I've been working in Own Brand & Packaging for many years, which I have enjoyed because I loved the business, my team and what I did there.

My primary role was to manage the artwork process from pre-production development right through to artwork creation and print, ensuring all designs, layouts, branding, tone of voice and on-pack copy were fully correct, consistent and in accordance with brand guidelines. I also created a lot of our workload trackers, budget reports, critical path processes and so on.

But there was something missing. It just didn't feel like I was living my best life.

So I began taking time to explore what I truly love doing and what makes me tick as a person. What gets me out of bed in the morning? What makes me fall into that 'flow' state of mind?

I took a lot of tests and assessments which analysed my preferences and how I liked to live and work.

I read books on how to 'find my flow' and my ikigai, and attended webinars to recall my childhood passions and identify my strengths. And each time it boiled down to the same few things:

I think in systems and processes designed to create space, order and efficiency.

And it can be anything. A messy spreadsheet, a cluttered house, a box of cables. It's not always fun or easy (anyone who's tried unravelling Christmas decorations when you pull them out of storage will know what I mean).

But something in me wants to make it right. I want to make life smoother so that when someone comes to hang up the Christmas lights next year, it's a walk in the park and not a rabid dog chase through brambles.

And when it's done it is incredibly satisfying!

My aim is to make life just that little bit easier, with less friction and more time to get out and enjoy life.

Creating order isn't enough. I need that creative spark. I want to take that idea and watch it become something tangible, beautiful, elegant.

From all my research I decided to try my hand at front-end Software Development which was a combination of logical thinking to create something tangible. I took on an intensive 3 month course with Tech Returners in conjunction with Booking.com based in Manchester to learn all I could about the fundamentals of web development.

The course included lessons on Agile Processes such as Test Driven Development and Paired Programming, Version Control, APIs and Cloud AWS Technologies, Databases, Serverless technologies, NodeJS and the Express framework.

I had hoped this would satisfy my passion for creativity and problem solving, but it didn't. It wasn't visual enough. It wasn't my language.

Whilst working on our final group project with Tech Returners to create an app using all the skills we'd learned, I found I naturally took on the creative role.

I had pulled together some benchmarking options, mocked up wireframes. I crafted buttons, decided where they should go, what fonts to use, how the pages might flow. My other team members got to work coding to bring my design to life.

I didn't know then that I was doing benchmark testing, or what design conventions that it turns out I was following, but that was my go to, I was drawn to it without realising. And it turns out that's a job you can do in real life!

So I turned my attention fully to UX. I wanted to know more, train myself and hone my natural skills into something I could take out into the real world.

I enrolled in the Professional Diploma in UX Design course which is a 6 month course accredited by Glasgow University. It was designed with the sole purpose of providing a career pathway for UX designers and covered everything from understanding user research and goals, analysis, structure and navigation to interactions, design principles and patterns, workflows, prototyping and wireframes.

I listened to webinars and read books from Cooper to Weinschenk. I listened to podcasts like UI Breakfast and Instagram stories from UX Bites. I'm now delving into the W3Cx Introduction to Web Accessibility course and I'm continuing to develop my software skills through the Adobe Creative Challenges. I became engrossed in everything UX and I'm continuing to learn every day.

And I've loved every minute of it.

So here I am, taking everything I've learned and everything I already have within me out into the world.

Let's start making life simple, one app at a time.

If you want to know more, I'd be happy to send you my C.V.

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