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If you’ve been following me or have seen my instagram posts Ince last year, you will see that August 2021 marked the beginning of my existential drama where I started to question the point of a career and my identity in relation to and in isolation to my work. Who am I if not a UX designer? Would I have chosen this field if given the opportunity to actually attend university? And despite what I do for a living, am I the kind of person people would want to know?

I started asking myself these questions last year as I discovered the UX and HCI industry is convoluted with all these layers that make the job of a UX design seemed borderline undefined.

Truth be told, I’m not much of a techie. Sue, I can be tech savvy if I need to be and I know about the industries latest software, how to use it and when to use high tool. But being in from of the computer all day, though I constantly am, is not my definition of doing the work I love. The design inquiry is less about creation and more about systems and observation and although I love observing and analysing people, situations and the world as we know it, the digital world is not one that tickled my fancy in my early days of creation and deciphering of a career.

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The difference between me entering the field of the Built Environment and the UX Design space is that the built environment requires qualifications based on industry standards that are set according to the country and county in which you study whereas starting from art onto graphic design, information design, design thinking and eventually becoming a UX Designer was a no brainer because my family is comprised of strategic creatives which makes it easier to have access from experts who brain I could pick or just watch, or just know what information to exposed myself to.

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So, what did I really want to do?

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Architecture. Simply put, that’s it. My sister studied architecture when I was still in the weening years of school and I was fascinated by the models she’d build. It was like a little world of reality that was controlled by the maker. I started taking photographs both of people and of architecture. Years later, after completing my matriculates the plan was to study architecture or urban design. So in preparation, I took a course in Designing Cities by University of Pennsylvania. The things they were teaching struck a nerve with me and I began to develop a keen interest not just in buildings but in the structure of an entire city, it’s infrastructure, availability of transport, the walkability, culture scape, sustainability and the governance that city receives.

Being the tyrannical, world-dominating female that I am, I always imagined I’d build a charter city. One with rules that I had written that were not in themselves strict, but demonstrated mutual respect, consideration and a unified values for its inhabitants.

The course from the University of Pennsylvania had us write about various city types, had us analyse our own city as we know it and last but not least, had us write a proposal about a city we had reimagined. I wrote one about my home city, which I’d like to leave anonymous, but the proposal itself can be found on this pdf below.

It was written in my elementary years so please consider it with a grain of salt.

Next, I hope to write more about my desire to embark on a career in the built environment so please stay tuned. All the best on your endeavours!

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