How to Learn UX Without a Headache

1. Intro to the Class: Hi, my name is Aga, and welcome to my class that's titled how to learn UX. In these classes, you're going to get practical tips which will help you to create your own learning path. What is the class's agenda? Let's find out. Besides my tips, I'll also tell you what effects or so-called syndromes I've been observing among people learning UX and I hope that they will help you to diagnose your challenges. You're also going to get some tasks and please, please don't forget to post the results to the class project section. I'm waiting impatiently for your works, your reflections and I already keep fingers crossed. 2. Why I Created These Classes: Lesson number 1. First things first, you may ask yourself the question, hey, Aga, why I should listen to you? Why you created such classes? You have to know that I'm self-taught UX designer and I came through various challenges and obstacles. Although I haven't attended to art school, to UX bootcamp or postgraduate studies somehow related to design, I've managed to successfully find my place in the UX world. I probably face the same challenges as you are facing now. I'll share my experience and my ways how I dealt with some of them. Was my UX process a chaotic one? Yes. It was at the very beginning. But step-by-step, I was creating my own strategy. As I love sharing my knowledge and helping other people, I'm going to give you some practical steps how to learn UX without a headache or without tearing your hairs. You have to know that for many years I've been a part of the Unix community. I often meet people whose tried their path and has failed. At the very beginning of my personal story, I was in the same place where you probably are. I was overwhelmed by the number of materials available, the books, the YouTube channels, the articles. But I was also lost and I go to jumble of fudge is going on like there's a fog. As a result, I gave up many times and start losing my energy. Does it sound familiar to you? Well, no worries. I'm going to find a remedy together with you. In the upcoming classes, you'll get my tips and tasks to do straight away after watching the video. It's very important to do the task as practice makes master. Once you write something down, it's much more probable that you're going to stick to it and treat it as your true resolution. Once you write something down, it's much more probable that you're going to stick to it and treat it as your resolution. 3. 3 Observations: Lesson number 2. During my career, I've been observing a couple of phenomena among people who are learning UX. The first one is clean start. Whenever you start something new, you very often want to disconnect from the past. You want to have a fresh start. For instance, you study philosophy, and you don't feel it's useful knowledge for your brand new UX role. Actually, there are so many skills you already have on your list, which you can easily transfer to the UX work. Taking as an example, if you studied architecture, you already know the general creation process and sketching. If you are anthropologist, you know how to deal with surveys, studies, and interviews with people. I can list many similar examples. Please don't forget that UX is a mix of various disciplines and fields, so for sure you already gathered some elements. There's no need to forget about the past or treat it as none time for your new professional path. Point number 2, people fall into so-called book-ism, by book-ism effect, I mean, reading and gathering so many books that eventually they don't read them. They also don't spend time on reflecting and wondering how they can actually apply this knowledge into practice. The third point, mind blown. Mind blown state, although it's cool, it doesn't help. Very often, people are amazed by great books, colorful examples, interesting video on YouTube, but at the same time, they have fear of missing out, FOMO, and they don't have capacity or space in the house to digest everything what they saw. We call this cognitive load. We collect links but forget about it, and instead of development, we keep staying in the same place because we're overwhelmed by everything. I hope that these three observation help you to find out answer, what is actually your problem in learning UX and maybe you've already fallen into one of them. I'm really curious whether you're into book-ism or mind blow or clean start group. I think that I was in every of them when I was starting my career and my UX path. 4. Practice Makes Mastery: Lesson number 3. It's high time to start with my tips, which will help you to boost your UX self-development. Tip number 1, practice makes master. We all know that UX has various fields: prototyping, research, strategy, writing, and it's good to discover what gives you the greatest fun. If there's something you don't like at the far beginning, don't put a pressure on you, maybe one day you will discover it again. First of all, start with something that is the most easiest for you. Let's assume that you want to learn prototyping. We have plenty of options available, there are many different applications and programs, you might've felt overwhelmed by the new interface. Instead of forcing yourself, you can reuse the