Invoice design

So as part of our personal branding and for the design proposal we had to design an invoice template. I was not sure what to add so I started off by doing some research to know what I should add.

I found this website to be very helpful when researching invoices. I also found this blog post by William Simpson to be super helpful also.

What is an invoice?

An invoice is a document that you send to your client after they purchase goods or services from you, both as a means of recording the sale and of requesting payment from them.

Specifically, an invoice declares in writing what exactly the client purchased, when they purchased it, in what quantity and at what price.

What is their purpose?

They create a binding agreement between you and your customer that obliges the customer to pay the agreed price. As a result, invoices can be used when taking more formal actions, especially in the case of overdue or missing payments.

That’s because, in addition to stating the total amount to be paid by your customer, invoices also identify the payment terms, including when the payment must be made by and what, if any, the potential penalties are for late payments.

How to make a good design invoice

The invoice should look clean and it should be easy to read. It shouldn’t overwhelm the client with too much information but should include everything that’s important for your records and for them to understand your charges. When you’re creating the invoice, pay attention to the layout and consider how you’re going to bill for your work.

Your business logo, address, and other information they might need such as your phone number or email address ,must be included. Include your website if applicable. You’ll want to include your client’s name and information, an invoice number, and the date of the invoice. You’ll also want the invoice total to be in an easy to spot location.

Layout for a Design Invoice

Logo and information at the top, where it’s easy for the client to see.
Client name – middle
Date of the invoice – middle
Other important information. – middle
Break down the project and the costs.
Break down your project into subcategories that make sense for the project and include descriptions as needed.
Provide the cost based on how you’re billing the client and the total price for each section of the project.
At the bottom of the invoice, total the services, include any tax as necessary, subtract any amount they’ve already paid, and show the final amount they owe for your services.

How to Bill for Design Projects

You’re generally going to choose based on a set fee for each part of the project or hourly for the amount of time you spend on each part of the project. If you’re planning on charging clients set fees for various parts of the projects you work on, break down the invoice into those parts and write the cost for each one, then add them together to get the total. If you’re planning on charging an hourly price, write down which part of the project you worked on, the number of hours you spent on it, your hourly rate, and the total cost for each part of the project.

Your invoice reflects your business and should look fantastic yet be easy for you to fill out when needed and provide to your clients.

Visual research

I started by doing some visual research. Here is a link to see it.

Here are some of my favourite ones:

I really like the simplicity of these 2 designs, it includes colour and personality without taking away from the important information.

I really like the colour scheme of the Invoice above especially because it is similar to my own colour scheme. The writing size is a big too small though – it is a bit hard to read.

I really like how they used blocks of colour to create a sort of structure to the information.

Here is a link to my Figma design file.

My Invoice

Emily Ussher Invoice pdf

I had a lot of fun making the invoice and I am pleased with how simple I was able to make it. I do think that as time goes on and I mature as a designer this aspect of my brand will also mature.

Co-Founders

Speaker: Siofra Frost

What is Co-Founders?

It is a startup program were they explore startup ideas with high-gross potential. It can not be location specific though.

Who can apply?

1- An individual with an idea for an innovative product/service.

2- An individual with skills that a start-up would need.

A team that wants to add further expertise to their team.

It is about finding the right people with the right skillset for making the idea come to life.

Why apply?

Networking opportunity
Design thinking training
Learn how to develop a start-up
Potential to win one of ten £10k grants
Hone skills in teamwork, collaboration and pitching

Boosting CV careers Notes Placement Research

Getting ready to smash my first interview

Ok so in all seriousness, I have my first interview with Global Payments on Monday 22/11/21 at 11am. I am more excited than nervous but I would still like to be prepared so I decided to put all my key research and information that I think might help me here. I will also add an evaluation at the bottom of the post of how my interview went. 🙂

Who will be interviewing me?

Stephen Picton (Director, Technical communications)
Jordan Hamilton (UX designer)

** They were both so very lovely **

Things I know about the company

I reached out to Gemma Ferguson on LinkedIn to get some insider information and some tips on how to do well in my interview. That along with the Global Payments talk I had earlier in the year helped me pinpoint the things I would need to mention during my interview to leave a positive impression.

