This is how I started to learn and become a designer

 Small journey Big post ! 😅 . But I have made things easier for you with bullet summary. But you may read the whole piece if you wish.

• Got good percentage in 10th.
• Went outside of my town and messed up my 12th and entrace exam as well.
• Went away from engineering and closer to art and design and everything started to fall in place.
• Got introduced to emerging design field notably user experience and interaction design.
• Started self studying about design throgh articles, books,videos and courses, bootcamps.
• I found out really difficult to complete projects and build a professional portfolio.
• Somehow I managed to make a nice enough portfolio with few side projects and applied for internships.
• After many tries got a couple of calls and Got picked in an ecommerce company.
• After a month I Quit and learned few lessons.
• I found that online bootcamp are not enough to become a professional designer.
• I needed to learn from foundation and practice more. I found out interaction design courses offered in post graduate program in famous colleges which will boost my design profession.
• To get in to such college I need to clear the entrace exams and interview therefore I'm currently studying and preparing for design entrace exam.
• This is how I started learning design. Wish me luck 😊!

In school I was good in studies. I was among the merits in 10th. But then I traveled away of my town and home to study 11th and 12th and ruined everything. I couldn't study because I didn't attend classes which I paid for. I can't believe how irresponsible I was back then. I spent my parents money and my time. As a result I scored significantly less in 12th as well as entrance examinations. So I believed I'm going to be a poor professional in the intellectual professions like engineering, law or medicine.

I used to draw and paint everytime I get to. So Based on my talents, ability and strenght I Decided to head into creative fields. becoming an artist and designer.

So I got to hear about fine arts entrance tests when there was just one month remaining. I did possible preperation appeared for the fine arts exam. But the score was not adequate for govt. or other good institutes, thus I reappeared. This I time I obtained good score but I wasn't allowed for the next procedure due to absence of a document relating to my caste. I got so frustrated and took admission for BFA, to avoid another year lost. Meanwhile I Gave last shot for bDes organized by NID. But didn't go through so I stayed with fine arts.

I was in the first year of my bachelor's degree in fine arts program, the foundational year. We offered a lot of art and design courses and lectures. But one day, I was introduced to a new and interesting design discipline. It was about building digital experiences, how humans engage with computers, and how to make such experiences useful, usable, and gratifying through design. It was User Experience Design!

After the seminar, I was keen to dive deeper into this topic. Who wouldn't want to? Creating items that millions and billions of people utilize on a daily basis! Worldwide! A vocation that incorporates a wide range of knowledge, including technology, business, psychology, and the arts. I wanted to learn about user experience design. But how do you do it?

The seminar's host marketed a six-month training to become a UX/UI designer. It was a little costly for me. So, in the beginning, I chose to explore and research myself.

When I started a Google search, I got a lot of good information and resources about how to become a UX designer, what courses are available, what tools are utilized, and so on.

I began by learning Photoshop and Illustrator (which are not essential for UX design) because they were part of my BFA curriculum. Figma, Adobe XD, and Invision from udemy and skillshare were also used. It was not a comprehensive course on UX design, but rather an introduction.

In addition, I was reading books and articles. A fantastic article I read indicated that to establish the framework, take a visual communication course at a university to master the fundamentals of design. My college's curriculum and teaching were both lacking! So I sought for university online courses.

I got a lot of results from coursera and edx. After taking these classes, I realized that a beginner should begin here. On Coursera, I discovered an interesting course called Graphic Design Specialization and UX/UI Specialization from CALArts. There were two unique courses.

I was able to enroll in both for free. The graphic design training was amazing. Why didn't my college teach like that? Following that, I enrolled in a UX/UI course. It gave me an overview of the history of interface design, the design process, and web design.

Then I looked for knowledge on how to practice design. Then I came up with various concepts, such as UI design challenges, product design exercises, and design competitions.

I looked at design competitions and the work of the winners. And I was shocked to see such outstanding work. My work was nowhere near it.

I was quite interested in learning how to design in that approach. That was something I had to learn.

I performed some research on the top designers and realized that they all have university degrees in Art and Design. Many of them were master's degree holders.

And I was here, still in college, thinking of myself as a designer after taking a few short courses and reading books. I was studying BFA, but I wasn't making any progress. Maybe it was my fault (but I was preoccupied with studying) or the college curriculum.

Then I made the decision not to pursue a low-quality education.

My learning goal was to get accurate and in-depth knowledge as well as to improve key competencies. It makes no difference if I obtain a certificate or a degree.

Then I began investigating the greatest and best design universities. I believed that I could gain information from the greatest institution by self-learning through its available curriculum for design, academic materials, completing assignments and projects, and other available resources. It is likely that I will not obtain all of the knowledge about the courses and assignments, but I can develop myself as a designer by 10 percent , 20 percent , 50 percent , or more. I'm not sure. But it's better than nothing, right?

During my study, I came across a very interesting and informative document about design education....

And it impacted my perspective on art and design school. In the following post, I'll discuss about the paperwork. Stay tuned to find out what I discovered in the document. It could help you become a better professional or explain why you should consider attending to university but not just any institution.

One day I determined I need to do something to acquire professsional training or know how UX designer actually perform theri work or what truly they do. I found a new course on Udacity about UX design fundamentals.

I enrolled. This is where I first learnt from a genuine practical job from the real UX designers as professors.

This is when all the previous lessons piled up and I started feeling more secure and professional.

It was a three month course. But I was so eager that I completed it within five days with a decent enough portfolio with a good enough project that was the assignment of that course.

Then I signed up on linkedIn and built a simple profile. Then I applied for interface design internship on internshala.

After one day I got a call from an e-commerce startup for UX designer intern post. I informed them that I was really pleased to work with them and I accepted the offer.

Finally I was going to work in a real workplace and on a real project with real people. My initial goal was to study as much as possible and obtain professional experience. However, the organizations lacked an established design staff from which to learn. They were likewise uninterested in design approaches such as user research and iterations. They were mainly interested in the final screens. I feel they are solely interested in the design buzz, which is why they provided such roles.

So did what happen throughout the internship, I was assigned to design and develop screens after screen. The manager said we don't need user research. We should put the product first, we don't need user feedback,, we can do it later, maybe. I was receiving harsh but true experience. So I quit.

What I leant was that we shouldn't fall into the trap of becoming a designer in six months or a year and then finding work. Design is irrespective of its discipline a broad, deep and ever evolving field. You may acquire a job, but you will be unable to produce original work. Meaningful work that exemplifies the essence of the creative vocation. We can't be excellent designers if we imitate patterns for inspiration.

Then I thought I should go to design college and learn the ideas and practice more. So I searched for colleges and universities for design program. And I found out top and reputable universities giving post graduations in interaction design whose alumini are placed in top companies and startups.

Also I was eligible for this program due to fine arts background. I resolved to put my 100 percent and prepare wholeheartedly to qualify the entrace exam for design. This is another chance for me to put things right again.

So I'm now preparing for entrace tests and sharing my story as well. I have started posting my notes and sketches which I'm practicing to get better at my skills.

I'm soon going to be graduating and then hopefully post graduate to become a professional designer to do some good and bring value to this lovely world.

Sometimes things happens for good!