Published on <a href="https://blog.prototypr.io/design-retrospective-march-2018-90b133187cea?source=rss----eb297ea1161a---4">| Prototyping: From UX to Front End &mdash; Medium</a> Dani Andor <img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*3pEyz4voe0Q-Pk9j0eZSCg.jpeg">
<h3>So, here we are with another month already gone by, March 2018</h3>
These first three months of 2018 were really interesting. Being my first year combining a part-time job with some freelancing projects, sometimes things felt like they got out of my hands. I have to admit that I had a lot of work to do — way more than I thought I would have — but this month I think that somehow I managed my time better and didn’t felt that much overwhelmed as I felt on <a href="https://blog.prototypr.io/design-retrospective-january-2018-2d13283ef110">January</a> and <a href="https://blog.prototypr.io/design-retrospective-february-2018-f625916f92fe">February</a>.
In March, I celebrated my birthday so, I took some days off in order to relax a little — because, after all, turning 30 doesn’t happen everyday.
Also, while I was writing this article, we celebrated Easter, here, in Romania and this is the main reason why the retrospective for March got a little delayed. (I know, that one from <a href="https://blog.prototypr.io/design-retrospective-february-2018-f625916f92fe">February</a> was posted with some delay too). But, even though this article will be online after Easter, I still want to wish you all a very blessed Easter.
<img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*k02ZWORc7XnB3xyiJYnH_w.jpeg">
Besides working on different projects, I had some time to finish reading “Design of everyday things” by Don Norman. I <a href="https://blog.prototypr.io/dear-junior-ui-ux-designer-30b1058c73da">highly recommend it to anyone</a> who is in this field.
<blockquote>“… the designers must always keep foremost in mind that the products are to be used by people. This is what makes design such a rewarding discipline: On the one hand, woefully complex constraints to overcome; on the other hand, the opportunity to develop things that assist and enrich the lives of people, that brings benefits and enjoyment “ — Don Norman</blockquote>
An another great news for this month, is that I found a <a href="https://www.upwork.com/o/profiles/users/_~018de659db405d351c/">developer to implement my portfolio</a> so, next month, it should be up and running.
<h3>About work &amp; mentoring</h3>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/800/1*F1F7TEm0G4wdcvBQn0RFhw.png"><a href="https://dribbble.com/shots/4340065-EE-App-V3">EE — Dashboard update</a>
At <a href="https://effectiveexperiments.com/">Effective Experiments</a> we are still working on improving our app and the experience it delivers to our customers. In the past month I worked on some new designs for some sections of the app. We also have some very interesting plans for our Q2 so, hopefully, in the next weeks/months I can update you on those.
As about <a href="https://fulfilli.com/">Fulfilli</a>, we worked on a couple of new updates. Some of them are already live so you can test them — for example the updated navbar that appears when you edit a quote — and some of them are still in development. I think that if you are looking for a tool to create some great looking quotes, it would definitely worth to give Fulfilli a try. You can also connect with us through our slack channel, so you can stay up to date with what we are working on. Oh, and I have very important news to share with you: now I appear on the homepage, at the Fulfilli’s Core team section 😃.
PS: While I’m finishing this article up, <a href="https://www.producthunt.com/posts/fulfilli-3">Fulfilli got featured on Product Hunt</a> 🤘. Check it out.
Also in March, I continued with some mentoring sessions for the R<a href="https://www.rookieup.com/design-career-bootcamps/">ookieUp bootcamps</a> with 2 mentees.
Besides them, I had my last session with an another mentee and had some very interesting talk with him about finding a job as a designer. I shared with him my experience, when I was between jobs, and sent out a lot of emails — and when I say a lot, I really mean A LOT — for different companies, waiting to get replies from them. I even created a google sheet with all the emails sent, I wrote there things like who got back to me, what they said etc. It was one of my most stressful period in the last year. We even considered moving to another city or country. But in the end, things turned out way better that I thought back then; thank God for that. The fun side of this experience was that I had some very amusing replies and some forms to fill-up. I had so many material that <a href="https://blog.prototypr.io/dear-recruiters-6660bc74468f">I even wrote an article about it</a>.
Regarding <a href="http://designsnippet.com/">DesignSnippet</a>, I’m still looking for someone who would like to partner on this. So, take a look and if you would like to help or have some great ideas regarding this project, contact me.
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<h3>Some personal thoughts</h3>
Lately, I started to think more about the way I work — mostly because I work remotely, from home. Usually when you tell people that you work from home, they instantly think that it’s so awesome, like a dream job or something. I don’t want to lie, it’s great, but it has some downsides too. Most of the time you work alone — as there isn’t anybody in the same room with you. Also, I started to feel a little overwhelmed by a lot of email buzzes, chat pings and various notifications, so I must ask, how you guys deal with working remotely/from home, managing time and how do you relax?
