Here’s my product design journey

Creativity has followed me all of my life–I was always drawing or taking photos and throwing them into Photoshop. In high school, I did an independent art class with a teacher who further pushed me to explore creativity by allowing me to choose my projects and mediums 🎨

But I wanted to help people, and I didn’t know how I could do that with art. From the time I started high school, getting a nursing degree was always the plan. I’m pretty sure in Indiana, it’s healthcare or business 🤪 I had already completed quite a few dual credit classes by the time I graduated, so I was ready 👏 to 👏 go 👏

After a summer of waiting in anticipation to start the beginning of my nursing career, I was met with a lot of disappointment. Fast forward through a miserable first semester of pre-nursing classes and a very memorable night at the library where an eraser was thrown at the wall, I decided that nursing was out.

First thing I had to do was tell my parents, which let’s be honest, is the scariest part of this entire journey. I was met with confusion, hesitance, and finally, one of the best pieces of advice I have ever received: “You have to do what you love”, thanks Dad 😭

Once the bandaid had been ripped off, I started exploring other options and ended up taking a career assessment test. Guess what was #1?

🥁…bartender. Fantastic, the decision was made.

Coming in 🔥 at #2 was a visual designer. Born and raised in the midwest, my knowledge about the world of design was very limited. I knew about graphic designers of course, but I had no idea how much further design professions spread. It didn’t matter though, because I was sold that this was my dream career.

I was fortunate enough to attend an excellent design program at the Herron School of Art + Design in Indianapolis. From the moment the first design class started, I knew I had made the right choice. I can be creative…and have an impact on people? What a dream.

Still, I had no idea how broad my world was opening up by getting a degree in Visual Communication Design. After two years into the program, the dream career for myself and my fellow classmates was landing a job at one of the local marketing, brand, or print agencies. Open floor plans and a beer fridge, what could possibly beat that? 🍻

I completed two internships during this period–both fit the dream job description and one even included nerf gun wars (tbh that’s where I drew the line). This is when I learned that I didn’t vibe with office life, especially the part where my physical presence was a commitment (ha), and I was much more productive when I had the freedom in choosing my work environment.

The back half of my college studies focused on user experience, and I fell hard and fast ❤️ This is when I truly understood the sheer power and impact that design can have on the world. In addition to user experience, we focused on UI design for a couple of semesters, and my senior thesis included the UX/UI of a greenhouse app, which looking at it now, has some of the worst contrast issues I’ve ever seen 😪 We all start somewhere, right?

As graduation approached, I started browsing local job listings, but I didn’t feel the ✨ with any of them. This, paired with PTSD of office life, sent me scrambling to find the perfect post-graduation job that I didn’t want to admit was non-existent.

I applied for any remote company I could find (the pandemic had not yet created the remote culture boom) with half way decent branding, and was under qualified for most of them. I got through a few rounds with a couple, but they all ended up with a more experienced candidate 🙄 With the graduation date getting closer and closer, I began thinking about a non-traditional career.

I had freelanced multiple times throughout school, and the thought of being an independent designer was incredibly exciting. Deciding when I wanted to work and who I wanted to work with not only sounded great (the best), but it accomplished my career wants and goals–being an independent meant a more direct impact between my work and real people. Even though I was terrified about taking on the risks, the unknowns, and the n*tworking (🤢), the prospect of freedom in a career was worth it.

Indy (independent) life was rewarding and exhausting like all great things. It allowed me to explore and learn various aspects of design, understand the value of flexible and remote work, learn how to run a business, and have an appreciation for a non-traditional career. I was able to make plans, travel, and take as many mental health days as I wanted, all while making money 🤑 On the flip side, it took major 🧠 space to keep up with communication, client management, payments, and oh yeah, doing the actual work.

I focused mostly on work for small businesses at first with brand strategy, branding, and website design.As much as I loved iterating on a 💣 logo, my favorite part was diving into brand strategy–understanding the ideal customer of the business and designing for them.

After a while, I started working with larger businesses as clients, in which I was able to collaborate more with other designers. While I still worked on some branding projects, my roles became web-focused and I spent more time with UX-based projects.

Things started shifting gears when one of the remote companies that I had interviewed for before graduation reached out (Infinite Red–check out their killer new design team homepage!) and asked if I’d be interested in working with their team as a contractor to design a conference experience. I happily agreed and decided to move forward with them as my only client for the time being (my 🧠 was so grateful).

Not only did I love working with their small team of designers, I enjoyed working in a more tech-focused environment, and above all, I was obsessed with working on a UI project–an app for the conference. It was with this client that I realized that product design was the ultimate opportunity to make a real impact on people.

I was hesitant when I first thought about transitioning to a full-time role since I had such a passion for flexible work, however, the job search lookeda lot different this time around. Remote listings were booming (thanks Covid 😷), and I was drawn towards the small, tech startup world where I could directly make a difference in someone’s day to day life. While there were lots of companies I thought were interesting, it was hard to find a product I truly resonated with.

Then one day, I found the company *cue 😇 choir*. Contra, a platform for independents and remote workers, had a listing for a junior product designer, bonus points if you had experience as an independent. Could this…be it? The interview process, although intimidating, was incredibly rewarding and kept my hopes high. As the last step, I was given a design challenge in which I was able to flex all of my UX thinking. I cleared an entire wall in my apartment, covered it with sticky notes, and created a life size user journey map.

I got it. And the coolest part is I’m still at Contra, and even more confident that this was the path for me.

The main reason I wanted to be a nurse was to help people. Now, I help design the future of independent work and create tools that enable and empower a new workforce, a user base that I empathize with, understand, and am driven to help them succeed. As a product designer, I am directly helping make a bigger impact on the world, it just looks a little different 🌎