ACCESSIBILITY – in the US it is law – since they work at a global scale this is a big thing for the company. Make sure to mention how important this is to you as a designer.
User-centered design.
Focus on integrated payment solutions.
Sites/offices across the world.
Allows users to manage account, invoices, credit card, etc…
24,000+ employees.
Dominic was a placement student last year.
Belfast and Foyle sites accounts for 80% of the revenue for the company.
They want to know about your design process and how you approach design problems.

Interview tips

Practice on someone in the design field and someone who’s not. The person interviewing you may not be a UX designer, so you should be comfortable answering in terms that will still make sense to a non-designer.

Be ready to share your screen. Whether you’re interviewing in person or online, you may be asked to share your UX design portfolio on your screen. Close any unnecessary windows, and practice navigating to the projects you want to highlight.

Don’t be afraid to stop and think before answering (especially for design challenges). Talk through your thought process out loud—this demonstrates your ability to think through problems analytically.

Possible questions

I started off by brainstorming on paper

I then looked up some articles that were recommended by my tutors to better understand what the employers will ask me and what they are trying to find out by asking me the questions. I read a great article on coursera that offed a lot of insight and helped me form my answers. I also used this article on Carerfoundry that was super helpful.

I found other articles that not only had possible UX questions but also had some suggested answers. I used these also to help me form my questions and answers. One of these resources was an article by Toptal that was great for breaking down what the question means and what the employer wants to hear.

1- Tell us about yourself

As explained in this article by coursera what they’re really asking you with this question is what makes you the right person for this position? why should they invest money and time in you? Are you worth it?

It sounds like a simple get-to-know-you question, but there’s more to it. This is question is my get-way into explaining my journey with UX design.

Prompts:

Why are you interested in UX?
How did you get started in UX?
Tell me a little bit more about your background.
What sparked your interest in UX?
What experiences did you have in your previous jobs or coursework that inspired you to pursue a career in UX design? – here I could talk about some of my part time roles in the service industry and how this helped me improve my communication skills, improve my time-management and taught me how to better deal and communicate with people.
Express what excites you about the role you’re applying for.
Why do you think you’re the best candidate for the job?

I plan on talking a bit about how my multicultural background informs my design solutions and how I found a love for intuitive and user friendly design through art when I moved to this country as it offered me a respite from the language barrier and allowed me to express my frustration, emotions and in a way communicate with the world. This translated into a love for facilitating interactions and communications for everyone.

2- What is UX design?

3- Give me some of your favorite examples of good UX

This question is more about figuring out if you understand the elements of good user experience. Knowing why good UX is important is one thing. Knowing how to design good UX is another. This question digs into your knowledge of UX best practices. So think of apps in terms of usability, accessibility, how engaging and interactive they are…

Prompts:

What elements of the product, app, or website make the user experience enjoyable?
How is the design user-centric?
How do you think that impacts the company’s bottom line?

My examples:

Instagram – for its usability
Apples web store – so smooth, simple, and intriguing, it draws you in
Pinterest – intuitive
Spotify – great personalization

4- Give me some of your examples of bad UX

Here I would also talk about the importance of UX as a bad experience will stay with a user and it will make achieving their task harder. It also reduces their trust and patience for the product or service.

Translink timetables – will not read outload past the title (not accessible). Clunky and awkward to use
Ryanair booking platform – I like to think of it as sneaky UX, it makes it complicated and confusing to trick you into spending more money. Opposite of user first design. You can tell that it is about the bottom line for the company.

5- What is the difference between UX and UI?

Do you understand what UX is and isn’t (and how it fits into the bigger picture)? This is a hard but clever question as more often than not the terms UI and UX are used interchangeably or simply lumped together, they represent distinct roles in the product development process. Make sure you can communicate the difference between a product looking good (UI) and working effectively and efficiently (UX).

Designing for the user interface often plays an important role in the work of a UX designer, but it is not the only function.

Prompts:

UX considers the users needs and how to make a digital product accessible to its users.
UI design is concerned with the effective layout of visual elements on a user interface, UX design is ‘people first.’ It’s about what motivates them—how they think and behave.
How to get the user from A to B as simply as possible
Talk about the freelance branding you did and how you had to act as the Graphic designer, UI and UX designer all at once and how you had to continually justify your design decisions.
UI design is only one slice of the UX design process ‘pie’, and only one of many different disciplines that reside under the UX banner. These include, but are not limited to: a user-centered design strategy, core user demographic definition, persona creation, user research, information architecture, content strategy, interaction design, visual design and usability testing.
What’s the difference between a UX designer and a graphic designer?
How is UX design different from visual design?
What sets UX apart from other design disciplines?

