This class is helping me put my impostor syndrome to bed. The past two weeks have been a productive and rewarding experience. Most notably, I’ve been getting back into making designs in Figma, and this time, I actually know what I’m doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Throughout my web design journey, I’ve noticed a pattern. Upon learning about a new tool, software, coding language, or CSS property, I often find myself eager to start using it to create the complex designs I see in my head. Lacking knowledge and experience, I usually have a frustrating time producing a result that inevitably falls short of my original vision. Then, the semester ends. After taking a break, I can typically come back and create much higher quality content than I could just a few weeks prior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My Figma learning path has very much followed this pattern. In AAD90, I felt very unfamiliar with and underprepared to use Figma. I found that my assignments were turning out much more bland and generic than I had envisioned. This was mostly due to running out of time to add the finer details that a polished design requires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, with a little over a semester of UI\/UX design under my belt, the opposite is true. I have mistakes to learn from and experience to lean on. Learning Figma feels like the final step in turning web design from a struggle into a challenge. It was no struggle at all to create my Midterm First Draft, and I’m looking forward to expanding upon it after getting some peer feedback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I’ve also enjoyed learning about all of the different CSS Layout options. I was a little apprehensive about diving head-first into CSS Grid, but I was pleasantly surprised to learn I could learn the bulk of it in a single afternoon. I also enjoyed the refreshers on Flexbox and CSS Positioning. While I still have a ways to go before I can say I’ve mastered these layout techniques, I feel considerably less lost than I was this time last year. Its very rewarding to be able to complete the challenge assignments with little to no outside help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don’t have much more to say about these past two weeks, other than that they were reassuring \u2014 I can see that I’m learning instead of just tumbling my way through the assignments. And, most importantly, I’m having fun! I can’t wait to take my knowledge from this class and start working on my side project ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n