Kim Alban: Being a Product Designer
Kim is a Product Designer from NYC (New York City). With over 7 years experience she has a wealth of knowledge across multiple aspects of design. Most recently she developed a passion for Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtually Reality (VR) which is well documented on her YouTube channel.
What’s your official job title, and what’s the most straightforward way to explain what you do?
I am a product designer. I create experiences that are less frustrating on digital screens!
What does a normal day look like?
A typical day is working on user research, designs, testing or brainstorming! This role follows a process so depending on the stage we're at with designing a product, can determine what I'm focusing on for the day.
What's the most enjoyable part of your job?
I enjoy brainstorming and creating a strategy for new features and designing!
What did it take to get to where you are today?
I took somewhat of a long path to discover User Experience (UX).
I have a background in fine arts, photography and design [having attended a few colleges] and I freelanced for quite a while until I wanted to learn coding to add to my skills --which is what ultimately led me to discovering UX Design. I then realized this was a better fit and something I had been practicing [a bit] with my own clients.
What are the main digital tools you could not do without?
I cannot work without Figma and google sheets mainly.
Any advice for people wanting to do a similar role to you?
You can self teach or take a bootcamp, while you do that create content about the field, to bring attention to yourself. This will garner you new connections and possibly recruiters looking your way interested in potentially hiring you! Lastly, always keep learning to develop and strengthen your skills!
How to get started in AR/VR Design - Kim Alban
And finally, what do you enjoying doing outside of work?
I love learning about new technology and creating work for it as well as sharing my knowledge for all to learn as well. I have a hub of resources to learn AR/VR for designers: notion.so/kimalban.
Where can we keep up to date with you?
YouTube - www.youtube.com/user/kimssurly/
Instagram -instagram.com/kimalban