Almost a decade ago, both Colton and I each transitioned to UX. But it wasn’t a walk in the park for either of us.
After landing jobs, we were constantly approached by people wondering how we did it.
With Kickass UX, we built everything we wished we had when we started our UX journeys. We envisioned our brand as a launchpad for people to fast-track their way into UX.
That’s where our old but beloved rocket logo came from.
Today, we’re introducing a new vision for our brand and for UX education.
Creatives play the central role for this vision. That’s why we’re so excited to showcase and celebrate the incredible stories and work from creatives in our community!
Working with creatives for the past few years has taught us this:
They are changemakers who deserve genuine recognition, respect, and fair compensation.
Some creatives love their day-to-day life, while others are discouraged and frustrated. That’s why we wanted to create a place where creatives share it all: the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Reading stories of other creatives helps us feel more connected in our journeys.
That’s why we’ve created a new format called Letters from creatives.
Read letters from fellow creatives to see what others are going through. Or share what’s on your mind and heart by writing your own letter.
We’re here to support each other in our journeys.
Everyone has extraordinary talent, and we all need the inspiration to find the best way to express our creativity— it may mean keeping your current creative career or transitioning to UX.
UX education needs to be reinvented from the ground up
Back in 2015, the tech and UX fields were booming.
The tech industry was growing rapidly, and it was hiring quickly.
More people learned about UX design and decided to pursue it as a career, hoping to get into a rewarding and well-compensated field.
Fast forward to 2023, and things have taken a turn.
Students still spend tens of thousands of dollars on big-name bootcamps or universities, but they are taught the UX process is a linear way— and they are unable to compete with slightly more experienced job hunters.
UX education has remained stagnant, but entry-level UX jobs have gotten crazy competitive. Unfortunately, many institutions are exacerbating the problem by pushing hundreds of underprepared students with cookie-cutter portfolios into the job market.
Students are paying a hefty price for institutions that aren’t able to cope with the new realities of the job market.
Nowadays, just learning UX and creating generic portfolios is a failing strategy.
Where creatives become the best designers they can be
At Kickass UX, we bring the creative community together through UX education.
Creatives have unique strengths and weaknesses.
They have a sense of what looks good or not. They know how to work with hierarchy, contrast, space, balance, color principles, and more.
They also have a ton of transferable skills: cross-functional teamwork, communicating design decisions, etc.
A creative background is a great starting place, but much more goes into UX than meets the eye.
UX is a different skill set that requires months to learn. And years or decades to “master.”
Yes, entry-level UX jobs have gotten more competitive. To be fully prepared for the new realities of our job market, we go far beyond just teaching UX.
That’s why Kickass UX isn’t another bootcamp or university.
We take pride in being the only ones to provide a robust learning experience. As a result, we teach critical things that others barely cover, if at all:
- How to pick case studies that are personal and relevant.
- How to create a personal brand and portfolio that’s unique and compelling.
- How to choose the right UX methodologies for the problem at hand.
- How to apply critical thinking when UX projects aren’t as predictable.
- How to properly communicate design decisions and back up design decisions.
And to take things to a whole new level, our 22-week job-ready program UX/UI Expert is getting a major update. We’ve partnered with Tech Fleet, so after the program ends, you have a guaranteed apprenticeship. You’ll gain invaluable real-world experience by working on a real project with a cross-functional team.
We’re aiming to close the gap between education and real-world experience.
“You don’t have real-world experience” is a sentence you won’t hear from hiring managers, especially with a tech apprenticeship.
Our future at Kickass UX isn’t just teaching UX; it’s to reinvent UX education.
After years of work, we’re proud to unveil the new Kickass UX, where creatives become the best designers they can be.
