In the spirit of open everything, I want to share the goals I have set for myself with the help of Cassie McDaniel. These long-term goals will inform how I wish to grow as a designer this year.
I read a really great article the other day, this is an excerpt:
If you read your long term goals every day you will think about them every day. If you think about them every day, and spend your days working toward them, they’ll manifest. 8 Things Every Person Should Do Before 8 A.M
This is where I start.
ps. Want to see other designers' goals in the open? Check out Jess Klein.
The process of Design has historically been sheltered from the public. As such, we have lost a lot of visibility in regards to what it takes to go from empty canvas to pixel-perfect design. I decided to create a YouTube Live Stream series titled The Hour of Design. This was inspired by Mike Conley's excellent Joy of Coding series. During my episodes, I share my screen and design live, with everyone as the audience.
The purpose of this event spans several objectives:
So, in a nutshell, I want to help create an open design culture at Mozilla, mentor others in design, and personally to help me better verbalize my design decisions.
Date: December 31st, 2015
This will be an ongoing goal. I aim to air one episode every week right through the end of 2015. I will analyze my audience and adjust my material accordingly.
As of July 16th, 2015, I have aired 5 episodes :).
Read the Hour of Design Journal for a more in-depth look at what I'm doing to mark this goal done.
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If anyone knows me, they know I talk a lot. I like sharing what I know and teaching others. At the beginning of the year, I became really interested in sharing my passion with others. I am a firm believer that everyone is a designer. We all make decisions, we all iterate, and we all create. As such, we need tools in our arsenal to help us elevate the practice of design.
My high-level goal is to speak about UI Design and Design Principles at conferences.
Date: December 31st, 2015
Number of talks: By the date above, I must have accepted or delivered at least 2 talks a design and development conferences.
Wohoo! I applied to speak at CascadiaFest and my proposal got accepted! On July 8th, 2015, I gave a talk on Microinteractions to a couple hundred developers, designers, and web enthusiasts.
I have submitted Call For Papers to several conferences, I'm hopeful to knock this goal out of the park!
Read the Speaking Journal for a more in-depth look at what I'm doing to mark this goal done.
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Motion, where smiles happen and surprise is born. Over the years, I've gotten comfortable in designing interfaces in various software programs. However, I have never approached the field motion design, perhaps out of fear. Whenever I look at motion studies or motion prototypes my heart always starts beating faster. It is so exciting to be able to prototype and visualize a concept. As such, I have endeavoured this year to start animating something. It will be very simple at the beginning, but I hope to be able to get to a point where I can animate an design interaction.
Date: October 31st, 2015
Maybe my end result could be something Halloween related!
Read the Animation Journal for a more in-depth look at what I'm doing to mark this goal done.
Copywriting is essential in product design. Take a look around the Web and visit your favourite websites. They offer concise copywriting, clear messaging, and hassle-free communication. My style of writing is more... let's go with lengthy. I would be well-suited for article writing, magazines, and longread essays. Alas, I love interfaces; as such I need to improve my writing skills to better enhance them.
Date: September 30th, 2015
Read the Copywriting Journal for a more in-depth look at what I'm doing to mark this goal done.
They say React is the hottest thing since... well, Angular. However, that's not why I want to learn React. At Mozilla, we've made an investment on building our products with React. Mozilla Teach, Mozilla Advocacy, Mozilla Fundraising, and even our Mozilla Webmaker App are all written in React. As you can imagine, I want to be able to provide as much front-end support to my team as possible. I am well versed in front-end languages, just not this specific framework.
I decided to redesign my website using React as its framework. Wish me luck!
Date: December 31st, 2015
Read the React and JavaScript Journal for a more in-depth look at what I'm doing to mark this goal done.