6- What is the future of UX?

This is a fun question as you can really delve into the innovations that excite you in the industry and the things you would love to explore.

I found an article that really helped me to inform my answers, click here to read it.

Possible talking points:

focus on ease of use through motion design and gestural interfaces
Voice commands for minimal to no contact interfaces
AR/ VR – Corporations like IKEA, Target, and Home Depot are already incorporating augmented reality into their online shopping experiences. And let’s not forget when Pokemon Go’s AR technology took over the globe.
Ilya Kroogman, Lead UI/UX Designer and Founder of The Digital Panda stated that “The future of UX design is in a combination of intuitive/predictive AI as well as quality voice/chatbots. Being able to interact with technology in a natural Human-like manner will accelerate technological adoption and increase user satisfaction.”

7- What are your weaknesses?

8- Why do you want to work for Global Payments?

I remember when you came to give us a talk you mentioned that UX is the heart of the development process in Global Payments, this is something that really attracted me to the company as the more you elaborated on this the clearer it became that the customer comes first and that important elements of design like accessibility and creating user centered designs are at the forefront.

9- Walk me through your workflow/your design process

10- What kind of research methods do you use?

What they’re really asking: How do you validate your design decisions?

User research is a key part of the UX design process, so interviewers will sometimes want to gauge your familiarity with the process and methods.

You can approach this question in a couple of ways. Be sure to walk through any user research methods you’ve used in the past (this can include research you conducted as part of a course or degree project). Talk about the benefits and limitations of each method.

If you have limited experience in UX design, you can also frame your answer in terms of research methods you’d like to try and why.

Have you conducted user research in the past?
How do you decide which research method to use?

11- How do you respond to negative feedback?

What they’re really asking: Are you a team player?

Part of the interview process involves figuring out what you’re like to work with. Can you work collaboratively? Are you able to incorporate different ideas and viewpoints into your designs? Do you trust your team members with your work?

UX design is a highly collaborative process. Take this opportunity to talk about a successful collaboration. This could be a group project or a team effort in a previous job. No matter the example you choose, remember to point out the role you played in the group, how you overcame any challenges, what you learned from your teammates, and how the finished product benefitted from the collaboration.

Do you work well as part of a team?
Describe your ideal work environment.
How do you hand over your designs to developers?

12- Tell me about your most/least successful UX design project.

What are your biggest strengths or weaknesses?

Getting asked about the design project you’re most proud of is your chance to showcase your strengths. Outline your contributions to the project, then go into a little more detail about what made it so successful. As you prepare for this question, see if you can tie in some of the qualities listed in the job description for the role.

The negative version of the question is another way to ask you about your weaknesses. Be honest, but keep the focus on what you learned from the not-so-successful project and what you’d do differently in the future.

No matter which version of the question you get, take it as an opportunity to define how you measure success (hint: tie it to the user).

Walk me through your portfolio.
What is your biggest strength/weakness as a UX designer?
Tell me about a design problem that challenged you.

13- How would you improve the UX of our product?

Have you done your research?

It’s always a good idea to read up on the company you’re applying to ahead of your interview. This demonstrates your interest in this company and this role as opposed to any other UX designer job.

Take some time to explore the company’s products. Browse their website. Use their app if they have one.

Think about what works and what could be improved. Pick one or two examples, and come up with a sample plan of action. Remember to mention the company’s target users and the type of research you might conduct when enhancing an existing design.

The point here isn’t to bash your potential employer but to offer a preview of the value you’d bring to the company.

Tell me about a bad user experience you’ve had. How would you fix it?

14- Where do you find inspiration?

Are you passionate about UX design? Are you a lifelong learner?

Interviewers are generally looking for a couple of things when they ask a question like this. First, they want to know that you’re genuinely interested in the industry. Second, they want to know that you’re staying on top of trends. Third, they want to see that you’re always looking for ways to learn and improve.

There’s no right or wrong answer here.

