- G Letz Design
One of the first assignments in design school was to design a mark from our first and last initials. The self-identity design project that began that day involves so much more than just the arrangement of shapes and colors on a page: It's a seemingly endless journey of reflection, introspection, and discovery.
As I work on this latest version of my portfolio I realize what I'm really doing is iterating on my design career v1. My hiatus from design after Microsoft was actually a period to examine results and formulate new ideas. I've learned a lot about myself and transformed, and it seems design has done the same. I'm ready for v2.
- Mark
I still have the same initials I had when I started design school, and experience has taught me to keep it simple. I used a circle with a square cut out for the "G" and the "L", and all it needed was a third shape to complete the "L". Handily, a "D" for Design filled the bill.
In addition to representing the initials "GLD", the juxtaposed shapes form a compound image that has many positive connotations analogous to design: creation, birth, growth, production, invention, etc.
- Site
I've designed many versions of my own website. The challenge was, and still is, that I have a long story to tell with a gap in the middle.
I struggled for a long time trying to represent myself as a UX designer because it was similar to what I had done as a Product Designer many years earlier, but at the same time, it wasn't. I had a lot to learn and it took me a long time to accept it. The current design intends to let the work tell the story by rethinking "portfolio pieces" as case studies, and adopting a more familiar UX-portfolio design pattern.
- Style Guide
After I established a stable design system I created a style guide.
Style guides for big projects often include interaction design patterns and standardized code, reflecting the increased breadth and synthesis of roles in the design and development of software and other media products.
- Outcome
I went back to college a couple times: community college to brush up on web authoring, and UW's User-Centered Design Certificate to catch up on design thinking. And I followed that up by volunteering for a three-month project as a researcher on a design team. I've felt discouraged on occasion, and for a while I thought I'd given up. But rather than quit, I went back to the drawing board, and I feel invigorated by this inventory.
I recently started working in Figma on a new design system for G Letz Design.