PG Gonni

Where are you based as a UX/UI designer?

I'm currently based in Ottawa, ON, the capital of Canada! 🍁

‍

What led you into UX/UI design?

I've always loved being creative, and I've also always had a desire to help people. I slowly transitioned from film/photography to graphic design, and eventually web design just out of my own curiosity.

As I explored and learned more about web design, I started to realize that there was a whole other layer beneath the surface. The design of the actual experience for users, something that would help them solve their problems or achieve some type of goal.

All of the facets of UX, the process of really thinking about problems and solutions, and trying to validate our work with users rather than the preference of an individual client lit a spark that turned into my passion for UX/UI.

I also can't overstate the role that Memorisely has played in my journey. The support, energy, and incredible insights I've received from this community and the bootcamp were instrumental in my journey. A major thanks to Zander and the whole community! ✨

‍

Why are you a UX/UI designer?

I love solving problems, having conversations with people and users and understanding what their wants and needs are. I love hopping into Figma and now FigJam to try and figure out creative solutions! Creating mock-ups and getting feedback (both positive/negative) is so invigorating and energizing!!!

What does a typical day look like for you?

I try to start my day by doing some yoga, or going for a bike ride, ideally both (sometimes neither and that's ok!). I'll follow that up with my regular morning routine, just the usual shower, face wash, etc. I then pour myself some type of iced coffee, usually a cold brew or flash chilled coffee.

From then on it's a mix of designing in Figma, taking down lots of meeting notes in Notion, and writing tickets in GitLab.

After my work day I'm usually either streaming on Twitch, in a meeting with a freelance client, or out on my fire escape with my kitty doing some Japanese!

‍

What is your current desk setup?

Depending on what I'm working on I'll either be using my PC or my Macbook Pro. And of course no workstation is complete without a floofer wrapper around your arm! 💗

‍

What work are you most proud of?

It's hard to pick a favourite piece of work, but my most recent website design and build has to be one of my proudest moments so far! I took a client's website and completely transformed it, and it was a totally new challenge.

I designed it all in Figma, built in Webflow, solved a bunch of problems and optimized the design, as well as writing and re-factoring a whole bunch of custom code to power a super cool "Contact us" flow all live on stream! It was an amazing learning experience and I'm super proud of how the end result looks, feels, and performs across devices!

‍

Which Product recently blew your socks off?

A couple of months ago I joined a round table discussion with Brian Lovin' and a bunch of other creative people to talk about "poly work". The concept of being a person who does lots of different types of work and who doesn't fit into a simple and well defined box. This helped me discover the platform of the same name Polywork, a platform that's aiming to change the way we talk about our work and shifting away from arbitrary roles and descriptions, and focusing instead on the actual activities we do in our daily lives.

Rather than using a job description, you share your work with tags like "Maintained a Design System" and "Built a website in Webflow", which are not only more aligned with how we actually work, but also helps your profile become more discoverable on this network without needing to be an SEO expert!

Love the tool and the team has been taking feedback from users and implementing it constantly to improve this awesome product. Can't wait to see how it grows in the next few years!

‍

What challenges do you face as a UX/UI Designer?

Being at an earlier stage company, with a fairly new design team, I deal a lot with processing issues. I think bootcamps and UX learning in general do a great job at teaching you the core concepts of designs; but, nothing can quite prepare you for working with lots of stakeholders, with various priorities, needs, and schedules.

We've been spending a lot of work trying to improve our process to align design, development, and other stakeholders.

‍

What tunes do you listen to whilst designing?

For me it's a mix of Lo-fi hip hop and future bass type stuff, with lots of random genres in between!

‍

Three suggestions for budding designers?

1. Be humble and honest. I think being honest with yourself and others that you don't know everything, and that it's ok to have gaps in our knowledge is what makes for a great designer!
2. Always listen to feedback, though you don't have to take all of it. Feedback is the most amazing part of design. It's literally users and others helping you do your work for you, and looking at your work with a whole different perspective. It's absolutely critical to be able to take feedback, and equally critical to know when to pass on feedback.
3. Join a community! Memorisely is a great example, but there are loads of different communities out there for different people. Joining a community has been insanely helpful in keeping up to date, gather feedback, and just making friends!