You could discuss a design book you’ve read recently, pointing out a tip or two you gleaned from it. You could talk about a UX podcast you listen to, or a trend you read about in a design blog. How could that trend contribute to this company’s success? Maybe there’s a UX designer you follow on Twitter who always inspires you with new ideas.

If you’re not regularly consuming UX design media, now’s the time to start. Here’s a list of UX books, blogs, and podcasts to get you going.

What do you think is the next big trend in UX design?
What inspires you?
What inspires your work?

15- Do you have any questions?

Are you engaged and curious?

This question closes out many interviews, and it’s important that you come prepared with your own thoughtful questions. The main point of an interview is for a company to determine whether you’re a good fit for a role. But that goes both ways. This is your chance to explore whether the company is a good fit for you.

Demonstrate your interest in the company and the job by asking two or three questions. You can prepare some questions ahead of time, but don’t be afraid to ask questions that may have come up during the interview process. Topics to inquire about might include the company culture, team structure, and business goals.

16- Describe a recent project you were particularly challenged by and how you approached the problem.

Here they want to see what your design process is and how you tackle issues. It is essential to have a clear strategy to facilitate an end goal.

Prompts:

What did you find challenging and why?
How did you set out to come up with a solution?
did you gather extra user-generated data to help solve the problem/brief? – collecting data using analytics, testing the design on a specific demographic in a format that makes the most sense.
Testing wireframes or interactive prototypes on users to either validate or reject hypotheses.
Sending a survey to a wider demographic to better understand product market fit.
Did you employ remote moderated user-testing, or some kind of remote research methodology in order to listen to users and arrive at better design solutions?
Readily share enthusiasm about how you approach problems.

17- The Whiteboard Challenge

How do you perform under pressure? Can you back up the skills listed on your resume?

Many UX designer interviews include a hands-on design challenge. Sometimes this is a take-home project that you turn in later. More commonly, it’s a whiteboard challenge, where you’re asked to design a solution on the spot while talking through your process.

This can be intimidating, but keep in mind that it’s more about seeing your process in action than the final result. Break this down into a few steps:

1. Ask questions to clarify what the challenge entails. What are the expected outcomes? What factors should you consider?

2. Ask more questions to help you build a user persona.

3. Create a user story. Outline what the user would need to solve their problem and the steps they might take.

4. Draw a few critical wireframes on the whiteboard. Explain what you’re including and why.

5. Discuss some alternatives or other use cases.

6. Respond to any feedback with improvements.

7. Ask if there’s anything else you should iterate on.

Practice the process with a real whiteboard ahead of the interview. Here are a few sample challenges to practice with:

Design a child-friendly app for a store that makes custom teddy bears.
Design a mobile app to help singles safely find a roommate in a big city.
Re-design a popular dating app to make it more useful during the pandemic.
Design something from the Designercize prompt generator.

So in a nutshell I think that UX design interview questions tend to fall into a few categories:

All About You
All About Your Work
All About Your Process
What Makes You Tick?
What Are Your Goals?

Questions I have for the end of the interview

What staff development programs do you have?
During our placement program will we be given mentorship and if so how often
Company culture
Team structure
Business
How many projects will I be working on durin/ project opportunities
Opportunities to work in orther areas
What have you learned over the year on how to improive ypour designs
Would you be willing to give me some feedback on how I was able to articulate my answers and describe my design process.

careers Notes Placement Week 10

Core systems

Core – Transforming lives together

Core Systems (NI) Ltd – North Belfast

Speakers:

Roisin – Product delivery manager
Ellie (Placement student)

About Core systems

Focus on the criminal justice sector
200 thousand users using their products across Australia, USA
Challenging
How can they help the prisoner while they are incarserated.

Mission:

To utilize technology to make life better for individuals in the criminal justice system.

For the victim, the workers and the imprisoned.

The problem:

Reoffending – within 3 months after release about 50% of them go back.
Nothing is being fixed so they try to give them tools while in prison to make sure they do not re-offend.
Some come from disadvantaged backgrounds and their needs are not meet before or after prison
The average reading age of prisoners is of a 8 – 10 year old.

The solution:

Communication with friends and family while in prison to prevent reoffending.
Self-service modules (doing things for yourself and not relying on other people) teaches them tools they need for when they are released.
E-learning.
Shop ordering (Helps them to budget)
Meals selection (makes them responsible to make sure they get the food they like).

