Our DIA monthly newsletters have started with a brief personal reflection written by whomever is in charge of putting together the month’s updates. Behind every issue is a real human putting the words together, considering the newsletter’s audience and the value that this content might bring.

This month, pulling together the newsletter is back on Grace’s plate. I haven’t done the monthly newsletter in a while. To be honest, I have a lot to share and reflect on, so perhaps this little intro might become a bit longer than you’d expect. Perhaps this might be a good thing, since we had skipped right over June and went straight into July’s issue.

We’re in the summer season for the northern hemisphere. The May-June months tend to come with graduations and endings. Activities slow down in the July-August months for rest and relaxation or recuperation.

Slumps, morale, and dreams

June this year was a little difficult. The job market is really bad. Some have told me that it’s the worst market they’ve seen in their 25-year career. My LinkedIn feed has posts from people in my network who have given up on their long job search and moved back with their parents. Morale is low and maybe we’re going through the motions. UX is the dream, some tell me. Should I give up on that dream? Should I switch to something else?

Change in the community

At the same time, a professional association I had been a part of since my start in the field announced that they were closing down (An Announcement from the Board Regarding the Future of IxDA, 14 June 2024). This saddened me, brought me down, and made me reflect on our own DIA Design Guild and its future, as well as my time with the World Information Architecture Association. There’s a responsibility that comes with creating and building a community. It brings with it a spectrum of identities and rituals from learning about the craft to teaching and mentoring. The community evolves because of you and you change because of it. But when the community is no longer there—

When change is everywhere, focus on yourself.

While no one should tell you what to do, when you’re faced with something you have no control over, sometimes the only thing you can do is to work with the things that you do have control. Instead of UX as the project, use UX as a framework for approaching problem-solving in your everyday life.

I may or may not have done any of the following personal projects:

Make a personal kanban board.
Organize your personal knowledge management system.
Add metadata to your photos and digital content.
Set governance policies for updating your paper and digital documentation system.
Designate areas of your calendar for different functions (For example, timeboxing your days and times into personal vs family vs work vs volunteer stuff)
Make your website not just about your work, but about you, your interests, and your livelihood.
Make your life a little more accessible for yourself – easier for you to find later on, to put away, to share with someone.

In most other situations, you are not your user. But for this, you are. Design your livelihood for your ‘future’ you. You are more than a job, more than a career.

Inspiring, yes, but what if your life has a long list of requirements and constraints. What if you have layers upon layers of identities, roles, and responsibilities to carry? That’s real-world experience, is it not?

Set goals

June and July is also the half-year mark of a calendar year. Did you set goals for the year? How far along are you? Were those goals S.M.A.R.T (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound)? At the beginning of 2024, I’ve set myself some SMART goals:

Sleep before midnight
Keep a clean and tidy desk
Exercise at least 2 times a week

Have I achieved them? No, not really. Still gotta work on that.

That’s it for now! Thanks for reading.

~ Grace Lau, DIA co-founder and executive director of DIA Design Guild

#1: DIA Updates

In light of everything that is going on in the world, DIA is keeping things slow and steady. DIA is slowing down for the summer. The Book Club is on hold for the summer. The Game Club is taking a break.

The apprentice program is doing well. I’ve met a few people from this year’s cohort and their enthusiasm despite the job market is hopeful. DIA has given them a safe space to talk about stuff. Mentors and apprentices alike are going through the same thing.

We have a few apprentices who got good news to share:

Miguel Castillo (2021 cohort) is accepted at an internship at SAP
Oghogho "PJ" Ekhator (2023 cohort) is halfway through her internship at ServiceNow
Jenny Ear (2023 cohort) is moving along on her job interviews, getting at least 2x the number of callbacks and interviews compared to before she started with DIA.

Here are some updates from our community: One mentor welcomed a new baby, another got married, and another is taking a well-deserved road trip around Iceland. Some members experienced layoffs, while others are exploring new opportunities, such as writing and pitching projects with friends.

Justin told me earlier this month, “we should def have previous apprentices share how DIA prepared them for their careers. Saying this bc a lot of what I learned with DIA is helping me with my new projects.” 🥰

Next month, we’ll share other projects we’ve been working on despite our summer hiatus.

#2: Design Resources

If you want to develop your design skills, check out the ever growing list of design resources. Julia has managed the Design Education Resources database since 2022. Currently, there are over 380 resources! See the full list.

Matt Kahn was a pioneer in design education and taught at Stanford for more than 60 years. His famous Stanford design lecture series, Design: Soul & Body, were recorded 20 years ago and available for a limited time - https://designsoul.stanford.edu/
Plain English Weekly is a weekly newsletter packed with advice, tools and resources to help you write clear, accessible content curated by Iain Broome, a content designer based in England - https://www.plainenglish.club/

#3: World IA Cafe

We have some exciting talks scheduled for World IA Cafe! View some of our upcoming events:

August 1 with Lisa Dance:“How Information Architecture Makes or Breaks Customer Experiences?”

Self-serve activities are a big part of companies' continuing digital transformation efforts. Information architecture can make it easy or difficult for customers to complete increasingly complex activities and transactions successfully.

August 8 with Dora Makszy:“The Ripple Effect”

Many companies, especially those started by engineers, initially focus on building a great product. However, as they grow, maintaining organized and scalable information architecture (IA) becomes challenging.

Interested in speaking?

World IA Cafe is looking for people to speak on their experiences with practical methods, tools and processes or case study analyzes to show information architecture in action.

Propose a talk

To keep up with all the events, make sure to subscribe to the World IA Cafe on Luma.

Want to work with DIA?

Projects give our apprentices the opportunity to work on real-world projects, partner with clients and their stakeholders on their needs and goals, and provide a space for them to learn about the intricacies of understanding how to balance information, needs, and intention.

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