Another thought that sticked with me this month was the importance of our job, as designers. We work on new features, invest time, effort and emotions in new designs, make them look as good as possible, and sometimes that stays online maybe a couple of months and after that it gets changed, updated or just deleted. So, while thinking about this, I <a href="http://joelcalifa.com/blog/your-work-is-starstuff/">came across an article, that somehow deals with similar questions</a>.
But the question still stands. How do you guys relate to this? How do you see the importance or the value of what you do? Or even why did you chose to become a designer? What was your core motivation?
<blockquote>“one of the most important (for society, perhaps the most important) duties of designers today is to help clear up the chaos in which we live.” — Dieter Rams</blockquote>
Take a look at some thoughts on Dieter Rams <a href="https://medium.com/@daniandor/the-designer-and-his-design-part-1-97501ab595ed">about designers</a> and <a href="https://blog.prototypr.io/the-designer-and-his-design-part-2-d665491007ef">about design</a>.
<h3>Great articles from March:</h3>
These are some great articles I came in contact with this month, while curating for <a href="http://designsnippet.com/">DesignSnippet</a>:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://thedesignteam.io/how-to-efficiently-design-everything-at-the-last-minute-a8c5796b4738">How to Efficiently Design Everything at the Last Minute</a></li>
<li><a href="https://uxdesign.cc/working-through-design-challenges-in-digital-product-design-interviews-d4b118df4265">Working Through Design Challenges in Product Design Job Interviews</a></li>
<li><a href="https://medium.com/expand-the-room/the-eight-principles-of-purpose-driven-design-e7d05111701b">The Eight Principles Of Purpose-Driven Design</a></li>
<li><a href="https://uxplanet.org/dont-make-me-think-20-wise-thoughts-about-usability-from-steve-krug-876b563f1d63">Don’t Make Me Think: 20 Wise Thoughts about Usability from Steve Krug.</a></li>
<li><a href="https://theblog.adobe.com/comprehensive-guide-running-design-sprints/">A Comprehensive Guide to Running Design Sprints | Adobe Blog</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Top design inspiration from March:</h3>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/800/1*gpfD53X7J7dN0rYwtQxfnw.gif">Yomes — Renters Transparency Initiative by <a href="https://dribbble.com/claudioguglieri">Claudio Guglieri</a><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/800/1*UrSkWV-7gIGeY19eKwBGbQ.png">Introducing The Design Genome Project by InVision by <a href="https://dribbble.com/madebyanton">Anton Aheichanka</a> for <a href="https://dribbble.com/InVisionApp">InVision</a><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/800/1*9JcuhHMuX5ReBAKAII0fgw.gif">Food Delivery Platform: Restaurant Dashboard by <a href="https://dribbble.com/yalantis">Yalantis</a><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/800/1*LCsDjxK8htInrb-zF6ZpIQ.png">Calmis concept by <a href="https://dribbble.com/outcrowd">Outcrowd</a><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/800/1*oyh1W5K-r3yFK-vr6VezCw.gif">Crypto Portfolio by <a href="https://dribbble.com/Hoanguyen">Hoang Nguyen</a> for <a href="https://dribbble.com/InteractiveLabs">Interactive Labs</a>
<h3>A small Easter present</h3>
For those of you who read this far, I have a small Easter surprize: 2 Dribbble invites. So, everyone who is a designer — especially UI/UX designer — looking for an invite, leave a comment with a link to your portfolio, or send it over in an email and I’ll select those who I think are the best fit.
<h3>Don’t forget to check back in a month!</h3>
So, this is it for now. Thanks for checking in. Hope that you found something interesting and inspiring. Don’t forget, any kind of feedback is highly appreciated … so, yeah, share, clap, comment or whatever you find appropriate.
If you want to connect, you can find me on <a href="https://dribbble.com/daniandor">Dribbble</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/daniandor_uiuxdesigner/">Instagram</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/daniandor">Twitter</a> or <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniandor/">LinkedIn</a>. Also, if you are looking for an <a href="http://bit.ly/2t04ta2">UI/UX — Product designer</a> for your awesome project, don’t hesitate to <a href="mailto:dany.andor@gmail.com">contact me</a>. 🙂
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<a href="https://blog.prototypr.io/design-retrospective-march-2018-90b133187cea">Design retrospective — March 2018</a> was originally published in <a href="https://blog.prototypr.io">Prototypr</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Design retrospective — March 2018

So, here we are with another month already gone by, March 2018

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