“Design is like a great salesman’s pitch, it attracts your attention, and peaks your interest” .
I’m Craig Jackson from Chicago, IL. I’m a UX designer that combines all the skills I’ve learned over the years to create meaningful user experiences.
I’ve worked in sales as a product presenter selling timeshare intervals for American Resort International, and in this position we had to empathize with our clients to gauge an understanding about their vacation preferences. I worked as a restaurant server for Bennigan’s in downtown Chicago, in this capacity I had to exhibit executive customer service for I encountered a multitude of personalities and characteristics which taught me how to troubleshoot and to be quick on my feet and problem solve customer complaints and provide them with a great experience. I decided I wanted to work for myself so I became a street vendor. Buying wholesale and closeout, and selling retail, simple. This taught me how to ground network and really reach out to the people building long lasting relationships. I worked as a product demonstrator where I spoke to small crowds about the benefits of using my employer’s products. I worked these positions to make money because I had to survive and learned some great valuable lessons, but it’s not what I would do for fun.
I love creating and listening to music, I’m heavily into baking, and writing and listening to poetry. I’ve always been the person that was intrigued with HOW things work, and get excited with the process of seeing something come to life step by step as you’re creating it.
About five years ago I got into making websites using sites with site builders, basically filling in templates but it wasn’t enough for me, I wanted to learn what exactly goes into building sites, and trial and error has taught me that no site is built without planning. I’ve dabbled with adobe photoshop, serif pageplus, serif webplus, affinity publisher, word, and a few others. I wanted to learn how to make apps because I saw that was the next big thing so I sought out to find how I could do so and that’s when I found Thinkful’s UX/UI Design Immersion program.
In the beginning I didn’t realize how much planning and how many steps you had to take in creating a product, and I Love It. User research has taught me what I’ve been missing, how to find out exactly what users want and need in a product rather than assuming their wants and needs. It also taught me how to transfer data into a visual design, and after an up to date self evaluation, I realized I’ve always been a creator or designer, because every hobby I ever had entailed a step by step calculated process. There’s nothing more exhilarating than seeing something you’ve created come to life from conception to completion that people can use, enjoy, and be happy with.
This is why I chose UX/UI design, it taught me how to hone all my skills and apply them in ideating and creating meaningful designs. I AM a UX’er.
