Not many people find themselves doing what they want to do for the rest of their lives. Yet I am one.
Being a designer has been a rewarding experience both personally and professionally and I am lucky that Design found me (Some may know I was on my way to becoming a lawyer when it did).
Earned the Design & User Experience Essentials Badge through the IBM Digital Badge Program.
Written by my friend Anna Brunson
We are the Watson Health Design team at IBM, comprised of a diverse group of passionate individuals dedicated to bringing ethical change to healthcare needs through software solutions. We pride ourselves in being able to work across time zones and work tirelessly to provide complex healthcare solutions that would benefit physicians, patients, and ultimately impact change within the healthcare system. To our surprise, the strength of our community is now being tested during these difficult circumstances. Many challenges are beyond our control to address.
Recently, I was involved in a Covid-19 Design challenge. My team and I produced a set of materials for impactful communication campaigns, artifacts, to motivate safe behaviors and practices around Covid-19.
Data visualization is a great way to help citizens understand the latest developments in the COVID-19 outbreak. However, poorly designed dashboards can tell a story that misleads and worries us unnecessarily.
In an IBM campus-wide design learning series, my colleague Tricia Garrett and I partnered to critique the good, bad, and ugly in COVID-19 data visualizations, revealing the underlying design principles. We also shared how we are working on resources to improve our data storytelling within Watson Health.
Through a series of engagements with North Carolina A&T State University, I worked with a team to guide students in making design portfolios, culminating in a review of their portfolios. It was a rewarding experience partnering with a historically black university (HBCU), to improve diversity in Design.
As part of the Pathfinder Mentorship Program, I participated in a design extravaganza for students from various universities in North Carolina including NC State and Duke. We introduced the students to Enterprise Design Thinking, including practical exercises creating As-Is, PainPoints, and Big Ideas from the IBM Design Thinking Framework.
What is the place of humans in an AI, Blockchain, self-driving, chatbot world?
This was the topic of a talk I gave at the University of Texas at Dallas.
As stewards of great technology, we have the responsibility to address the needs, abilities and wellbeing of the people we serve, and do it in a way that best applies our innate skills. Essentially, designing as humans for humans.
I recently returned from a trip to Africa — Congo, Rwanda and Kenya to be more specific. Although my trip was not work-related, true-to-self, I found myself working remotely in Nairobi, Kenya.
