A year in the pandemic: getting back to writing with new intentions
When looking back for the last three years in my personal and professional life, it would be a hard deal to reflect on every detail of my life changing events. Changing jobs, responsibilities, marriage, moving, etc are just to name a few major steps in my life. Then pandemic happened. It was a year of reflection, anxiety, unknown, personal hardships and many other things. However, it was also a year that I have been pausing from the 8-year-old hustle and bustle since I left my home country. I lost the momentum on establishing myself, reason for being and all other things, for good. It was a year of “forced” pause and think about everything in my life.
This may sound a bit daunting above, however it was still one of the most rewarding years of my life. I have gotten back to writing more than a year ago but not to express anything professionally or spiritually. It was mainly to establish gratitude routines and solving tough situations in my professional and personal life.
“Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.” — Melody Beatie
I have started making acrylic paintings on the weekends for almost 8 months in a row during 2020. I have learned how to combine different vibrant colors in a better way and created several color composition systems coupled with abstract shapes and portraits. I have reconnected with a lot of friends from all over the world. I remembered once more how small and big the world is at the same time. Despite too much screen fatigue, this was then year I felt that I was reconnected to many people in my life in a whole different way. In a deeper way. Conversations have evolved around more real things, maybe we miss out on sharing details of the last meal we ate at a restaurant, last concert we went to or last boat trip in the mediterranean sea. We had other conversations. It was different, but it was beautiful.
For the last three years of not writing publicly, I have been taking a lot of mental notes everywhere when I have inspiration from a book, a thought, an image or someone’s word. Over the course of months, this started to motivating me to get back to writing and give back something to the community on the knowledge I have developed over the course of time. I have been mentoring designers at different stage at their careers here and there but never have done anything on a regular basis. I was requested to share career insights, design tips and tricks and women in leadership. I did not have the drive since my contributions to HBR Turkey Blog until 2015. The more I saw my influence on individuals, the more I got motivated to give back to the community.
I have been sharing some tips and tricks in different media platforms (below is an example of my instagram takeover in UX Folks and answers questions on inspirational books, interviews and a working day routine), WhatsApp calls or webinars but they were pretty scattered. I know I needed a space for my own and create content this year but I did not know where to start.
Designing the right content
As a designer, I have the urge to wear a problem solving hat on a daily basis. It is sometimes really hard to get out of that even in my personal life. That mindset finds a place in other situations. How can I actually make use of it? How can I find the best way to create content that is helpful and impactful for the community. I knew I had to design something around that. So I followed my regular process about writing as well. Why do I want to write? What would be my goal to achieve with that? Do I even know if writing is the best way to create? Or maybe only one way of doing it. So I started asking questions more and more.
- Who will be interested my content? (target audience)
- What problems and expectations do they have? (UX career advice, nailing a portfolio, design leadership, design process, how to lead by craft, etc.)
- What are the things I can add value? (technical limitations: Am I comfortable with writing, speaking with video, or without a video?)
- How does my content reach to audience in the best way? (writing, video, podcast)
- Is there a way to get more information and start from somewhere? (research)
- What is the best solution for me? (north-star)
- Where should I start? (minimum viable product)
- How can I know that I am on the right track? (Audience engagement)
I know I wanted to start with writing because this is what I felt more comfortable to start with. Even though it requires different level of work, refinement and iteration. So I have scoped down my medium and target the group who would enjoy reading. Ok, I have a lot of ideas what I can write about it. Where should I start? I have started asking around people who previously asked for sharing my experience in design, working in different markers and leadership. It was very eye-opening for me because I have come up with more ideas after gathering input from a potential audience. They were even more exciting than the ideas that I have come up on my own. I have realized that people were interested in variety of things from creativity, leadership and topics that no one really openly talks about or reflects enough. I have been asked to talk more about my journey to become a designer as well.
Moving forward
I have reminded myself the beauty of the human-centric design process and how magical it can be when you design solutions with your audience in the context of blogging. I got inspired on creating value by knowing their needs truly and design a solution for them that impacts their career growth in design. I used this method to start from somewhere, with intention and purpose. I wish for my two cents into design, processes and leadership will help you in any way. I am excited about this moving forward.
2021 is the year to come back with new ways of getting through life, being part of a life I did not design intentionally. However, I can only design the life around what we have. My new intention is to bring the old in my life in a newer form. Writing, but with more intention and purpose. More to come.
