The first job I ever wanted & how I found Design
From caricature artist to big tech… sounds logical, right?
The first job I remember wanting was inspired by an afternoon spent at the Seattle Center with my grandmother. We were walking along near the big fountain, probably hoping she'd buy me an ice cream. There was a caricature artist on full display along one of the walk ways, drawing silly pictures that somehow still looked like the people dutifully posing on the folding chairs across from them.
I had long been drawn to art, with my very first exposure being Bob Ross on PBS after my saturday moring cartoons. These moments stand out vividly in my mind as being impactful in my passion for art. I remember thinking how cool it would be to get to get to be that person; to draw or paint for my job and make people smile.
Fast forward a few years, I was in a photoshop class my freshman year of high school. Suddenly a whole new medium of creative expression was opened before me, and I was infatuated. Photo manipulation, masking objects in/out, distorting them in interesting ways, making it look like my bedroom window opened out to the surface of the moon. Incredible experience for my 14year old mind.
It wasn't till a bit after that I was made aware of Graphic Design—but I didn't know what “Design” actually was, I thought maybe it was just digital art? Little did I know...
Jumping forward again, after being accepted to the design program at University of Washington, I thought for sure I wanted to continue down the path of Graphic or Visual Design; go into marketing or branding. I even toyed with Video Game design for a while.
That is, until my first Interaction Design class. I don't remember the details of the projects, but I remember how that class made me feel—getting to solve real problems through design thinking, and craft usable, working, beautiful things that had impact on people's everyday lives? I was instantly addicted. I changed majors to Interaction Design, and have never looked back.
Finding my way to this point in my career has felt very strait-forward, but looking back there were clear pivotal moments (as well as teachers and mentors) that lead me to where I am.
My passion for design thinking, process, and craft still stems from the same place that saw that caricature artist: A desire to connect with, and create for, people. I first and foremost want my work to remain inherently human centered, and build the strategy around the people I'm solving problems for.
