Motivation
One restless night, as my thoughts raced through endless what-ifs and the uncertainty of the future, I found myself signing up for a UX Design course on Coursera—just to quiet the chaos. Immersing myself in something new has always been my way of regaining focus, a reliable distraction that brings a sense of calm when my mind refuses to settle.
It could have been anything, really, but I had to start somewhere—something beginner-friendly, something that wouldn’t require extensive technical skills before I could even get my footing. Lucky, I had briefly been introduced to the concept of UI/UX at my day job, just enough to pique my curiosity. However, I wasn’t fully in the game at the time, and the chance slipped by. So perhaps, now is the moment.
Progress and Target
The Google UX Design Professional Certificate consists of seven courses. So far, I’ve completed the first and am currently working through the second. This program has been invaluable—it’s helping me, as someone with no prior design experience, break down the concepts into a structured, logical process, making them far more approachable.
For the course project, students are required to work through the entire design process from start to finish, based on a personally selected prompt. The one I've chosen is:
Design an app and a responsive website for a public art museum to advertise exhibitions and events, provide museum information to patrons, and enable patrons to schedule visits.
This prompt stood out to me because it brought back memories of my visit to museums in Singapore during the summer of 2024, primarily to see Hamilton the musical. I was impressed by how well the websites were designed—information for visitors was mapped out seamlessly, making navigation effortless. Unfortunately, museums in Indonesia often rely on Instagram instead of dedicated websites, making it quite difficult for visitors to access essential information.
Since this is a dummy project to kickstart my portfolio, I’ll be relying solely on secondary research, shaping my user persona based on articles, journals, and papers. The process has been surprisingly fun—learning about how museums in Jakarta are managed feels almost like playing detective, piecing together insights from scattered and limited sources. Sometimes, the big idea in my head tries to take over, disrupting the design process. That's when I have to remind myself to start small and refine later.
OK, enough rant, time to sleep, bye! - AT
Resources
Course: Google UX Design Professional Certificate
Figma Tutorial: Figma Design for beginners