By allowing them access to these key skills the aim is to help them improve upon themselves and keep up with technology so when they leave they are not alienated.

Avoid causing frustration or anger when creating the software to avoid fights or irritating a prisoner.

Working at Core systems

What they need from their people:

Curiosity and imagination
Creative problem solving
Teamwork and collaboration
Analytic and critical thinking
Initiative and entrepreneurialism

Come forward with your ideas, they appreciate it all.

How they work:

Agile practices – this allows them to develop products very quickly.

What does the flow look like? Is it technically feasible?

Meet every other Thursday to agree on what they will be working on and then spend 2 weeks developing.

Product development level
Marketing and graphic design
Opportunities to work in UI and UX
Working on a live product being delivered to customers.

Skype and teams – working remotely atm. Then they will have a hybrid working model by early next year.

Things you get to do:

Loads of prototypes to take to people to ensure it is correct. Great way to get feedback
Get to work with product rebranding team – Varied role
Get to work on UI and UX

Ellie – placement student

Been there 4 months
Working to create designs for product pathways
Working towards a set of existing UI standards
Considering the user when doing UX
THE USER!!!!!! they have a low level of education so the language, text size and visual element has to be very carefully considered.
Working as part of a bigger team
Creating prototypes
Consistency for better user experience
Saves documents with quick description for developers
Worked with the business team creating designs for them for marketing
Variation in work
Her first project was creating a core banner

Banner

Colour
Logo
Imagery
Get brief and look at previous designs then get some feedback, make some changes and other options then get the final outcome

Creating an e-Book

Web design

The design team is relatively small so you get a lot of design freedom and your input is appreciated.

Q&A

1- Working from home

Was in the office for a few weeks to be introduced.
People who were not in the office even messaged her to introduced themselves.
She slowly transitioned to working from home.
Loads of support to remote working transition.

2- Consider their audience. When they went into prison was even something as old as Facebook a thing?

3- Cortney is working there atm (final year student)

4- What impresses them:

Empathy, understanding the user, creativity, feedback, user research

4- How many placement students can you take on?

Only 1.

Contact

02890 722044

Roisin@coresystems.biz

Ellie@coresystems.biz

Applying

Interview to get a feel for you
December – January

Product pitch

So as I showed above in my notes I am interested in either creating an eBook for children or a more affordable ambulance system for Americans.

While the urge to create awesome illustrations for a kids book is so strong I do think that exploring the ambulance alternative would be a very good and interesting challenge. Many families in the USA have struggled to financially recover after calling for an ambulance as their insurance provider will not cover the whole cost. My main focus for this is to create a more affordable substitute for financially disadvantaged people and also to reduce the strain in the emergency services.

I was reading an article in The New York Times as part of my research and discovered that in America an ambulance ride can cost thousands even if not medical equipment is used and the costs are not always covered by the insurance. This is simply not an option for some people and so they have begun ordering an UBER to take them to the hospital if the injury or emergency allows. As stated in the article ‘For some, the financial setback of an ambulance trip can be immense. An alternative choice for non-emergencies could save people thousands of dollars and help reduce waste in a system rife with it’.

This tells me that this idea is a possible marketable product that will help people. I do think that this does bring the danger of people abusing or misusing the service and calling a lift instead of an ambulance when their emergency could be life threatening and requires the attention of medical professionals.

I also found this online chatting platform where real Americans were recounting their experiences in using a lift or asking a family member to take them to hospital instead of calling for an ambulance.

My fear is that the healthcare system in America is built around profit over people, cost over care which is something that truly saddens me as in cases like these usually minorities, less financially stable people/families or the vulnerable suffer. I want to create a solution surrounding a current existing service that will remedy this and better peoples life.

The global pandemic further exposed how broken the health care system in America is. After reading an article in the Guardian I discovered that there were 27.9 million people without health insurance in 2018 with patients biggest worry even when nearing their death beds being “who will pay for this?” that is a truly heartbreaking reality. As Derrick Smith, nurse anesthetist at a New York City hospital wrote on Facebook: “Next-level heartbreak – having to hear a dying patient use his last words to worry about healthcare finances.”

