Luci Cantey. A fool for all types of design.
A little something about me…
FINALLY. It only took me about 20 years.
After what feels like a hundred different career quizzes and various classes, discussions with friends and two career coach appointments, I found what combines my creative side, flair for design and my technical side, with a little bit of another personal favorite, psychology, sprinkled on top. I can use Illustrator, Wix and Figma, Google Surveys and Slides, all things that feel like hobbies, but that people will actually pay you to do! I found the perfect career.
My goal with UX/UI is to consider the client requirements, but also teach the client how user needs should be integral to what the requirements are. Show them research that expresses user needs and frustrations and teach them how that can shape the perfect product. How can the two requirements be perfectly juxtaposed? It’s absolutely possible, it just takes some big thinking, getting the starting idea(s) down on paper and then iterate, iterate and iterate some more.
Like I mentioned at the beginning of this portfolio page, I’m not here to reinvent a perfectly functional wheel. Our jobs as UX designers is to make sure the wheel fits on the specific app or site we’re working on. It’s to make beautiful wheels that bring users productivity, joy and ease. We can test aspects of the formula, perhaps make some tweaks, test and perfect a tried and true process, but good design doesn't necessarily mean “new design.”
From decorating sets for film and television, to accounting for the Charlotte Housing Authority, to managing product for a quilting fabric company- I’ve done so much through my work life and I retain knowledge and perspectives from each of those varied jobs that I apply to any work I do. There’s even some table waiting and bartending way back in there- it may not seem obvious, but that’s another job that requires creating a great start to finish user experience, and your wages depend on it! I think this maybe messy, definitely obscure, big mix of skills bolsters how adaptable my thinking is. Having experience with so many different situations, projects and parameters, I feel uniquely positioned to come at problems and challenges with an open mind and unexpected insight.