knowledge that you already have. For the initial project, you can use pen and paper. This is what every designer starts with. The next step would be using more advanced program. What about using Keynote or PowerPoint? You may think, no Aga, please, I need something professional, I want to be a professional designer, but I don't tell that you need to work with Keynote or PowerPoint forever. But I just want to show you that small steps are sufficient at the very beginning. What you can see is the role prototype, the wireframe made in the Keynote. What I used, I just gathered the shapes, the rectangles, the lines, and because you probably noticed too because you maybe create some slide, some decks for your work, it would be much more easier for you to start with this one. Putting your existing skills into UX track would be very, very valuable. You can start with something small, but you can build up more amines and new things on it. Don't be afraid of reusing skills or reusing some methods you already know from your work. Don't forget about the practical aspect because this is all about learning UX, is actually putting theory into practice. What else you can do to put theory into practice. First of all, you can start writing articles, summing up what you've actually learned. You can post them on Medium, or on LinkedIn, you can start doing sketches whenever you see an inspiring solution or something that you think is especially innovative. You can also help others, you can help your friends by asking, hey, do you need my help in terms of UX? Maybe you can post a short offer into social media, hey, I'm learning UX, I'm eager to help you out with some elements. You can start with helping and sharing your knowledge with others, you can ask your friends or family whether they needed your help, you can write a short post on social media stating that, hey, I'm learning UX, I'm new into this, but I'm very eager to learn, so maybe I can somehow help you out. If you're looking for real-life problems for real-life contexts for the projects, I think that one of the greatest ideas is to ask non-profit organizations or foundation that usually don't have money for UX designers, but you can ask them if they need your help, what you can do to increase their user satisfaction, and it would be a great example for your project portfolio. I also created the first task for you. After reading a book or article, prepare a short comic, doodle, or post for your social media. What is extremely popular now are the [inaudible] on Instagram or LinkedIn. It could also be a great example. In this visual form, tell, what did you learn and tell it with your own words? I'm sure that transforming from the passive consumer to active author to the creator will help you to just the knowledge that you've gathered. Don't forget to post the result of your work in the Class Project section. I just want to show you that when I was creating my book and post for social medias about UX research, I created this short video with a mind map. I was doing it not to forget about any notion that I want to present there, and people really liked it, and they were waiting for this particular post about UX research. I think that mind maps and any visual forum, it's great to remember about things. 5. Track Your Progress: Lesson number 4. You probably once downloaded the app that helps you to track your progress in running or fitness exercises. Why don't doing something similar with measuring your UX skills? My second tip is to track your progress. Create a diary where you'll keep all the things that you just learned. Why not taking notes and writing down? Writing down helps us to achieve a higher level of thinking and as a result, a more focused action. It also gives you a chance to reflect on the past; your already gain skills or knowledge. I would like to tell you about my project on Instagram which was caused by a diary of skills. Every day I was writing in my notebook what I've actually learned. It could be a small things like learning new functionality in Figma or finding out that Gmail has a really cool feature of Schedule Sand. These were very little things, but after one week, I realized that they actually get out knowledge about so many different elements. I think that keeping track of what you've learned is very essential to keep yourself motivated and energized to your future learning path. I also want to tell that writing can be fun, although you don't feel comfortable with writing things down and you don't feel a part or you think that it's really tedious and you don't feel like doing it. I was thinking the same actually sometime ago, but once I started writing my own book about UX, unfortunately it's only in Polish now, but I'm planning to translate it in English. But once I was doing it, I discovered that I really like writing because this is very me time, I can be focused and I can start thinking about some comparisons. I wanted to tell people that for me, UX, it's like a soup because there are various ingredients. Every has own recipe for the soup, but actually, every recipe makes sense. It's just a matter of your skills and your experience. I think that writing proved to me that by writing I can actually remember about things better. I'm also better