This month I went to my first networking event this year (all by myself- basically got my introvert self out of its comfort zone, haha) at Skedulo. The event was hosted by Ladies that UX | Brisbane. My goal this year is to go to as many networking events as I can and to keep up to date with industry and meet fellow designers in Brisbane and hopefully interstate and internationally as I progress through my career. The reason why I went to Ladies that UX, is that I am interested in working in this industry, as I did an internship as an UX designer and enjoyed it. So fingers crossed I will be able to get a foot in the door soon!
Anyways, so the event was on Product design thinking and strategies and had a small workshop. Before the talk, there was a product designer from Skedulo, who talked about her journey in the design industry from graduation to now. I liked listening to her experiences and advice that she gave to fellow designers.
The presentation on product thinking was interesting, as I did not learn much at uni (but then I studied industrial design, not really form a digital background). So it starts from understanding the customer: Problems & Target, then the job needs to be done: Vision and Strategy, then Output: Goals and features. We went through design strategy principles and approaches. Then in teams we did an exercise going through the process and creating a design solution solving the problem.
After the exercise, we got to network a bit. I ended up meeting a lot of people wanting to working the UX design industry and a recruiter- what a coincidence! But to me the event was rewarding, as I don't usually go out to events alone and I met really cool and inspiring designers.