According to a recent study, 71% of ambulance providers don’t take the patient’s insurance. That same study found that 79% of patients who took a ground ambulance could be on the hook for an average fee of $450 after their insurance paid out. By comparison, air ambulances can cost the average patient $21,700 after the insurance pays out.

These surprise bills can be a huge problem, especially when nearly four in 10 Americans would have to borrow money to cover an unexpected $1,000 emergency.

More info:

App name ideas:

WELP
505 – I could make the brand look like a mix between SOS and 505 so for a mid emergency the user can call 505

Trying to articulate my thoughts

What is the problem?

The negative financial impact calling a life saving service like an ambulance can have on Americans and how cost influences patients decision on weather or not to seek much needed medical care.

Figures to drive point home:

71% of ambulance providers don’t take the patient’s insurance
79% of patients who take an ambulance could be on the hook for an average fee of $450 after their insurance pays out.

The solution

505 is an ambulance alternative that utilizes the same principles as UBER to request a high priority emergency lift that will cost a fraction of what an ambulance would.

Week 10

Usability testing

Good reads

Don’t make me think revisited by Steve Krug
Nielson Norman group articles.

Basic usability rule. Don’t make your users think. Make it easy for your user to use your products. It should be obvious and self explanatory. Don’t overcomplicated.

When it comes to digital products consistency is your friend. Make the aspects of your website easy to process and understand. Th elements in it should resemble their real life counterparts, like for example buttons/call to actions.

Fixation: we only use fixation when the eye is still. This is used when using a digital product or website. Your eye is fixating on words, places and content but the things you fixate on are the only things you will remember. This tells me that the layout of my content needs to be very carefully considerate to make sure my user fixates on what I want them to.

******* Use an eye tracker to see how users use your website. **********

This is why information architecture must be implemented as well as possible to make the process of reading the content much easier.

Try to make use of sensory imagery to trigger the users memory. You can trigger these with words. When you read you don’t actually read every letter but you rely on memory, like for example

You also have to be mindful of the user and their abilities. How old are they? How big is their vocabulary? This is something I need to keep in mind when creating my elements app for kids as using big technical words would result in it being too complicated for kids. Not only does the layout of the information matter but also the selection of the words that are appropriate for the user and demographic.

The idea is not to make users work your way but for you as the designer to create solutions that work best for them.

User testing

If you want a great product you must test. The point of testing is to inform your judgement and decisions. Testing should be an interactive process. It should also be a constant process and not a one off. The more users you get to test your product the more issues you will be able to find to then improve upon.

Before testing your own product it is always a good idea to run a usability test on competitor products – consider it free usability testing with no pressure. Doing this will help you improve your own design.

Types of test:

Think aloud protocol: Get someone to test you product by giving them prompts and asking them to talk through their actions and thoughts as they go; this gives a mind-eye hypothesis.
Standard usability test: In this type of test you are looking for 3 metrics: efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction. All you need to do is record your screen and audio and you have your test.
Key task testing: Get a participant to do something they would normally do with a product. In this type of test you write your tasks like scenarios and get the user to carry them out.

It’s important to identify 3 or more tasks – it does not have to be the whole product. Have prepared pre-tests and post-test interview questions. Give the participant user written instructions for their first task. Record the start and end time and observations. Then analyze the data.

It can be useful to use a test script highlighting everything you are planning on doing that day.

A good type of post-test surveys is the SUS method (this method provides the most reliable answers) In this type of survey you ask questions about the usability of sections of your site and ask the user to give a number between 1 and 5 with 5 being the best. It gives you numbers to back up your decisions. This then lets you interpret the score.

Users will remember a bad experience. Avoid giving them a bad experience. The more bad experiences the user experiences the more their goodwill for your product will be reduced. This could happen because of information that they want being hidden, Asking for information from the user you don’t actually need, require them to behave in a certain way for the product to work, putting things in their way (Pop-ups). When in doubt apologize to the user when something does not go right for them with your product, this will create a sense of goodwill and trust in a way.

Online usability testing

Usabilityhub
hotjar
usertesting
maze – free
Screenflow or quicktime are great software to record your screen time – it also helps as then you can watch things back.

Reflection

Users will remember a bad experience and so when designing it should always be for the user, to champion them in a sense.

Careers Café – 2

As part of preparing for my future interviews I attended the second careers café event and I must say it was a very good learning experience.

