But there's limitless information and then there's curated knowledge.
The other main thing is that to get hired - or even noticed - you need a kick-ass portfolio. And studying the knowledge only works if you practice the craft (left side/right side of brain) to have something to show for it.
So I decided to do General Assembly's part time course (there is a full time, 10 week immersive course, but the cost and time commitment dissuaded me).
So far, so great. It's taught by Matt Isherwood who's worked at the BBC and recently did One Fine Stay.
And after my first bit of homework doing some user research, I can already feel the huge benefit of doing a course that forces you to "get out of the classroom" (to adapt a Lean Startup phrase) and get practicing the theory in the real world.
So one week down, another 12 or so to go.
I'm pretty sure I've settled on my project idea for my portfolio piece, something I wrote about in the previous post, which is a shopping list app to save shoppers money, called Fate.
I'll be writing much more about the philosophy behind Fate as it ties in nicely with why I started my career change, sorry 'pivot', in the first place.
Tuesday, 28 April 2015
Brand new CV
After many years doing back to back Marvel films in the UK (Thor: The Dark World, Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Age of Ultron) I've had to revamp and update my CV as part of my career change.
It was a tough but great exercise to concisely summarise what I'd been doing these past years, and state my future goals.
As part of it, I had to update my LinkedIn profile which was [sarcasm/] REALLY FUN! [/sarcasm], and can be seen here:
My LinkedIn Profile
For the CV, I did a lot of searching around for great examples of UX CVs, and found this template that you can buy to get started with a great design:
Light Resume Template
I've opted for a two-page CV, and you can see it here:
My April 2015 CV
It was a tough but great exercise to concisely summarise what I'd been doing these past years, and state my future goals.
As part of it, I had to update my LinkedIn profile which was [sarcasm/] REALLY FUN! [/sarcasm], and can be seen here:
My LinkedIn Profile
For the CV, I did a lot of searching around for great examples of UX CVs, and found this template that you can buy to get started with a great design:
Light Resume Template
I've opted for a two-page CV, and you can see it here:
My April 2015 CV
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