CST-328 - Module 8

What did I learn in the eighth week of CST-328?

The final week closed with a reflection forum going over our final thoughts on how we felt about this course and its bridging affects in computer science. Looking back, everyone has come a long way in learning aspects that were initially thought to be in a completely different division of work, as the whole project scope of implementing mid-fi to final prototype wireframes showcases how a designer can develop both technical skill and clear design choice based on logical implementation. In the end, CST-328 was a course I hadn't expected when getting into computer science, as creating a polished design outside of coding really pushes what everyone was expected to do when getting into the computer science program, but it certainly was an eye opener.

This was what I sent into the reflection forum:

Hello everyone,

Before taking this course I had home schooled lessons on design and its inherent implementations for a user experience, but after taking this course I came to realize that design and computer science are interconnected. I thought they were completely separate, with designers making the overall look, while developers implement the corresponding magic that allows the app to function. However, going through the UX/UI design process where one needs to go about CRAP (contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity), while taking into consideration modern design principles like structure, hierarchy, and color layout, they coincided in the creation of the mid-fi to final Figma prototype. Therefore, I came to realize that they fundamentally solve the same problem through different angles, as they revolve around building something that a user can actually use.

As for how a user-centered design fits into computer science, every decision in the creation of the Figma design of FORGE dealt with the placement of the navigation bar, what colors would need to be used for active states, how to lock out buttons once a certain aspect was finalized, and the overall design behind each aspect that was required for a personal user experience. Therefore, that was no longer just about making decorations but logical choices that impacted the functionality, as it was like writing clean code that is functional but expressed visually. SEO strategies connected directly to this, as it's about understanding what users would search for and how they would find that information. That's user-centered thinking getting applied to discoverability, which means that designing an interface requires you to keep thinking about what would the user need, and how would I be able to make it as easy as possible for them to get to it. In the end, computer science provides the tools to build, design, and implement, requiring you to simply understand how to fundamentally orchestrate it, thus I now see that design on the front end necessitates that I think of the user first before writing code or designing the interface.