NabeelahArend

aspiring design student

[loftyangel]

[nabeelaharend]

Yuuuuummmmy Yuuuuummmmy Yuuuuummmmy Yuuuuummmmy Yuuuuummmmy Yuuuuummmmy - if you know, you know

[makeuphall]

[nabeelaharend]

Elevator Pitch

Hey, this is a short video on the direction i'd like to take my career in...Thank you for watching:)

[nabeelaharend]

Why?

Why do I do what I do?

I enjoy being creative, this is something I've always been good at. Now I’m not saying that I'm the best, but simply that because I enjoy what I do its my version of my best. Ive become really passionate about Interaction design and where id like to take my career. Despite the fact that I know I've still got a lot to learn I'm still looking forward to what the future has to hold for me.

Would I like to at some point turn my mission into an entrepreneurial endeavour?

In a realistic sense my answer has to be no. My reason for this is because I prefer working under someone rather than over. Being a leader takes a certain kind of responsibility which I'm not really interested in doing. It also comes with tons of risks like financial uncertainty, therefore I would prefer having the comfort of a steady income each month. 

[nabeelaharend]

Reflection: Start with Why

By Sinek S

The golden circle acts as being a pillar of order in nature. It clarifies the arbitrary events and why we do what we do. We just ought to ask why?It was good to read this and the little reasoning of the what’s, hows and most critically, why? Especially in connection to the story of Apple's victory. Along the clarification it’s all laid out so clearly how vital and capable it is to know the reason for your being/doing. Powerful as a way of drawing individuals to you and as well as for your claim driving force. Definitely a key component for victory as expressed within the perusing. It’s fantastically rousing when somebody has that sense of reason and being, that they radiate a few quality that we need to know and be a portion of. It unquestionably sets up a level of certainty inside yourself, which I’m beyond any doubt is the point of this perusing. To appear the merits of knowing your possess WHY, whether it’s beginning your possess multi-million dollar company or putting your shoes on within the morning.

As for Apple itself I’ve never been an unconventional fan but they create that vitality of being more than fair a tech company. They are a way of life or appear to breathe a steady drive all through all their activities as a company. It’s simple to see why furious faithful fans exist to companies like this, they’re the same as those individuals who are the positive primary characters of their possess life and live it as such. You need to know more approximately them and you're marginally drawn to them since of it.

[oldfilmsflicker]

“Insomnia” by Elizabeth Bishop for National Poetry Month

[catasters]

[nabeelaharend]

To intern or not to intern

Pro’s

-       Chances or making more money

-       Choice of work

-       Possibly working from home

-       Less interaction with people

-       More movement career wise  

Con’s

-       Responsible for your own taxes

-       No benefits

-       Unstable income

-       Applying for credit becomes a long difficult process

-       You have to be discipline and responsible  

What do I need to freelance?

I think I’d need to become an extremely discipline person and learn to manage my time strictly, id also need a backup plan or safety blanket in case of lack of work.

How this relates to my personality and lifestyle?

I personally would prefer working from home, I don’t really like physical interaction. I also like constant change, if I get comfortable in a routine I become lazy.

Why would I freelance?

I would try it out because of the possibility of making more, as well as the comfort of less physical interaction with others. I’m also interested in the excitement of risk.  

Why would I not freelance?

The fear of not having any work certain months is scary.

When would I freelance?

I would personally try freelancing if I have the facility of being dependent on someone with a permanent job.

[nabeelaharend]

Reflection: Independent Contract

Services

This is a constant agreement between both parties. For as long as you work for this company, they are allowed to change their policy and pay structure as many time as they. This is only allowed with your written consent, by providing a signed written statement as proof.

Compensation

You and the company decide on the amount of money you will earn and by when you will be paid through negotiations. This also states that the company has to pay you for any added expenses such as, travel, living costs or required equipment. Any equipment you acquire becomes property of the company after they have reimbursed you for it.

Intellectual property ownership

This means that your service is seen as commissioned work, the company now owns any work you do for that company. The company is now sole owner or the work you create and can apply to secure copyrights or trademarks. This also allows the company to make changes to your work at any point after creation, only after you’ve been paid for your work.

Originality and non-infringement

This is your duty and responsibility to check that your work does not fall under any copyright infringement. If the work is not properly licensed or found to be stolen you will be held accountable. You have to guarantee the company that this is your work by signing written statements, the company will have to vouch for you therefore your protected legally.

Confidentiality

Any information you learn about at the duration you work for this company has to be kept within that company. You are not allowed to pass any information to anyone outside the company unless its already public knowledge. You’ll have to sign a non-disclosure agreements, which legally prohibits you from saying anything about that project or client. If the contract expires you are required to destroy any information you may have.

Conflicting obligations

This ensures that you are not bonded to anyone else or part of any infringements through written proof.

