Notion faces

I’m a huge fan of Notion, a simple notetaking app that feels really nice to use and lets me organised them by themes/projects.

They recently released an avatar maker and I love how much personality they injected into this. It’s can be challenging when your brand is primarily black and white but they’ve introduced a really fun illustration style using dot shading for texture and quirky and surreal accessories. They’ve invested time into creating many variations so that you can really find a version that feels uniquely you which I think is important for an avatar generator.

Here’s me in Notion form. :)

Telltale signs when you know a designer hasn't designed it.

I recently received a credit card in the mail and had to log in online to activate it.

I just wanted to face palm because no good designer would never:

• Put two primary buttons with close proximity of each other.

• Use a primary button for a back button.

• Separate filled buttons with a link button.

End of rant.

Hong Kong typography

Wow it’s been 1.5 years since I’ve posted something. I guess it’s never too late to start again.

I recently went on a trip to Hong Kong and was taken aback by how big their street signage is. It’s so brash and frank. Let’s put type in a knife! Let’s stick a rooster on it! Here is a small selection of some of the things I saw.

Looking for something new.

It's been a while since I've written a blog post but I've been thinking about this one for a while as I've spent the last few months actively looking for new opportunities and reflecting on how my career path has changed. 

In July, I left my job of nearly 2 years. It was an easy decision an environment that I felt to be increasingly toxic. My experience there, however, did give me absolute clarity in knowing what I was looking for in my next role –  collaborative, supportive team, and work that would impact people's everyday lives. In the weeks proceeding, I thought it would be easy to find another job as a senior designer. I was wrong. 

First of all, 3-4 years ago, I would never have met with a recruiter, having a reputation for having unethical practices and too proud to ask for a helping hand. But I was looking for contacts so decided to meet with a few of them. All the ones that I did meet up with were lovely and only put me forward for jobs that were suitable. But even then, the process took longer than expected.

I sent a lot of prospecting emails, met with a lot of recruiters and went for a lot of interviews. In the interim, I took on some freelance work where I met some great teams and clients but the work itself hollow. In the past few years, I also feel that design has become more specialised. App design wasn't even a thing when I was at university. I have been a brand designer, a graphic designer, a web designer, a digital designer, you name it. But I wanted to push myself more in UI design and had some experience in the field but not a whole lot. It became debilitating knowing that I was a good designer with a great work ethic and no job. In the end, what kept me going was not letting myself settle for ANY design job. 

In the end, the best interviews I did where the ones where they saw beyond just the level of experience but could see the enthusiasm and hunger I had for learning and recognised that design skills are transferable across media and device. 

I've since found a role that I'm excited about and the new challenges they present and glad I stuck it out and waited. 

If you have other design job hunting experiences, I would love to hear them. 

Happy Mother's Day!

It's been a while since I've posted, but I saw this poster on a shopfront last week and thought it was the cutest. But only because it's a Mother's Day poster and not one for flying lessons. (The Art of Looking Sideways reference).

The love heart exclamation mark, the sometimes-outlined-letters - such attention to detail. 

Sydney Airport Train

Every evening, I see this billboard ad Town Hall station and every time I find it so painful to look at. Gradients! Helvetica! Sydney! Plane!

So in the half hour that I had spare before leaving the house, I'm putting forward my proposal - that strips the messaging to its bare minimum because I think that's all it needed to be – informative and clear.