Arran joined us as a UX Intern in October to support the team on a number of ongoing projects. We caught up with Arran on his time at Sitekit, future plans and to congratulate him on starting a permanent position as a Junior UX Designer.
Having done product design engineering at university I always preferred the idea of working on the function of a product over the form and I enjoy the fact that UX design seems to focus more on this aspect when creating products that users will appreciate.
I figured out during my final year at uni that I definitely wanted to work designing products somewhere within the healthcare field and I liked the work that Sitekit had been doing. The best thing about my month internship prior to my permanent offer was definitely the level of support I received. It was a great transition from education into the professional working world and all the staff made it incredibly smooth and easy. On top of this everyone is lovely and extremely easy to get on with!
I’m looking forward to developing my skills, especially with the Adobe suite of software such as InDesign and xd, as this is something I have had limited opportunities to do before but is something I have always had my eye on. I’ve been given access to a whole load of training resources for this and other aspects of UX design and am excited to begin practicing and applying these to projects I am being involved in!
I think having a passion for the field you are applying to definitely makes a big difference. I was lucky enough to do a few healthcare-related design projects throughout my time at university which helped me a lot when talking about healthcare design while applying to jobs, but even simple things such as following Twitter news accounts and medium blogs can help you keep up to date on what’s going on in whichever field it is you want to break into.
Any time I’ve tried to make long-term plans for the future I’ve ended up stressing myself out after I’ve not followed them exactly. For now, I’m just going with the flow and trying to make sure I do things I enjoy!
I spend a lot of time gaming on my PC (possibly too much) but when I’m not sitting on my computer, I spend a lot of time socialising with my friends. I have a passion for electronic music, so we often end up going to see DJs and performers live and I am also learning to DJ and produce music myself, with the hopes of one day hosting my own events in Glasgow.
Honestly, after moving from England to Scotland when I was around 9 or 10 I can’t see myself ever leaving here. I absolutely love everything about this country (although my entire family is Scottish so perhaps I’m a little biased.) The only other places that would tempt me would be Berlin or Barcelona, I’ve only spent around a week in each of them but both of their music scenes are fantastic and there is so much I still have to explore in both places.
As I mentioned, I would love to be a music producer. I’ve always thought lighting technician for festivals/clubs seemed like an interesting job as well as being the person who produces the graphics that go on the screens at the back of stages and DJ booths. Basically anything creative for the production and performing of music!
Embarrassingly high.
A MASSIVE plate of dumplings with chili oil. Don’t care what kind. Gyoza, pierogi, wontons – I’ll take them all.
Finishing early without a doubt. Especially in winter when it gets dark before you finish half the time!