First impressions

Zara runs her own business where she does wedding photography. Graduated 2020 in photography.
Lauren 2nd year graphic design and illustration. LJK designs illustration design business.

Making a good first impression – it is your business card basically.

How you act in front of future and even possible employers.
Say who you are, what you do, maybe a call to action.
Put on as much good quality content as possible on Instagram – sell yourself.
Don’t let yourself get in the small island mentality. Vivimos en un país pequeño pero deberías tratar tus oportunidades como una oportunidad grande.
No space for big egos.
Keep a level head, calm and professional.

For your interview

prepare your points about the company.
Inspire them about your work being worth taking a chance on.
Be organised come with a list of things you want to cover or accomplish.
Contact them after the interview- show that you are keen.
If it’s a no just tell yourself – that is not my employer.
Adapt. Read the room and be open with your body language.

To do

go to networking events
Adapt read the room and be open with your body language
Re invest NI all they need is for you to have clarity on what you want to do. Look up investment companies. There are so many out there.
CER module look up. Ask Jackie
Louise head of school is helpful and might be able to work for her.
Reach out to professions as a student wanting feedback and help. They might see themselves in you and want to help. The worst they can say is no after all.
Ulster bank talks go to them to learn how to get set up as a self employed person.
Email Jackie – she will be glad to help.

Setting up your own business

Get your name out there
Get contacts
Enter competitions
Don’t get too eager getting a ton materials you might not even need at the end of the day. The worst thing you can do is waste your money on materials you will not use.
Think logically, be reasonable, be clear.
Google scholarships and investments
Event bright
Go for it program – they do the business program for you for free.
Be confident
Are you prepared to not only spend the money but the time on your business. Think this through.
Setting up your business during placement year. Look up.
Handshake for projects and prizes and business.
If you are having an anxious or unsociable day make it an admin day don’t force it if it will have a negative result.
Always have an event you are looking forward to because then it will make you excited for a routine as it will result in a reward.

DHD

Speaker: David Henderson

What they do:

Digital marketing company
Graphic design
Animation
Web design
Logos – branding
Film and photography
Social strategy

The speaker: David Henderson – creative Director (Melissa is his wife)

He started in Sept 2008, fresh out of uni. He started as a freelancer.
Around 2012 he hired his first employee
Lucy Cook current IXD intern
They are global – work with clients in the states
14 yr old company
They pride themselves on reliable and constant customer support
Hydrogen Ni – renewable energy
Go youth trust (Glasgow) – just went live
Bakery in Bangor – they did their brand and their website
Passionate about education – going to meetups, digital DNA, web summit, conferences, etc…
They have had placement students for 8 years now
You get to try the different disciplines the company covers.

Who they want:

Hard working
Honest
Diligent
Respectful
Sense of humor
Genuine
Motivated
Passionate attitude for what they do
Organized
Loves what they do
Attitude over skills
Can meet deadlines

Apply and connect:

02895818054
@wearedhd
wearedhd.com
hello@wearedhd.com
david@wearedhd.com
#wearedhd
DEADLINE: 29/11/21
Talk to him on LinkedIn

Elementals

Brief: to create an immersive learning experience explaining the periodic table to either undergraduates or children aged 8 -10.

I have chosen to create an immersive VR game for children.

Here are my initial thoughts:

So since I will be designing a learning tool for children I will need to focus on the following:

Simplicity
Easy to use
Easy to understand
Engaging
Not too content heavy
Inclusivity

Elements project -1

My initial thoughts and ideas

You probably need a support area not for the kids but for the parents.
Interview children and their parents? at least 5 or 10.
Some people have gotten jobs simply because they focused on their user during their process and talked about them in their blog.
Age range 8 – 10
Game based on scooby doo like mysteries
game of card snaps
doesn’t always have to be digital could be a game of snap.
Talk to a teacher
idea VR game they can use around the house where they are shown examples and then they must go around the safety of their own home to find examples after being explained what each element is and the different forms they take.
Can post questionnaire on momsnet or something like that. Post it on Instagram
Maybe give someone screens and video them/the screen as they use the app to see how well they interact with it and the issues they face. Usability testing!!!!!!!!!

Planning a questionnaire

Do you know what the periodic table is?
What is the periodic table?
What are you learning in science class?
What games do you like to play?