at explaining things to people because I need to spend some time and thinking about better comparisons and good wording. I strongly recommend you to also start tracking your progress by writing a diary. You can also have your own Excel to track the LMS that you just learned. But also another way of saying the levels that you've achieved, their next steps, is to create your own elevator pitch. Elevator pitch it's like really short intro of yourself like the best benefits of you, the advantages. Something that you'd like to boast of in front of the future employer. I think that it's good to refresh it after six months, once in a year, or something like that. After refreshing that, you will see that probably your priorities and your skills change it a little bit. It's also a good indicator that you're actually achieving new levels. A really cool book to help you find out your own way of documenting things, is Show Your Work by Austin Kleon. It helped me a lot and I think that you should definitely read it. I prepared another task for you. Task number 2: Create a document or prepare a notebook where you will write about things you accomplish. Follow every note with a comment what do you actually learned or found out. For instance today I've learned something from the UX design. I created five new screens for my new project. Thanks to it, I know how to use simple functions of Adobe XD. You can also be more specific and dried what does simple functions mean. Another one. I learned something from the UX strategy. I read article about business models, so I understand better how potential business work. What are the potential needs of the business? 6. Create a Habit: Lesson number 5. I think it's important to create your own habit in terms of learning new things. Because you're less demotivated, and you feel like doing something more easily, seamlessly. Think of your UX education as a structured plan. The UX-related tasks such as reading articles or taking part in the UI challenges can be actually become your habits, your routine. To gain this regularity, you must be super consequent, which is totally possible. It works the same way as you were on the fitness or exercise plans. Create your own UX calendar, pick one day, and block time weekly for a one-to-one meeting with yourself in UX. Plan some some for di-weekly or bi-weekly summaries. You can also pick certain days for reading articles or watching YouTube videos. I think it will work out better rather than spontaneous actions. Have you heard about the Gmail function scheduled send? It might be a great way to keep yourself reminding that do you planed learning new UX things. You can write a very short email to yourself and schedule it, for instance, for the next two months. I guess that you'll be very surprised once you get this email. But it will also give you some time for the reflection, and you'll be able to ask yourself the question, am I in the same place where I was in the past two months? Maybe I learned something new. Am I happy with the progress? Maybe I would need to focus more intensively on my calendar and on my plan. Task number 3 is creating a calendar where you will plan your UX-related activities. For instance, every Thursday I read one article from medium or schedule a bi-weekly email asking some questions to yourself. 7. Talk: Lesson number 6. This is my fourth tip for you, which is talking and talks. As a UX designer or researcher, you would talk with many people related to the project, but also the users. Talking would become one of your daily [inaudible] at work. You can also use this tool for consolidating your knowledge. Instead of learning everything on your own, you can look for a learning tandem or in a small group. Ask your friends if anyone is learning UX just as you. You can also use the community part of this culture, and find someone online. You can pose the short message on the class project section. If you stumble upon any challenges, you can go through it together. I really believe that it would be very valuable experience. The task number 4 for you is to find someone with whom you will share your successes or failures. Remember about that class projects section. Learning together is very stimulating. I hope that you will find a learning company. 8. The Dumpling Method: Lesson number 7. This is my fifth and the last one tip for you, and I think it's very special because it helped me out many times. It's called the dumpling method. Very often, whenever you think there's something you can do, try use the dumpling method as the method for solving the problems. This is my very personal technique, which I named after one of the most popular dish in Poland, the dumplings, pierogi. The dish itself, it's quite simple. It's a dough with a sour or sweet filling. If you know Italian ravioli, it has quite similar form. The process of making it seems super tedious, meticulous, and time-consuming because you have to create each of the pierogi, it's of the dumpling item, hand-made one by one. However, once you decompose this complexity, it appears that there are a couple of simple steps that everyone can do. First, cutting out a circle, then putting the filling, then folding and shaping the final pierogi, and it's also great when it's done in collaboration. Whenever I face the complex problem task or wherever, instead of over-engineering and overthinking, overdoing things, I try to think, ''Okay, I got,'' let's apply the dumpling method. Thanks to it, I'm not overwhelmed by things because I decompose the problem step-by-step. So decompose, prepare, start doing things step-by-step and ask for help if needed, and be happy about the final dish you made. I hope that the dumpling method will help you out, and you won't be scared about facing challenges and bigger problems as a designer. 