A place for people who design, but maybe want to be artists.
Do you feel like that, too?
Design / Art Practice started with a desire to find all the connections between the world of UX design where I live by day, and the painting, art & design theory, and history I studied at night. And in school. Seriously, why is it that we're all so idealistic in school, but then it gets harder and harder to dream big?
What I believe
I'm iterating in public here
—
So this stuff is a bit raw for now
- UX design is inherently a humanistic practice. But we live in a tech world. It is my job to fix the disconnect by studying culture
- As tech advances, speed and features will no longer be the differentiator. Experience and design are, now. But in the future, the reasons for being that arts help us express will be the way for any product or service to survive.
- The arts and humanities are under-valued right now. A better understanding & connecting them to business through design will uncover value.
A bit of back story
01
There's grad school for this stuff. I completed the year-long program called Digital Technologies in Design-Art Practice At Concordia University in Montreal. It was a glorious mix of "choose your own adventure" digital making and deep design thinking. Funny enough, as my thesis project, I wrote and illustrated a paper book about the importance of physical wear & tear.
02
After that, I moved on to become a UX Designer for the web - and am happily Head of Design at DockYard in Boston. I am fascinated by the intersection of tech and user experience, and humbled by the opportunities I get to influence big products for kickass companies.
But I missed the tangible, cultural world of art – so I started experimenting with art materials and techniques, and taking my cultural life with more intention.
03
Nowadays, this project is helping me push forward to the ultimate goal of understanding and making connections between the design-tech-business world I live in now, and the art-culture-humanities world we all dip into for the weekends. I write about leading a creative life, and serious art play.
