Self-discovery and what's next

Karol Tylke
BA Information and Interface Design
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„Information and interface design” is not the catchiest name for a course. Maybe that’s why it’s being renamed. Having enrolled before the change to more user friendly “UX design”, I have to bear with the consequences of UAL having bad copywriters (or whoever is naming courses). ​

During a usual day, I don’t really have to think about it. My course could be named anything, as long as the contents are the same I would eventually get used to it anyway. The fun starts when the following question is asked;
“hey, what do you study?”

I usually have a number of options after this happens. The first thing that comes to mind, is to just say the course name as it is. It’s usually met with either an apparently confident acknowledgment, that is just an obvious expression of confusion, or, in a more relaxed environment, a straightforward “what?”, both replies requiring further explanation. That’s why I tend to change the naming to be easier to understand. Having gone through a number of iterations I tend to go with “applied graphic design”. I apply principles of graphic design to modern mediums, in order to create interfaces or showcase information in the most user-friendly way.
This terribly long introduction is really supposed to show how I had to go through a journey of self-definition, and how by explaining to others what I do I was also getting better at explaining it to myself. I feel like this process is going to continue as I explore more disciplines and mediums, but for now my interest is focused on the following areas:

• mobile UI design
• branding
• illustration
• 3d design

I feel like it’s increasingly important to be a multidisciplinary person to get noticed, and I see more and more connections between those disciplines. 
Say you want to design an app. After the whole research phase you start off with black and white wireframes, and gradually increase the fidelity of the prototype. Then you want to design an onboarding experience that’s crucial for user engagement. Why not use custom illustrations, that make the whole prototype much more visually attractive, and also get more likes on dribble? Then you want a story behind an app, so you also design a logo, and maybe a 3d animation of the logo?

An example of my most recent work - an onboarding experience for a plastic pollution focused app.

I don’t know if this is the right approach, but I often fall down that well that makes me distribute my time towards several disciplines, flattening out my skills chart. From what I learned in a few lectures, it’s not the best approach. It’s good to have a T-shaped skills distribution, with many interests but one deep focus that lands you jobs. To find and develop that deep focus though, you need to have the arms of that “T” fully developed, and I feel like that’s what I’m currently doing. 
I’m planning to finish the project that’s holding me back from applying for internships in the coming week. After that I’m going to see if my skill set is going to allow me to successfully compete for positions.