Today, I know I am a designer because I am able to switch out of my role as an artist and become a user advocate. I find great joy in creating experiences that are simple, yet powerful and loved by users.
I was going to create a standard About Me page but I'm very often asked in interviews, "Arjun, tell me about your journey into product design."
Product designers generally enter the field from all walks of life; there's no straight path or clearly-defined road. For me, because of my personal passions and hobbies growing up, I was often led astray in thinking product design is all about being "artsy", creative and focused only on aesthetics and visual design.
Before I entered the field of product design, I was an aspiring videographer and motion designer.
In the beginning, I often confused artistic expression and designing for users. Due to my passion for music, one of the first things I tried to showcase in my portfolio was a prototype I call the "contextual music visualizer".
This experience displays your favourite songs in a UI reminiscent of the time period in which each song was originally released. The aim was to connect users with their favourite artists/music. Click here for the inspiration.
Design is how something works and adds value for users. Also a labour of love, the contextual music visualizer was primarily an art project. What was lacking to make this a portfolio piece?
Now as a product designer, where would I take this idea?
I love sharing ideas that are wacky, artistic and abstract but being a product designer today involves carrying ideas through to a real user experience based on checking assumptions, avoiding being self-centred and leaving my ego at the door.