Since Ronan is coming from a background of being well experienced in this industry, he gave us an insight into the industry to get us thinking about what areas there is to offer and what work is involved in each one.
One area that caught my attention is the contrast between UX and UI. Although, I know what each of these mean and have been working on both during projects I never knew that these are separate positions on the job to focus on. UI is all about the composition of the interface, where as, UX is applying the brand to the UI and connecting them to the user.
At the minute, I am inclined to UX design, because it comes more natural to me than UI is hard to visualise what the design will look like before you start this stage. I enjoyed this module learning about the branding aspect and conducting the user research, it gave me more to work with to design a banking brand that the values line up with what my target audience wants.
Ronan spoke about the key factors when to think about when looking for placements and jobs in the future. He highlighted how we should emphasis during interviews our preferred type of design work and certain positions in the work environment.
I will keep this in mind next year, when I start to look at placement opportunities and adapting my CV, and creating a portfolio that shows my skills catered to a preferred role.
He went on to to talk about was the difference between agency and in-house work. I didn’t know what either of these meant before this talk. Although, from hearing about what each of these mean it has opened my eyes to how broad the industry is. The main difference is in an agency you get to explore a range of work whereas in-house you only get to work on one specific thing.
During this module, it has allowed me to see how I was able to build my brand from the beginning without any restrictions. I wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much if I was given the brief to follow a brand to develop. I am still unsure though what sort of company I’d like to work in, but I’m going to keep my options open to get experience before deciding.
After the talk, Ronan came around to take a look at our project and give us feedback. He said about the consistency in design throughout my work is very good. I am happy to hear this, as it’s something that is important in a brand. It was good to get feedback from someone apart from my lecturer.