Tips on Being Successful in Kingsborough’s UX Design Immersive

Welcome to the world of UX, from CTW student Nicole Follins

Going through Kingsborough Community College’s CUNY TechWorks immersive User Experience (UX) Design program is a huge decision, especially if you’re a career changer like myself. For the last 10+ years I’ve been working in restaurants and bars but always had a passion for design. So taking the leap from making Mojitos to making Mockups was a huge decision for me. I decided to go all in, I had nothing to lose but everything to gain. The journey to becoming a UX Designer was not easy and I faced many challenges coming from a non design background. Here are a few tips that helped me succeed in my UX Design Immersive and keep your stress levels low.

Don’t Panic About Learning New Things 

In the immersive program you will learn a great deal about human centered and visual design in such a little time. Don’t Panic! Take it one day at a time and keep organized. Once you learn something new in class, follow up with studying that topic at home or practicing those skills you learned in the computer lab. With technology changing everyday at a rapid pace, you must always be learning and staying on top of UX Design topics and trends as a UX Designer. YouTube was a great resource for me when it came to learning how to use Adobe XD, Sketch and Invision.

Do Not Compare Yourself to Others in Your Cohort
Everyone’s journey to this immersive program is different but you are all here for the same reason: To Become UX Designers. The fact that you may have a senior graphic designer or a full stack developer in your class says nothing about your skills or abilities. It says you can learn from them to get on their level soon. We all bring different valuable skills to the table. I personally enjoyed having graphic designers in my cohort because they were able to help me one on one learn visual design.

Eat, Sleep, Exercise
Midway through my cohort I decided to sign up for kickboxing classes to relieve some stress and boost my energy levels. The classes were a lifesaver! I felt more focused in class and didn’t get tired as often. It’s easy to feel as if you are “too tired” but your body needs exercise in between all of the sitting you will be doing in class. Even if it’s just walking for an hour a day in your neighborhood, get some exercise in. Make sure you are eating properly, as well. Eat breakfast, lunch, and a heavy dinner before your night classes so you won’t be hungry while trying to focus on UX principles. Adequate sleep is crucial during this immersive journey as well. Your brain and body both need rest to keep you at optimum levels. So get that beauty rest in!

Take Advantage of All of Your Resources
As a beginner in UX there are a plethora of resources at your fingertips. Here’s a few of my favorites:

Breathe
Take time to relax and focus on work/life/school balance. Practicing meditation and breathing exercises just a few times a day works wonders.

“Deep breathing is one of the best ways to lower stress in the body. This is because when you breathe deeply, it sends a message to your brain to calm down and relax.“

It may feel like you have a lot on your plate at times, from presentations to client meetings, but always take time to focus on your well being. Here’s a breathing exercise to try:

Progressive Relaxation
How it’s done: To nix tension from head to toe, close the eyes and focus on tensing and relaxing each muscle group for two to three seconds each.  Start with the feet and toes, then move up to the knees, thighs, glutes, chest, arms, hands, neck, jaw, and eyes—all while maintaining deep, slow breaths. Having trouble staying on track? Anxiety and panic specialist Dr. Patricia Farrell suggests we breathe in through the nose, hold for a count of five while the muscles tense, then breathe out through the mouth on release.

Enjoy the Process
So those are just a few of my tips to help you reduce and relieve stress while going through the immersive design program. Enjoy the ride and trust the process, you will learn a great deal about yourself in the end. Happy Wireframing!

-Nicole

To register for an upcoming information session, click here.