Reflective Journaling: Week 1

It’s August already? And school has already started? Where did the time go?! Week one, coming into a new class and starting a new degree, definitely sparked some anxiety and nervous feelings. Even though I work as a UX Designer and would like to think that I have some knowledge of UX, the thought of learning even more new things was both nerve wrecking and exciting.

This week I really enjoyed putting the words to the knowledge I already know. As I was reading through all of the text and listening and taking notes on the presentations, I found myself saying “oh! That’s what that is” or “hey, I knew that”. There is nothing quite like re-learning and educated yourself on things that you know but getting a different perspective on what you know and being able to confidently put words to what you are trying to explain.

The material that I got the most out of this week was probably the TED talk by Tony Faddell. UX can sometimes be explained in a rather confusing way but Tony did a great way of breaking it down and immediately making me think about habituation and how I had a real world example to think of as soon as he shared his sticker-on-fruit example. Don Norman’s “The Design of Everyday Things” also helped me put the correct fundamental principles of interaction concepts with the way I interact with design and experiences. I began to understand these principles so much so that when I was at work, I was telling my co-worker about my Tony Faddell habituation example while simultaneously using the principles of interaction to explain my experience. It’s only been a week and I am already using what I am learning and I love it!