Term and termination

Your term begins the day you start working and ends of the specified date of termination, either party can decide on a date as long as it falls within a 10 day notice period. If the company decides to end it before, the employee does not breech anything and must still be paid for any work or expense up until that point.

Assignment

You are not allowed to outsource your services to any other party unless you are given written consent by the company. If you go against this, you are in immediate breech of your contract.

Independent contractor

You are recognized as a consultant of the company, therefore you are not eligible to receive any of the benefits of a permanent employee. This means that you are responsible for your own taxes as well, the company is not responsible for covering or paying your taxes.

Equitable relief

This means that if you do anything to breech your contract they can sue you for this.

Miscellaneous

The agreements made cannot be changed or reworked without written and signed consent from both parties. The only thing breaking this contract is if any illegal terms are found in this contract, this will result in immediate termination. If anything out of the control of the employee of company breaks this contract, no parties will be held responsible.

[lacetulle]

[nabeelaharend]

Possible job opportunities

IsoFlow

https://www.indeed.co.za/viewjob?jk=25047fb3506d6d76&from=tp-serp&tk=1e2u20n9s9nh5801

+What about this position appeals to you?

The main focus is on UX which I’m passionate about improving, work on flexi-time and of course who would pass up on a free carwash?

+What about this positions intimidates you?

The strong team bond they promote: making connections in an environment like this can be intimidating when you’re new and fresh and everyone’s already closely bonded together.

+What more would you need to know about this position before you apply? 

Past projects and the work expectations they have regarding the position. I would also like to learn about the companies they already work with.

+How does this position relate to your envisioned career trajectory?

My main goals are to be able to become a full stack designer, this position would allow me to gain experience in both UX and UI which I think is a huge benefit in the long term.

Intergrow Technologies

https://www.indeed.co.za/viewjob?cmp=Intergro-Technologies&t=Ui+Ux+Designer+Mobile+Application+Project+Manager&jk=f2ed808cd960f24f&sjdu=QwrRXKrqZ3CNX5W-O9jEvYu7G_jArDWXjFVUHHEG5w4IwU9Sk9m1bOEl3QjzDHeZmBgw8MgvotIzwtVZqE6BUmy9FJ6nS1OttAIpz672852oTGqPDZFF8R7Cql3K_Bmz&tk=1e2usluj916ts000&adid=333614104&pub=4a1b367933fd867b19b072952f68dceb&vjs=3

+What about this position appeals to you?

This is a leadership role, it would give me the chance to build some leadership qualities which would be a great add to my cv.

+What about this positions intimidates you?

You are required to have experience in a similar role, which means id have to work somewhere else and gain experience before applying for this job or have a really strong portfolio.

+What more would you need to know about this position before you apply? 

Most of the information is available online, but I would like to know what the working environment is like, there’s not much about the team connection.

+How does this position relate to your envisioned career trajectory?

It would be a great experience and a true test of my strengths and weaknesses, it would give me the opportunity to self-assess and improve.  

UCOOK

https://www.indeed.co.za/viewjob?jk=5804fbe1a8f6a5a3&q=UI+Designer&l=Cape+Town,+Western+Cape&tk=1e2utre7e16ts000&from=web&vjs=3

+What about this position appeals to you?

Love the brand, it’s all about convenience of cooking with no waste. They are looking for someone passionate which I feel I have for the actual brand as well as the position, therefore a win win.

+What about this positions intimidates you?

Like the previous job opportunity, you are required to have experience, which means id have to work somewhere else and gain experience before applying for this job or have a really strong portfolio.

+What more would you need to know about this position before you apply? 

I would like to know more about the business history and the whole idea and concept behind it, as well as where the business would like to be in the next few years. I would like to know their main goals and aspirations.

+How does this position relate to your envisioned career trajectory?

Of course it would give me a chance to gain experience as well as enjoy the process, I think it would be a different experience to most so something different I can add to my journey.

[nabeelaharend]

Reflection: Build a Network – Even when you don’t think you need one

By Dorie Clark

Most professionals don’t have the time to network and make connections, we all have busy lives and many prefer to operate on their own. Identifying as “lone wolves”, these individuals prefer succeeding on their own merit and don’t like relying on others. If you’re a lone wolf, here are some tips you can use to reframe the process:

Understand what networking is — and isn’t.

Some are exceedingly intelligent and pride themselves on their capability of observations and standing outside of social conventions. However this form or action is sometimes recognized as dirty networking. We should instead reframe our minds to building interesting long term connections.

Identify people you truly respect.

Many lone wolves think that the only form of social networking is attending “networking events”, where everyone’s lowkey ready to exchange business cards. This is definitely not the only way we can build a social network with others. We can start by creating a list of people we would like to connect with and then figuring out how were going to connect, this way we can get excited to meet interesting people.  

