Proficiency in Adobe suite:
Im a digital native so i’ve been privileged to afford the opportunity to use these in my high school experience, and the current education i’ve received and am to receive allows me broad and in depth use of their creative cloud.
Strong written and verbal communication:
throughout my experience in receiving education through the lens of COVID-19, I learned a lesson on communication because at that time my access to support systems and physical spaces were cut down considerably. Teachers no longer had the point of connection to where they could see you struggle and reach out to help, they had to trust you to reach out to them, and you had to trust them to help you when you asked for it. Many didn’t. Within this struggle my ability to reach out for help and see it as a strength rather than a weakness allowed me to hone in on finding my pain points, and asking for help in a way that has specificity and allowed for my instructors to give me directed help
Proficiency in Figma that i can translate into basic level understanding of html/css
This skill ties back in with the previous as it allows for greater conversation with developers and helps the task flow of designing to have the end goal of developing. In laymans terms I understand the basics of research to understand the usability, and can design set up that can more clearly communicate a vision with a team that arent all designers.
Empathy:
In terms of actual design, you need to consider the broad range of people who could be interacting with it, and the current standard has many gaps that marginalized communities fall through. As an Asian woman I know what it’s like to not be seen, not be heard, and not have your concerns taken seriously and due to that I believe in design with empathy because design is something that doesn’t exist without people. Empathy belongs in the creation aspect of design too. When it comes to critiquing and collaboration nitpicking without offering a way to fix is unhelpful and tears down the process of the designer, critiques should offer more than just personal opinions.
Adaptability and positivity (combined):
I have a lifetime of moving.
Literally in where i live,
Metaphorically in navigating through month after month of “unprecedented times” and those months being the contents of my life. My ability to adapt comes from having the confidence that i will be okay no matter where i am or what i do. Because everything is a learnable moment and anything is a teachable moment.