January 20, 2017

Meet Lithonia UX/UI Designer: Jordan Robinson

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jordan Robinson.

Jordan, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’ve always been involved in artistic expression since I was a kid. I use to draw on my folders in school and dabble with applications like Paint. I even learned how to do airbrushing, where I would paint characters and graffiti letterings of names on shirts and pants. That was my first graphic art freelance job.

When I graduated from high school, I studied Graphic Design at I.A.D.T. (International Academy of Design & Technology) in MI for a short while, before transferring to Columbia College Chicago to study film.

I learned all about photography in my free time and soon took on clients for photo gigs. My clients started asking me if I could make flyers and logos for them, and I said, “Oh yeah, I can do that!”. After that, people asked me if I could make websites for them, and I would say, “Sure, I can.” Even though I knew very very little about it, I was a self-taught artist and I learned fast. I knew that one of the best ways to learn how to swim was to jump in the pool.

Eventually, I made the jump into deeper waters. I traversed from small-time freelance gigs to larger companies. I had to learn digital product design, user experience design and front-end development to stay ahead. I am currently in the process of starting my own design company very soon. But with all of my experiences and skills, I have no intentions of limiting myself to design alone.

Has it been a smooth road?
The journey was anything but smooth, but it definitely defined who I am today. I learned everything on my own, through practice, visual inspirations and reading awesome books and articles. My financials have been on wild rollercoaster rides. I’ve done a lot of great work for almost nothing, not to mention, learning how to interact with clients, good and bad, and their requests for crazy designs in suffocatingly tight deadlines.

Some of my clients have helped me reach my deepest levels of temperament, just to force me to dig deeper to find the strength to remain professional.

But.. through all the ups and downs that I’ve gone through in my 9-year career, I can say that I’ve seen enough to have an answer for nearly any situation. And if I don’t know the answer, I can definitely point you in the right direction. I love all of my experiences just the same. I love what I do, and I wouldn’t change any piece of it.

Is there some part of you work that is particularly difficult?
The hardest part of my job is in remaining consistent with today’s design systems while pushing the barrier of creating something new, unique and innovative.

Many of the design systems of today are being reused and recycled on websites everywhere, due to their effectiveness and positive response with users. That means these designs are becoming established familiarities to people as staples for how the web should work.

This makes things difficult for me specifically, because I have to prevent from recreating the wheel but also ensure that my work can be identified as unique.

How do you define success?
Success, for me, is achieved when I have created unique and tested design solutions that promote delightful user engagement while meeting the client’s business needs.

My top priority is to make sure that the designs I create have a thorough experience with a beginning, middle and end. I’m always considering the users’ ability to recognize where they are in the flow, being visually directed to what they’re looking for and able to accomplish their goals with as little obstructions as possible. After I test that the experience is clear, consistent, considerate and complete, then I can feel good about a project.

If the opportunity is available (with time and budget), I do user testing with real people to see how close I am to being right or wrong. If I’m wrong about things, then it’s back to the drawing board but if I’m in a good spot, then I can really say that the project is successful.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
In 2017, I’ll be launching an entertainment company with my fiancé, focused on providing Art Direction for digital media.

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