Recognize how a lack of networking may be holding you back.

Everyone knows how useful networking can be, but are not really sure how it can help them if they’ve already created a successful career. However, eventually professional progress becomes stagnant if we don’t do enough social networking. Its important to assess how strong your networking skills are and then focus on what you need to improve.

Identify your vehicle for networking.

If you live in a city that has many existing opportunities for hosting networking dinners or coffee dates, strategies and make use of this so you can meet some interesting people. Interviews are a way to get to know people, try doing this for your own personal blog or podcast. Try marking two important conferences a year on your calendar and focus strongly your energy on that.

Lost of lone wolves pride themselves on their successful self-sufficiency and lack of a network, even though in most cases they all long for one. Using these strategies we can build connections without feeling dorky and instead enjoy it as making friendships.

[madisonsaferillustration]

[rai-r]

[nabeelaharend]

Internship plan

This week we had to ask ourselves the following questions;

+ where you intend to intern?

I would love to score an internship at Isoflow. Isoflow is a UX and UI design company based in Cape Town, There goal is to simplify the world through smart and delightful digital products.

+ when each internship should be scheduled?

The plan was to schedule my internships around the end of year holidays, I know its riskay to leave it for the last minute but I was thinking it could path more options when it comes to possible job opportunity. The idea was to shine and hopefully be offered a job within that company id like to intern. So the timeline would be after finishing up my studies around end of November.

+ motivation behind each internship (this why would you like to do an internship with that person/organisation)?

Not only does Isoflow have a really strong name with in the UX and UI industry in Cape Town but they’re constantly changing and working on improving other brands as well as themselves. I think that it would be a good learning experience, and could improve and grow my skills.

+ what do you need to actively do in order to prepare for this/these internships?

I would need to build a strong portfolio, and really work towards strengthening my social media like behance and tumblr. I would also like to become more active on Instagram and try and use it as a social design tool in order to brand my style of work.

[nabeelaharend]

Reflection: How to be a graphic designer, without losing your soul

By Shaughnessy, A

As a designer there are certain attributes one needs to possess, such as the trio; cultural awareness, communication skills and integrity. These are attributes that cannot be taught out of a manual but have to be learnt though the way we live. Aside from this there are practical skills that we can be taught the basics, but only we can expand our capabilities by doing. These break down into:

Time management

Convincing yourself that you won’t have enough time is an illusion, instead we need to come to the realisation that the problem lies with in managing our time. The fastest way to lose a client is to miss a deadline, therefore the link between professionalism and time management needs to be made. One of the main factors that affect our time managing is anxiety, planning sufficiently keeps this feeling controlled.

Research

Research is honestly the first step to any process, the is the prep work we have to do which we create around. Research can be used as a ‘problem solving’ tool, and can be quite useful but also not. Sometimes research can become dangerous, and can act as a ‘straight jacket’ for creative thinking. To control this, designers need to ‘weld research [reading, visiting, touching, tasting] to creative intuition.’

Strategy

In any project, the strategy that is responsible for design is more important than the actual design. However, this can be detrimental when all emphasis is on strategic and tactical thinking and can be responsible to creating the same or timid design. Instead of focusing on strategy, it rather has to be incorporated seamlessly with intuitive creativity.

Presentation

This is something that has to be worked on constantly, no matter the point in our careers well always have to present our ideas to actual other human beings. One thing to note is that it’s fine to be yourself and to be confident, this however is learnt with time and patience.  

Writing skills

This skill is vital to anyone in any industry, it forms part of how we all communicate. Writing skills is a useful tool that can be improved by practice and reading as much as you can. The key is to avoid jargon and rewrite, rewrite, rewrite.

These are some really valuable skills that you can develop in your toolset, and it’s important to remember that it doesn’t just have to apply to designers.  

[nabeelaharend]

A practice of openness

This week we learnt about the practice of openness and, the tyranny of the ideal. I could really relate to the concept of giving up before I’ve even begun, this is something that I struggled with growing up. I would always dream big and never really try to achieve my dreams because I had convinced myself that they were unachievable. This week we had to Identify and develop a practice of openness - some kind of ritual to repeat daily, weekly, or monthly to ensure that we spot opportunities, gain the value from learning, benefit from the unexpected, and feel brave in the face of (internal and external) pressure and expectation. So I decided to look for one job opportunity a week at well-known companies, which I had already convinced myself id never get and apply despite my inner critic. The company I chose this week was Alan Grey, I had heard rumours about how hard it is to get a job at this company, and so I predetermined based on this information, that I’d never be good enough. Forcing myself to apply despite feeling this way allowed me to feel a sense of braveness. For me personally there’s definitely been gratitude in trying even with the uncertainty of success.