The funny thing was that when I had graduated from university, the role of a UX Designer didn't exist. It was only when I had to close my business down and look for work did I realise that there was an influx of UX/UI roles in the market.

I spent a good amount of time understanding the craft, what it entailed, and tried to build out my portfolio. Thankfully, since I had a background in graphic design, it was easy to transition into it.

After several months of working on myself, loads of interviews, and a bunch of no's. A design agency saw my potential and gave me a chance. I learned a lot from working there and have never looked back since.

My responsibilities in the company has changed a lot. Originally the Lead UX Designer at Orbi, I focused on the flows of our users once they entered our products. This meant sketching out the flows as well as designing the UI for each step.

After three years we realised that we were missing a role that owned the entire user journey end-to-end. From when the user sees our product, all the way to onboarding into the product. I'm now in charge of how every touch point across every step of the user journey looks and feels. From Google Ads to entering our products and everything in-between. I have to make sure that everything flows correctly to ensure a pleasant experience for our users.

On top of that, I talk to our users on a regular basis to help us understand where we are going wrong and understand what features we can add to the roadmap to help better the experience.

Every day is different and in some sense I have taken a step back in designing views, but I have taken a step forward with designing the companies processes.

Balancing all of my different roles. Since my role caters to every step of the user journey, I'm sitting in multiple projects at a time. Marketing, Sales, Tech, I'm everywhere.

It's important for me to prioritise and not lose focus, otherwise I'll be everywhere, yet nowhere.

The adoption of AI has helped greatly. Using tools like v0 has allowed me to spend less time in Figma pixel pushing, and more time in creating rapid working prototypes that helps us make the right decision.

I've been using ChatGPT on a daily basis to help me with my processes as well as bouncing ideas. With the limited time that I have, it's all about working smarter, not harder. Using AI has helped greatly with that.

Stay curious and keep learning, even if it's outside your craft. Adding new skills increases your value, and you never know when that new skillset will help you take the next step.

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