First Subject Matter Expert Meeting

A mind map I created in Miro to help organize some key thoughts and feedback from our meeting

Today I got to hop on a Google Meet with Mathias Rechtzigel, a subject matter expert in the area of UX design, to discuss ArtWalk. I shared my screen as we walked through my project brief presentation, which I had also added my new logo design drafts to. He was brimming with insights and helpful feedback that I am eager to apply to my work moving forward.

I am especially grateful for his descriptions of two main types of gamification (one being list-based with tasks for users to complete, the other more abstract with rules and boundaries). He equipped me with some examples to take a closer look at, which will help with my brainstorming. I was feeling a bit uninspired by the straightforward nature of the simple list and badge style gamification I'd been considering, so I'm excited about the way this has expanded the possibilities in my mind.

We also discussed the strengths and opportunity areas based on what I currently have for ArtWalk, evaluating what's working well and what I could consider spending more time refining or rethinking. On the topic of presentation, Mathias brought up the idea of thinking of the presentation through product management framework of Jobs to Be Done. What is my capstone's job? Partly, it is to show the culmination of what I have learned in the MAGWD program through the final presentation and capstone page. In terms of the final presentation in the capstone course, we discussed how to present what I have in a way that will highlight its core experience. That core experience, at least for now, is the Walk flow. Mathias gave me the feedback that my problem statement is working, but within the presentation it will be strengthened if I move my information about my audience to follow it. He mentioned that the problem is only as important as the people who have the problem. I'm going to work on narrowing my audience, as that will help to strengthen the cause for solving the problem as well as the design decisions aimed at solving the problem. Designing for all = designing for none. Beyond serving as a culmination of my MAGWD learning, my capstone project has the job of helping me with the next steps in my career journey. Mathias suggested that within this big ArtWalk case study, there live several mini case studies. I can take it apart as needed in the future to match the role I'm applying for. For example, if I'm applying for a role that involves visual design and illustration, I can show the portion of my ArtWalk case study that shows my work creating the icons and illustrations. Another example would be that if I'm applying for a role which involves creating design systems, I can send just the content related to my work on ArtWalk's design system. He suggested that as I continue to make changes, I keep images of the previous design systems. That way, I will be able to show my work and how it evolved.

Mathias enjoyed the concept I'm working with of having elements of ArtWalk's interface take on the look or texture of art supplies. Challenging the smooth, homogenized look and feel users have come to expect from app interfaces is something that makes me excited. I enjoyed discussing this, and was happy to hear Mathias's suggestion that in working on the illustrations, I consider making them look like they were made by the tool they're depicting. For example, the paintbrush I currently have serving as a forward and back arrow in the onboarding flow looks pencil sketched right now. How would it feel if it instead looked painted? I've been getting into this a bit with my recent logo explorations, trying to make the letter forms following the paint brush look like they're painted in a brush script. However, his suggestion almost takes this thinking a step further. I'm intrigued to see where I go as I continue to explore in this direction.

These are just some of the highlights from our discussion today. I have a word doc full of notes that I'm sure I will consult throughout the next steps in the process. I'm feeling inspired, and grateful that Mathias made time in his weekend to discuss my project with me.