If you have found your way to this page you are at least mildly curious  to who I am and how I do what I love so I best get into it straight away. I have been a UX Designer, Product Designer and a Freelance Graphic Designer. This has worked for me quite well as I was originally trained as a generalist designer.  I was taught at Edinburgh College where I earned my HND in UX Design, with about 4 different focuses. From there I have been looking for work wherever I can to keep my skills sharp and growing. I love design in all its aspects and as I grow older and become more experienced, I see it more and more in everything. I see it in movies, art, architecture, city layouts, books, kitchenware, technology and an impossibly long list of other places. With this in mind I consider myself a jack of all trades, I found this mindset suited me due to my ability to empathise with all times of designer and those they design for. Whenever I make a minor or massive decision in my design or just mindlessly pondering how other design things, I find myself asking what a user would think rather than what I think.

If I had to pinpoint my design approach to a single point I would say this site is the best choice https://lawsofux.com/

Laws of UX is a collection of time tested design principles and best practices, I have yet to find a problem that cannot be solved in a multitude of way using the various lessons here. This is a site that I visit near daily to keep the heart of what I do as well as the method.

Throughout my 3 years at college I stuck true to the jack of all trades mind set, I think that being adept in every part of the design process possible leads to a wider and more usable skill set then if I studied a software or one single skill till I was blue in the face. I was taught that above all the design thinking and adaptability are the best things a designer can have.

The technology and people we are designing for are changing so fast that by the time you master how to design for a single audience that same audience could have changed or disappeared entirely. In 10 years the term UX designer might not even exist, it already feels like it might be on the way out. I try to focus on what stays constant in design so I can hopefully avoid being redundant or outdated and I feel improving how I look at design and how scores of different people look at it is the best way to do that.

I believe that the best way to change with the times and improve my own design process and thinking is to simply keep working until I can say I've mastered it all (which I doubt will ever happen). To keep practising I need to find work and projects that interest me and keep me on my toes, hopefully that where you keen reader will help me out.

In case you're curious I spend what little free time I have on a few too many hobbies. I run TTRPGs (Dungeons and dragons and things like it) with my friends every chance I get, which still isn't as often as I’d like. I am currently in the process of teaching myself to draw, more for the fun and meditation of it rather than a sellable skill and a few other hobbies to small and niche to mention here. These all act as my secondary creative outlet, first being design of course. Otherwise I do have a soft spot for cinema old and new due to the stupendous range of media to enjoy.

If my brief story of my design life so far has managed to keep your interest this long please feel free to get in contact with me, we can talk about whatever you like. I'm available at deanm.ux@gmail.com or this site own contact page