“Give a girl the right shoes, and she can conquer the world.”
How Footwear Design has inspired my UX Design Approach
My product design background is heavily influenced and inculcated by my 6+ years, working in the tireless and dynamic fashion industry.
My professional pivot to the tech industry was fortunately, a very natural and organic transition, as there exist many parallels and synergies between footwear design and the iterative UX design process. As a result, of the intense and hands-on, footwear design education and training that I received, combined with the cyclical nature of the fashion industry, I am accustomed to, and I’m immensely comfortable with, providing fluidity to amorphous processes and challenges. This has meant, I’m extremely resourceful and open minded, and have developed resilient positive thinking, from years of living and working internationally, across five different continents in 12 years. There is no better school or teacher for compassion and respect, personal edification and self-development than real life, global experience.
In this way, I am an open minded thinker and in big picture terms, as opposed to myopically. In addition, I have mastered the task of taking broad concepts, and infusing life into, and weaving compelling stories around, products and experiences. The challenge, then emerges, in harmonizing and refining the delicate interrelationship, between function and utility; with emotion and beauty.
In this way, my career as a footwear designer, was the ultimate launchpad to prepare and propel me for success as a digital and professional problem solver. Breathtaking shoes are not much different from one’s most revered or most memorable digital products, such as one’s beloved smart phone for example. A seductive red outsole heel, or one’s most indispensable social media app: both are adored products yet both debate where the optimal integration, between usability and emotional design prevail. Designing footwear was a fantastic incubation period to unintentionally help me understand and explore emotional design, which is centered around solving customized digital solutions that utilize Design Thinking Curriculum and Human Centered Design processes.
In summary, my career as a footwear designer has influenced me to be able to translate usable, engaging, accessible products and experiences, from start to finish, while maintaining the integrity of the design process.
