I’m Sarah.
I design digital interfaces. I teach English to people who speak another language. I take different pieces of string and fabric and turn them into sweaters, dresses, pants, accessories, home goods.
Maybe that sounds like a lot of different things. And yeah, some parts are pretty different.
But a lot is really not so different after all.
Skills I take wherever I go:
Explain a college semester’s worth of American culture and history in about three minutes.
Free food from almost every country on Earth.
Listen to hot gossip about international politics.
I find pins in strange places.
I can wear my project when I’m done.
I meet a lot of grannies. They’re pretty cool.
Get lost in the zone gathering inspiration, ooohh-ing and aaahh-ing over color palettes, and tweaking designs that aren’t quite right
Dreaming up crazy ideas and what-ifs, then digging into the reality of how to make them work.
Dig deep into the how and why of people to find out what motivates them and what turns them off.
Feel pride in a job well done, new skills learned, and new people met.
Dive into the research so I can build on what we already know about best practices.
Collaborate with colleagues virtually and face-to-face to solve problems.
Reading, reading, reading to understand the endless well of design ideas and techniques that have guided people before.
Empathize deeply with people to understand their abilities and challenges.
Figure out the right balance of how to present information or tasks to successfully get people moving on new behaviors.
I get to say, “Thanks, I made that.” :)
Ok, these skills aren’t so transferable, but they definitely adds color to my days:
I like talking with people about their problems and finding a solution that helps improve the state of someone’s world even a little bit. Reach out, if this sounds like what you need.