ux reflection

user experience has been a great class for me because it goes so deep. i really struggle along the surface of design, but i am enthralled by the deep and the broad: the research and the planning. the amount of behind-the-scenes and background work in this class was very rewarding for me, and i feel like i've learned well how to use those methods in my future work. we must never forget that we're not designing in a vacuum, nor are we designing for other designers. we're designing for people, with needs and wants other than simple aesthetics. we're solving problems, and in order to solve problems, we must first identify them, and not only that: we have to see how people are already trying to solve those problems themselves, so that we can move organically into that space and support them, rather than pretending we can jump in as outsiders and impose our thoughts on other people.