9. UX Process: Lesson number 8. You would like to learn how to design experiences, so why not designing your own learning process and treat it as your case study so you can become the designer of your own learning process. You can start with doing the research, the prototyping, testing out your method, and drawing conclusion. I think it can be a great example of applying UX process in practice and at the same time having many benefits for yourself. I mentioned several tips. I mentioned some tasks, but maybe you have come with a better solution, and I'm really curious what would be your ideas. Task number 5, the last one, is to create your own learning process. Gather all the information that I've shared with you, ask other people, do the in-depth interviews with other people who you, for instance, create a learning group, find out about what are the challenges, what are their obstacles. I think that it can be a great case study for your first portfolio, but it can be also a great starting point for your recruitment process. It would be very unique to have such case study. 10. Summary: The summary. Learning UX might be a very long process, but it can be fun as well. Everything depends on you and your way of digesting the information. I gave you some tips and I'm sure they will help you to transform from the consumer to the active learner who also share the knowledge with others. To sum up, remember that practice makes master. You need to apply the knowledge that you've gathered into something that you do it on your own; an article, a sketch, a doodle, a comic. The second one, track your progress, because you'll be motivating, seeing that you actually gained the new steps, you learned new elements. The third one, create your own habit. Thanks to it, you'll be more regular in sharing the knowledge, in gaining the knowledge. Your UX routine, it will also help you to learn seamlessly. The fourth one, talk with people. This would be one one the most frequently used tools as a UX designer or researcher. The last one, don't forget about the dumping method when facing big issues or big obstacles. You can decompose everything in simple steps and later gather it and create a great solution. Remember about the fact that there are as many ways of learning as there are people. I'm pretty sure that you will find your very own unique way of digesting UX knowledge. Also, remember that UX is in a constant development. There are more and more new fields, sub-domains. You need to remember that you're also in the development. Treat UX as something that you cannot just possess, you cannot gain 100 percent points because you need to be updated all the time. When you feel a bit overwhelmed by everything, just give yourself a break. I love the song, Take It Easy My Brother Charlie, and I think that you will love it as well and it'll help you to take a break, take a rest, and be in a happy mood. I'm waiting for the results of the task that I gave you in the class project section. Don't forget to upload the screenshot, the links, or anything that you'd like to share with us there. Feel free to visit me on Instagram, Twitter, and I also have in my newsletter. Don't forget to subscribe to get more interesting materials and tips from me throughout the year. See you in the next classes. I'm keeping fingers crossed for you and for your UX successes. Bye-bye. 11. Bonus: As a bonus, I prepared a PDF file in which you will find all the exercises listed. The link to the PDF is in the description of the classes. I strongly encourage you to spend some time, maybe during the weekend or today in the evening, to do at least one of them. As you already know, practice makes master. From my perspective, I can tell that it's essential to do check-ins with yourself once a month. Ask yourself, what did I actually learn? Do I find it useful? What I want to do with all this knowledge? In my case, the really important element of my learning process that worked for me really well was sharing the knowledge on the conferences. Although I didn't feel comfortable on the stage, I've managed to go out of my comfort zone. I decided to apply and call for papers process and eventually I was accepted as a speaker in one of the conferences. I started to doing more regularly. I saw that the level of stress is smaller and I can really benefit from it. I was observing that I tended to really like this process of sharing things on a stage. I found out that it gives me a lot of confidence and strengthen or you can say consolidate my knowledge. The other element was creating a various form for presenting my knowledge so I started sharing it on Instagram with the friend series. It also help me to work more regularly on my progress.