How I Started in Design

Growing up in Carmel Indiana, I’ve always loved everything related to art and design. As a kid, I constantly drew fanart for my favorite media and doodled on my homework. I was also a shy kid who grew up on my computer, fascinated by how online communities form and come together across the world. When it came time to apply for college, I wasn’t exactly sure of what my interests in art, technology, and psychology meant for me career-wise as they were seemingly disparate. But I eventually found the UX Design major at Purdue, which seemed like the perfect intersection of all of my passions. I wasn’t exactly sure what “user experience” entailed, but it seemed cool enough!

Since graduating from the program in 2024, I’ve grown so much as a person and in my passion for digital design. I love how the field focuses on critical engagement with community. I love being able to create beautiful, intuitive, accessible designs based on feedback from real people. While pushing pixels to create art is fun on its own, I aspire to create change and make a difference with my designs, too. Post-graduation, I interned at CICP, an Indy nonprofit, as a UI/UX designer; I enjoyed the feeling of contributing to a greater purpose so much that my career goal moving forward became to either work for a nonprofit or a design agency that partners with nonprofits.