Self-Assessment #1 June 16, 2020
Things Learned:
-Technical Area - As for the technical aspect as a whole, I was able to learn about what UX Design is, I was able to learn what factors are a part of User Experience; UX requires design, research, and strategy. Specifically, I was able to learn about how to research and gain user data through interviews, to better design a website; this is because the User Interface should fulfill and satisfy the needs of the user. I was able to learn about low fidelity prototyping as well as how to do it through wireframing.
-Tools - I learned how to use the Mural website in order to do group ideation, for example, group wireframing was great for brainstorming and collaborating with others to come up with a consensus for the group. I also learned how to use Balsamiq, which was awesome for wireframing websites, I was able to design a website on there and gain a visual and interactive idea of what I envision the STEM-Away website to look like. I was also able to contribute my ideas to the team as I had a visual representation in front of me.
-Soft Skills - I was able to learn about design in general, whether it be through a simple sketch on paper of what a website would look like, or wireframing to see the layout in a much more clean and organized way. I learned how to perform interviews that allow the interviewee to be comfortable in an environment, as well as get the most out of an interview through certain tasks, card sorting, contextual inquiry, and observations. I was able to draw empathy maps, so a skill I picked up from this was how to understand the perspective of the user. How to make generic as well as specific attributes to personas were also a soft skill that I picked up.
3 Achievement Highlights:
-learned how to conduct proper interviews to gain user data
-learned how to dram empathy maps and personas based on interviews and understand the different perspectives of the user, as that is important in designing the website
-was able to do wireframing, specifically on Balsamiq, which gave me a rough visual idea of the STEM-Away website, and helped me contribute to the group discussions
List of Meetings/Trainings Attended including social team events:
-attended all meeting
-caught up with the group when I missed the second meeting
-attended an extra meeting for discussing wireframing
Goals for the upcoming week:
-design the website in a neat and organized way
-make sure to utilize all the skills I learned
-work as a team to achieve the final product
-do all the assignments/tasks needed
Detailed Statements of Tasks Done:
-Drawing a layout of the website was a task I completed. I drew what I thought the layout should look like for the home page of the STEM-Away website. This included different sections for different types of users as well as general information. I did not want to make the home page too crowded or messy.
-Empathy maps are a task I completed. I created these based on my User research from interviews. These personas included all types of viewers of the STEM-Away website as well as what they would be thinking when seeing this website
-Personas are a task we completed as a team. My team and I created two valid personas on a slides presentation and a document. These personas were based on our interviews, they each had generic and specific attributes. They both also covered two different types of viewers of the STEM-Away website.
-Wireframing is a task I completed. I used Balsamiq to do this. I was able to wireframe all the pages I wanted to include if I were to create the STEM-Away website. I was able to create a functioning prototype and I gained great ideas from this visual representation of the STEM-Away website.
-Group wireframing is also a task we completed as a team on the mural website. We were able to collaborate in order to come up with an idea of how we wanted to organize the STEM-Away website. We combined all our ideas and discussed these ideas as well to do so.