My golf swing was were it all started. As a self-taught golfer I spent endless hours researching the golf swing and applying swing theories to craft my own repeatable swing. The most important lesson I learned was to “Keep It Simple” As I became a more proficient golfer my interest in golf course design grew. I was interested in the routing of the holes and the design decisions of bunker placement and water hazards. As I played more golf courses I found that my favorite courses integrated the golf holes naturally into the surrounding landscape. These courses were visually beautiful but also challenged the golfer by giving them different options to play the hole.
As I neared the end of high school I began to realize that being a professional golfer or golf course architect was not in the cards for me and I needed to start looking for other careers.
Fast forward 15 years and I found myself sitting in my cubicle day after day using systems that provided a poor user experience. I would think to myself everyday “Why would they put that button here?” and “Why do I have to navigate to multiple sections of this program to complete one simple task?”. Even though my co-workers thought I was crazy for leaving a well-paying government job, I knew I had to make the change and decided to make a career change to UX/UI Design.
For me the user experience is similarity to the golf swing and a well designed golf course. Both are incredibly complex, but when done correctly they look and feel simple and intuitive. When designing I think of the simplicity and beauty of a well designed golf course and draw on my past experiences as a frustrated user to create an enjoyable user experiences.