Career prep weekend
An event dedicated to building your career readiness over two action-packed days! UXA hosted workshops on crafting compelling portfolios and case studies, mock interviews with industry experts, and all the information you need to successfully navigate the recruitment process and kickstart your career in UX.
Event Branding, Environmental Graphics
Photo Credits
Viviana Staicu, Ire Alarape, Leon Zhang
Role
Creative Director, Visual Design
Duration
Fall 2024
With
Kyle Chen, Kate Lee, Amy Choi, Sander Vonk
Tools
Figma, Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator
Overview
Kickstarting our Careers in UX Together
Starting anything new is intimidating to say the least, and Career Prep Weekend is a chance to demystify the job application experience and learn more from peers and experienced professionals.
This event grew bigger and bigger, when we began we expected around 100 people to sign up. By the time the event came around we had over 250 registrants, making this our largest event by far.
My Role
Designing From the Screen to Life
The idea of wayfinding and signs was used to highlight the varied paths our guest speakers have taken to get to where they are today, and how we can use each other to find the path that works best for us. Given this was a two day event, we had to consider how we can create both physical and digital touch points for the event.
Some photos from the event
Final Reflections
Things come together if you allow for it
I knew far in advance when this event would be roughly occurring, but information about the event didn’t come at the same rate. Given it was our first event we worked on together as a team that carried a significant physical presence, there was also uncertainty over what kind of touchpoints we needed and wanted to fill the space. We (the design team) created the initial “basics” of what we needed for the event, and naturally as the event drew closer more things were thought of. The important thing was to create space in our schedule to allow for these additions, making this event as holistic as possible.
Acknowledgements
To the board that keeps powering up
For the UXA board that was moving so many pieces forward simultaneously. A really big thank you to Alana and Elin for keeping us updated and on track. A personal thank you to Airla for helping out with some of the printing and taking off some of the load from the design team. I’m grateful to the board overall for always communicating and enthusiasm to take this event to new heights.
Be ready to create more
We started the event with social media posts and flyers, expecting there would be more that pops up over time but unsure of what it would be completely. There were a few things we made for this event I wouldn’t have thought of before. The hoodie the UXA board wears is one of them. We also printed huge 7 feet banners to hang around and outside of the space. I think we didn’t completely optimize the physical space this time, but we learned a lot to be implemented for our next big event!
Push back when you need to
This was the first “big” event we worked on as a team, and because of that I wasn’t sure what the schedule should look like completely. So initially I said no to a lot of the “additional” graphics for the event to prioritize what we needed. As time went on some of the asks we did realize was unnecessary, and those that we did want to keep we were able to do as we got through more of our to-do list. In the end because we started work on the project so early we were also able to take on more “on-the-go” projects that helped the event feel more holistic.
For the team that’s ready for anything <3
I truly could not have done it without my team. Their infectious energy and eye for design helped push this project beyond.
To Kyle: For your eye for creating holistic brand identities and asking the right questions.
To Kate: For pushing the boundaries of how we can apply the branding and graphics.
To Amy: For your impeccable sense of visual design and applying them across scales.
To Sander: For your ability to take on “odder” design projects that come our way and blending them with our existing identity.