My Background

Beginning my career as a graphic designer, I transitioned to interaction design after completing my bachelor's degree in 2012. I felt that I needed to do more than just create visually appealing artwork. I wanted to make design decisions based on data. This desire to create more intentional, research-based work led me to explore interaction design, though it proved challenging in a market that hadn't yet embraced UX's value. By 2019, I had established my own business while simultaneously working as a UX designer at a Swedish digital consultancy, creating experiences for major enterprise clients.

My Challenge

Balancing entrepreneurship, client work, and staying current in the rapidly evolving UX field presented several significant obstacles:

  • Time constraints: There's so much going on in our busy lives, especially if you handle multiple projects and have kids and a family
  • Knowledge gaps: Traditional learning methods couldn't keep pace with rapidly changing design standards
  • Professional validation: Articulating my expertise to clients who viewed designers as generalists rather than specialists
  • Imposter syndrome: Despite years of experience, I sometimes questioned my abilities and knowledge

Finding My Solution

I discovered Uxcel through their Instagram profile before the full platform launched. It was the gamification that hooked me up, and I decided to explore the platform. The bite-sized learning approach perfectly matched my packed schedule and continuous learning needs.

With Uxcel, I can spend 5-10 minutes a day completing exercises and getting relevant feedback. Through Uxcel, I know I'm not missing anything, I'm still in the game, and I'm still updated.

What particularly resonated was how the platform adapted to modern learning habits. Nowadays, there's not much room for traditional ways of learning, like sitting with a book, for example. Uxcel seems like the most natural solution for me. I can take a lesson or an assessment on the go or while I'm having a break.

Pursuing Professional Certification

Beyond skill development, I sought external validation of my expertise. I want to acknowledge my profession and prove to people that don't know me well that I have sufficient UX design experience. A lot of people tend to think of a designer as an all-around, jack-of-all-trades person.

This desire for specialization led me to Uxcel's certification program: I want to be a T-shaped designer who has deep, specific knowledge of one field. So I asked myself: 'How can I prove my expertise in UX design and product design?' That question led me to Uxcel's professional design certification.

The certification addresses a common challenge for UX professionals: Designers often struggle to find a way to demonstrate their practical skills, as many of them work on NDA projects. However, professional certification is a worthwhile opportunity to demonstrate that you have knowledge of a specific discipline.

Tangible Results

The certification has delivered meaningful professional benefits:

  • Enhanced credibility: I consider certification itself a valuable asset. As a sign of their accomplishments, soldiers wear badges on their coats in the military. Certifications work similarly in the design community to show clients that a designer has been through a lot of theoretical stuff and can be trusted
  • Professional confidence: Like many designers, I've experienced imposter syndrome and had doubts about my abilities as a designer. Uxcel helps me back up my experience and verify my knowledge
  • Industry recognition: Earning a professional certification indicates that designers actually learned a lot and completed tests to pass this examination
  • Competitive advantage: Uxcel's certification also brings competitiveness among designers and motivates them to grow their skill set and move forward

Through continuous learning and professional certification, I've transformed from a designer who creates visually appealing work to a strategic UX professional who can confidently articulate the research and methodology behind my decisions. In a field that evolves daily, having a structured, efficient learning approach has become my secret weapon for staying at the forefront of UX design practice.