Wait, am I a writer? Or something different?
In my Design Lab course called UX Academy, we often submit “reflections” on our work and the course to show understanding as well as some self-growth when appropriate. We are supposed to share these reflections to Medium to practice our writing and share with peers.
I wrote a three page summary to show my comprehension of the subject Information Architecture. I posted it as a blog here. It’s long. It made sense, and it told a story, and it felt good. But I wanted to make my reflection even more brief, so I tried to draw my summary instead.
What I’ve learned from my current mentor is, a summary needs to be as brief as possible- get your boss the most important information while you walk by her in the hallway. Working in my last profession, I could filter the important nuggets without thinking because I had years of practice. In this new field, I can’t figure out just yet what is necessary to keep and what can be tabled or left off.
I couldn’t figure out how to summarize even further while looking at the keyboard. I took my mentor’s advice to lean into a skill she complimented me on- my handmade drawings. She was so wowed by my first storyboard. I wasn’t expecting it, and didn’t realize that my physical pencil to paper output would be a valued skill.
I thought for a bit on how I could take my IA blog offline. Drawing a picture of it didn’t make sense, there were no characters. It then popped into my head that I could take my doodling habit and combine it with my poster making skills. I’d learned those during student government years ago. I had a knack for spacial awareness with bubble letters on the page. I do remember a sign I made for a swim meet- in plain, large font “Kick Some Back!” It was fun, to the point, and stood out because it wasn’t flowery or full of detail. Ha! I haven’t thought about that proud poster moment since I made it. In the past few years, I’ve recently practiced posters again by making written menus for catered events.
So, I have my doodling, I have my markers… and I have one more needed skill. I can take abundant information and sort it into headers, bullets and compartments. I thought about my favorite way to break up learning online, which is to watch UX Mastery videos. They are so fun, concise and visually appealing.
For my piece, I decided to work backwards I made an outline of my long blog. I worked in quotes as well as key points into a first and only draft of a visual representation of the lesson.
So, there it is. Proof of my comprehension, and a compact debrief on my longer blog. It was fun, helped me retain information, and I am exciting to try it again.
What do you think of the two different outputs of the same information? Do you prefer the written summary, or the sketch notes?
