Passport to Design

"been around the world, and I, I, I. "

Passport to Design

Since birth, I’ve been encouraged to be an artist. My mother groomed me towards expression and registered me for dance classes at Alvin Ailey , acting auditions for Life cereal and The Gap, and published a poem I wrote at about 4 years old. “I’m the sea, the sea is me.” Her support was unconditional and as often as I shifted through varied mediums, she followed along and invested fully.
This was my mother’s method to raising children, she raised us this way, with super self-belief, awareness and purpose. Driven by goals and motivated to be greater than the limitations of the world.

Inspired :

After Dark : Drake
You Gotta Be : Des’ree
Travellin' Man : Mos Def + DJ Honda
Sky Is The Limit : Biggie
Fruit Salad : Tierra Whack
Standing Ovation : Young Jeezy
Earthquake : Tyler the Creator
Read Between the Lines : Aaliyah

"movin through places, space + time"

Realizing that art through the digital lens , music engineering and handmade crafts were passions, I pursued several paths with full intensity. Music centric, I found a way to incorporate my interests, skill set and a lucrative path that was still true to my passions of creating.

And It all started with Myspace.

The initial content ranged from visual, graphic design and coding of course. Soft coding for glitter backdrops, invisible audio players, borders and of course fully themed pages for friends taught me about interacting with users and their needs.

The passport is issued.

I am now in a space where I can apply my varied skills to the art and technique of user centered design, with a focus on accessibility and functionality.

around the world.

Navigating through the different spaces and phases in UX/Web/Sound design and Visual art, I learned about myself as a young woman. I love creations that are growing, moving, transforming and evolving. These evolutions create inspiration and move thought.
Pursuing my audio career, I learned about the demand for internet presence and brand identity design. I started designing business cards, experimenting with album art design and other print media that benefitted my peers’ and I in the journey to solidifying professional presentation. Color theory was a prominent part of the puzzle, allowing me to create success for small business owners, commit service to my local community of entrepreneurs and learn about servers, domains and the tech side of maintaining websites.
Here is the fundamental beginning of my self discovery of expertise in the UX field. Via self-propelled research about app development, I learned about the importance of understanding user/client needs, executing deliverables such as sketching wireframes, user flows and personas, focused design features and (my favorite) product pitches. Through consumer facing builds to confidential corporate contracts (say that three times fast); I sharpened my wit and skill in the user interaction , user experience and user expectation (an insider) space.
And here I am, en route. Fully engaged in UI and music; listening to music around the clock as I detail rounded corners in Figma, navigate days filled with UX Google Meet sessions and music co-creation Zoom calls.

 

Image to the left: Mommy + Zoë after her first ballet recital. 

by Nadia