What I’ve found throughout this module is that I’ve repeatedly enjoyed parts that I didn’t expect to enjoy. On the research side of things, I’ve enjoyed exploring things I wouldn’t have touched had it not been for the module. I’m wasn’t a fan of photography as a medium, but the different angle this module approached photography with was really interesting to me and seeing how it can be used in a much more communicative way was something I now appreciate and want to develop in my work going forward. I’ve also enjoyed looking at illustrative styles that might not normally be associated with UI design, and again this is something I want to explore further.

Building an app for the first project was a great experience and made me appreciate the UI's complexity. In particular, what I enjoyed was being able to create something I use every day but being able to put my own ideas and spin on it. For me, I’m glad in this project I chose to use a “modern” style of design for my UI. I always have the urge to use old-school design style for my projects, which I don’t think is a bad thing, but I also wanted to see what is required to build a modern and sleek design like in this project. Sometimes I feel I can be slightly against using modern styles and want to stand out with older styles, but I appreciate that realistically at some point I will have to use a modern style, so getting to explore and understand how that style is built digitally has been a massive help for my confidence. I feel now I can build a UI which looks current, and think this will be a key understanding for me to evolve my designs going forward and build my own styles.

To be honest, going in I thought data visualisation sounded really dull and one of those things you’d learn as a necessity rather than something you’d want to come back to. However, I was really surprised with how much I enjoyed that part of the module. Not to say I didn’t enjoy the imaging part, which I did, but I enjoyed the data visualisation in a different way. I think it was the challenge of turning something that is; let’s be honest; boring (mounds of data) into something interesting and engaging. I’ve talked about this in my project blog but the micro-interactions were a game changer for me. They really evolved this project for me as they not allowed me to create a much more engaging dashboard, but also allowed me to get a really great understanding of Figma prototyping. What I’ve really enjoyed here; and in all my other projects; is seeing how I can improve my next project from what I have learnt in the last. Now with this knowledge of prototyping, I can be more creative with micro-interactions, and quicker at building the prototype.

Overall, this module has been full of surprises for me and really expanded my mind in terms of the visual side of design.