About me-Deirdre Hurley UX Designer
I've been working in the world of user experience with many years now. But all my past experiences have brought me to this interesting profession.
I studied Industrial Design in National College of Art and Design in Dublin. At this time there was no emphasis on digital product design but rather 3D product design. I designed lamps, a chronograph watch for Graham London and The British Masters watches, shop floor magazine shelving and a corkscrew to name but a few projects.
Industrial Design and User Experience Design overlap in many areas. Both are user centered focused, research driven, use hypothesis and iterative design process, making prototypes, user testing and hopefully happy users!
Industrial Design for me was a bit more hazardous while making prototypes. Im sure its easier now with 3D printing but back in college, I would don my Dickies overalls and enter the workshop to make a model prototype of my product. The machines were a little intimidating, in particular the metal lathe, and I still have a scar from a hot glue gun while making a cardboard chair.
Thankfully UX Design is alot cleaner! After college I worked at Freefoam plastics, a building products manufacturing company. I made 2D and 3D AutoCad drawings of new products and worked with the mechanical engineers but as I was in the marketing department, 80% of the job was graphic design! I got a 1 weeks crash course in Adobe Creative Suite from the previous designer before he left, which proved useful and I learned alot about graphic design.
Later in 2013, I went back to college and studied Computer Science in a 1 year Higher Diploma course in University College Cork. I did the course with my friend Kirsty who already had a degree in Archeology and both of us wanted to upgrade our skills in the technology space. It was challenging but a great foundation and lead me to my current career in UX Design.
UX Design is a craft and I keep learning and honing this craft and always being curious.