Sometimes, for me, creativity is an elusive creature that only pops up at night, or in the shower, or when I'm chatting with friends. I can be in the middle of a conversation, and randomly say "Omg! I figured it out!" and I immediately start jotting down my idea in my phone so I can flesh out my fantastic idea during work hours. But what if it IS work hours, and the creativity just isn't flowing? What can be done then when deadlines are approaching? I've learned techniques that help me be creative and productive when it's crunch time, whether I'm tired, distracted, or just not feeling it; here they are.

Ok, ok, so the title is click bait, BUT the topic is near and dear to my heart. UX and UI are often talked about, as if they’re interchangeable, and that is very annoying as a UXer. They’re lumped together in job titles, mashed into one acronym, and treated like synonyms. While they’re closely connected, UX and UI solve two different problems; misunderstanding that difference is one of the fastest ways to end up with a product that looks good, but doesn’t work well. The TLDR is that UI is cute, and UX is useful, and you need BOTH! You will infuriate your end user, trying to choose one over the other. Both are important, neither UX nor UI is inherently better than the other, lets take a deeper dive into understanding both and how they work together.

Honestly, I was dragging my feet when it came time to create a portfolio; it meant I had to figure out what website to host my portfolio on, design a layout, and decide what projects I wanted to talk about. When I first made my portfolio, I wasn't officially a UXer, I didn't have "official" projects, I was just trying to break into the industry, so I thought I did not need one,  I definitely did not want to make one, but I made one anyways. Here's why.

UX constantly found me while I was an engineer. I was drawn to improving the user experience in anything I created. From instructions to test plans to extensive excel macros, I wanted to improve the execution of the process. I honestly wanted to make my life easier the next time I had to complete one of those tasks, and apparently, so did my coworkers. Once I realized that the value I was creating was also an actual career, I was determined to make the career switch.