Mastering Skills

As a visual designer, typography and lettering has always been a big passion as it is such a great way to express a concept or a feeling. Last year, I started looking into typography again as I felt I was a bit disconnected from what was going on in that world after so many years of only working with a single typeface. So this year, I want to rediscover and master working with and creating typefaces and lettering, both digitally and by hand.

As I grow in my role, I increasingly find myself needing to understand large and ambiguous problem spaces. While I wish I had an inspector gadget style repository of tools to lean on, in reality, every problem space is unique and requires its own level of design process thinking. I’d like to master designing workshops that help make sense of the abyss.

Not so much a single skill but a theme I’m leaning into is “T-shapedness.” As a UX writer by title, I’m grateful to have the support of my manager and team to intentionally hone my visual design capabilities. I’m also always trying to get better at design soft skills — facilitation, consensus building, storytelling — as visual craft is just one side of the coin.