“Fit for purpose”—
Why I traded in the fashion world for UX
I have worked in fashion for over 12 years as a technical designer, or put more simply, an engineer of clothing fit. I’ve developed thousands of products for big name retailers and had many best-selling items commended for their great quality (and great sales). We commonly question if a product is “fit for purpose”, meaning is the intent of the product going to satisfy customer needs, and ultimately does it make sense? After working more deeply with the technology that powers e-commerce and apparel manufacturing, I realized that I wanted to think more broadly about using design to solve problems for customers.
Being a technical designer entails effective communication, level-setting expectations, and being intuitive of customer needs. In addition to hard skills like determining product specifications, collaboration with stakeholders and effective calendar management, I spent years writing instruction manuals for factories on how to assemble a garment. As a result, wireframing and UX fundamentals are a simple evolution of the same product design process- determining end use cases for customers and finding solutions to meet their needs. For me, the creative journey behind the design is why I love doing UX - it sets up the storytelling before someone reads the book.
📍Reno/Tahoe Area
Enjoys: Wandering through the desert, hiking up mountains,
running around town with my camera in hand, and occasionally indulging in a thrift store or road trips with my dog. Always in search of top notch birria tacos and great live jazz.