collage of varied designs and illustrations

 

About… me

I am an artist

When the question is asked, what do you do or what are you my answer is, “I am an artist.” I have been drawing since the age of four. And for the most part, I have not stopped trying to improve my skills. My technical skills have stayed the same since the age of eighteen. 

Technical skills will only get you so far. It is understanding how to create a unified design. How to make a focal point. And you can never forget about storytelling. 

I have been drawing since the age of four, as I said previously. In the vast majority of my drawings, the focus is on people, characters, portraits, etc. To have an effective drawing, painting, and sculpture. Your work needs to be unified, and a strong contrast is required to draw the eyes of the viewer to your focal point. But to make the design stand out, a story has to resonate with your audience.

The characters or people in my drawings were not static but moving. I have always had my characters in action poses since my earliest memories. From stick figures to more defined and detailed character designs.

The earliest influences I can remember first came from the comics—mainly from Marvel and the daily and weekend comics in the newspapers. I would get to know the work of Marvel artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. 

 I would follow Hal Foster, the artist and writer of the Prince Valiant comic strip. Other comic strips of early influence would be Blondie, Dick Tracy, Pogo Possum, and of course, Peanuts.

I am a designer

Designers solve problems. I have held many different types of jobs over the years. In this digital age, many of my jobs have been about being at the beginning of start-ups and major redesigns. I provided technical, creative, and leadership skills to produce the proposed product.

To be a designer, you have to define the problem. Early in my career, many of my original projects were shelved when it came to me, and I had to ask a question that had yet to be asked in the earlier meetings. Why? What changes? What improves by doing this? What is the return on the investment of time and money if this project is completed? 

Once you have the goal and what the problem is. You use reverse planning; I have to figure out the steps in the correct sequence for the result to happen. You take large tasks and break them down into smaller tasks completed.

Setting up design standards or a style guide early in the process will improve the chances of a unified design throughout the process and fewer chances of having to retrofit designs at the end of the project process. Deciding on the colors that will be used, typography, spacing, and anything else that is part of the design that can be selected only helps the process move smoothly.

As a UX Designer in today’s world, if you are not thinking about accessibility and inclusive design at the beginning of the project you are involved in. You are missing the tangible and intangible benefits your business would receive by emphasizing accessibility in your design process.


I am an Inclusive Designer

I do not design for myself. I try not to fall into the trap of personal bias. You will not hear me say I like a color or a specific type of font. I want to take away my perceptions in my design decisions. Personal bias can play a role in the UX design process. I want to remove that obstacle. 

Your goal as a UX Designer is to meet the needs of as many people as possible. I make my decisions based on data and known and proven conventions as much as possible.

I do not design based on my skills and abilities. I try not to fall into the trap of ability bias. As a UX Designer, I cannot assume the user’s capabilities. I must ensure I accept users with different cognitive, physical, or visual abilities.

I start my design process by seeing the screen not only as someone who uses the mouse but also as a user who uses keyboard navigation and a user who uses the keyboard and screenreader software.

How would I design this web component if I sprained my wrist (temporary disability)? Or if I was outside in the bright sun (situational disability), would I be able to access the information I needed on my mobile phone? Can I make sense of my design if my eyesight was 20/80 compared to 20/20?

I look to expand the tent. I want as many users as possible to use the designs I create. I look to enable people of all skills, abilities, and limitations to have the best experience possible. Suppose I design for someone who has poor eyesight. Everyone wins. The poorer the vision, the more that person will benefit. Even people with good eyesight will be a winner, but not as much.

Being an inclusive designer means I am constantly learning and will only sometimes get it right. I will make mistakes. This is a learning process, and I am updating designs and knowledge as I go forward.


Accessibility is good for business

Many organizations are waking up to the fact that embracing accessibility leads to multiple benefits – reducing legal risks, strengthening brand presence, and improving customer experience and colleague productivity.

– Paul Smyth, Head of Digital Accessibility, Barclays

 The benefits for businesses to address accessibility are:

    • Minimize legal risk
      • Suppose you are going to have a presence on the web. You need to know about others’ rights. In the United States, it is the law. Everyone is to have equal access to the web. Do not put the business you work for at legal risk.
      • Most countries have some law that talks about accessibility. But in most cases, the standards fall under the web content accessibility guidelines or WCAG. Knowing these guidelines will help you design a better product that reduces the risk of legal entailments for your business.
    • Extend market reach
      • Studies have found there are over one billion people (15% of the world’s population) with disabilities. Their spending power is reported to be around six trillion dollars. 
      • Starting with inclusive design results in improved usability and customer satisfaction. More money for the business
    • Enhance the brand
      • Having a strong commitment to accessibility and inclusive design only helps the brand to be seen in a positive light.
      • If a business is sued, the brand is tarnished even if they win the lawsuit. It could be many years before that blemish can be removed.
    • Drive innovation
      • Many of today’s tools (typewriter, telephone, closed caption) were initially designed for only people with disabilities. But become mainstay products for the general population.