I’m a UX/UI designer with a background in communication design and adult education. Among others I have experience working in the healthcare, food and mechanical engineering industries. Here my way into UX:
Physics
I began to study physics but left it after two years. I’m still interested in it and other natural sciences. It taught me how to set up a scientific experiment and how to explain the real world in the language of science: Mathematics.
Communication Design
I have a degree in communication design. I’m fascinated in understanding communication processes, information architecture, understanding the need of recipients and how to design them.
Teaching
I began early as a teacher: I taught basics of working with a computer, Operating System, basic Apple programs, graphical programs (QuarkXPress, Macromedia Freehand, Aldus Pagemaker, Flash, Adobe Creative Suite) as well as basics in graphics (typography, basics in graphic design), creative project management and Design Thinking (Innovation by Design). Since 2014 I’m teaching visualization (Sketchnotes, Flipchart Design, Graphic Recording). And visualizing connections and processes is a basic concept of UX Design.
Teaching is great, because you need to understand a topic very deep if you want to explain it to others. And you have to anticipate different perspectives.
Graphic Design, Brand Design and Web Design
Since 1997 I worked as a graphic designer. First full time, later part time as a second job. I began with my work designing logos and icons, developing corporate designs. And then—with my first business partner, Frank Pfefferkorn—we began to design web sites. They were the early years of the World Wide Web. We learnt to design web sites with html and css and in Flash. Later I worked self employed and in a GmbH, the “Identitätsarchitekten”, where we were counselors for entrepreneurs and brand managers. And we discovered Design Thinking in 2009, among first of German Designers. We applied our knowledge to our projects.
Further Education
Since 2010 I worked in the further education, planning and being responsible for courses—for participants as well as trainers. This gave me deep insights into customer’s/user’s needs and how people learn. I developed new course formats, like blended learning and blended learning 2.0.
Educational studies
While my work in further education I began university studies in education. This gave me a new perspective. Humanities are different from natural sciences. I learned a lot about learning, social context and—the most important of all—conduct and evaluate good interviews.
Visual Facilitation
In 2014 I discovered visual facilitation. I began as a sketchnoter, but later I made graphic recordings of events and workshops and I understood, that visualizing content is a powerful tool to help people communicate and solve problems.
UX Design
In 2022 I began a intensive course in UX Design because I wanted to learn the tools and methods I still was missing to serve people, users on their journey with products and services.
My key skills include:
- User Research (Competitor Analysis, User Interviews, Data Analysis)
- User Flows
- Wireframes
- Functional Prototyping
- Usability Testing
- Style Guides
- Adobe XD, Figma, HTML and CSS
Developing Graphics and Icons (Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop)
Visualization (Flipcharts, Whiteboard, Graphic Recording) and visual facilitation
I’m always looking for ways to solve problems or to exchange ideas on how we can improve the customer experiences. You can message or contact me through my portfolio site: peter-j-schmitt.de. There you can also find my latest work.