I honestly can’t believe it’s already April. I was so certain I’d written a post last month, and was shocked to see that I hadn’t! The last few weeks have been a whirlwind. As the season’s shifting to warmer weather and (muuuch) longer days, I’ve been a little out of sync with time. Which is ironic, as I’m a major watch geek and should be on top of this kind of thing.
Anyway, a major reason for blitzing through last month without stopping by Life in Pixels has been the new novel. I finally completed the first (rough) draft and managed to get over 35 000 words on the second, typed draft in Scrivener. Lots of fixing to be done, but I’m really excited about this one. I believe it has the bones, and with a spring clean on the manuscript I’m hoping to have a readable draft ready for beta testing in the next month or so.
I’ve also been toiling away at my own personal design system. I’m super excited about this – albeit it’s been giving me sleepless nights and never-ending ideation spirals. It’s been over a year since delving into UX, and I’ve taken the time to now consolidate my work, my ideas, and my progress, and distilled it into something I’m truly proud and excited about. You’ll have to watch this space for the announcement, which should be imminent.
With spring blowing a kaleidoscope of colour through the (since arriving, very gloomy) Netherlands, it’s given me a compelling reason to step away from my desk and enjoy the beauty outside. I’ve done a 20km roundtrip cycle to Haarlem (which was major progress on my part, since last time I failed miserably at cycling that route), and in general just enjoying the longer days and vibrancy of Amsterdam.
I’ll be taking a much needed break from writing and designing at the end of this month for a week, and Anthony Horowitz’s latest novel (Marble Hall Murders) arrived on my Kindle just in time for me to jump into during my time off. I can’t wait.
Until next time, here’s a snippet of my daily view and the chaos of words and post-its that surround me on the daily.
A brief respite from the gloomy winter weather offered a prime opportunity to take a cycle up to the famous Polderbaan runway at Schiphol Airport. This was perhaps my longest cycle yet, and as my confidence on two wheels continues to build, I admit I still have a ways to go in terms of my fitness level.
It was quite exhilarating to see the big jets up close as they rotated right in front of me. Even better was being greeted by the roar of a 747-400 cargo liner as I arrived at the spotters area. The Queen of the Skies is my all-time favourite aircraft, and so it was quite fitting to see one as I made my first trek to this mecca of aviation.
I promised another post in Feb, and hopefully this one delivers. I’ve been deep into completing the first draft of the new book. I set the ambitious goal of being done by the end of the shortest month in the year, and the way things are going, I think I might actually make it. This weekend alone I blasted through two chapters, and I’ve been tinkering with the “endgame” chapter (as I call it – the big reveal) on Scrivener itself. So working between two modes of writing keeps things exciting, at the least.
As we move towards the third month, and approach the end of Q1, I am also starting to prepare for the design devleopment on MyDojo, and line things up for the actual development.
Next time I drop by the blog, I’m hoping it’ll be a positive update on the first draft – perhaps even a title reveal. Let’s see.
Already one month down, and I’m pleased with the progress of my “projects, projects, projects…“, which chug along at a decent pace.
We’ve begun usability testing on some initial wireframes for the new MyDojo. I’m looking forward to delving into the user insights and starting to progress the designs towards high-fidelity mockups. The next big challenge will be to translate the (still in progress) system architecture into Flutter, which I’ll be using to develop the mobile app.
I’ve been using Notion to keep track of the myriad items in the backlog, and it really does keep me sane – between managing my work life, my reading list, and my software dev efforts, it’s become a second brain for me.
On the novel front, I’m making steady progress towards the first draft of the mystery novel I started writing at the beginning of last year. I’m about 23 out of 35 chapters done. Writing by hand is a nice form of detachment, but I really do hope I can decipher my handwriting when it comes to transferring the entire novel into Scrivener. The goal is to get this first draft on paper by end of this month, which is daunting in and of itself. It took me about 3 years to write Devanagari, which I still honestly haven’t finished (as I need to revise it into a coherent 2nd draft).
But I’ve found writing this mystery novel to be a lot easier. It’s set in a place I know (Durban), the characters fascinate me (one in particular, a nasty guy who may or may not be the villain, and whom I can’t wait to introduce you all to 😉), and by writing the entire first draft by hand, I can be safe in the knowledge that the mere act of transference to Scrivener will be a leg-up with the 2nd draft.
I’ve also started attending the Amsterdam UX meetups, which has been a great way to connect with the local UX community. Both talks (last month’s State of UX in NL and yesterday’s leadership session) were inspiring, and a great way to get out and talk shop with like-minded folk.
With the weather marginally improving (slightly longer days, with more welcome sunshine), getting out to the Amsterdam UX meetups gives me a good excuse to snap pics of this beautiful city like the one above.
Until next time (hopefully not only next month), it’s “all for now.”
What a chaotic but exciting few months it’s been. We lifted our entire lives and landed at the northern corner of Europe, in a small town near Amsterdam. It’s been tumultuous, learning how to self-checkout at the grocery store, ride a bike again (and survive multiple falls), and walk on the right-side of the street. But nothing short of adventurous (if a little freezing – Dutch winter is no joke).
Now that the dust of moving has somewhat started to settle, and the promise of a fresh, brand-new year unfolds before us, I’m excited by a multitude of projects and things-to-finally-do now that the big life things have quietened down (for now):
Return of the Mac
After twelve glorious years with the good old 2012 MacBook Pro, and a somewhat hiatus from the macOS life, I’m super excited to return. Last Thursday, I fetched my new aluminium companion from Apple Amsterdam, and after hustling back amidst hail and rain, and three modes of transit (tram → train → bus), I booted up my new, silver M4 MacBook Pro. I can’t wait to work on some long-overdue projects with it (as always, watch this space… 😉)
Planespotting
The weather on this side of the world doesn’t seem to relent, and I believe we’re in for more weeks of snow, hail and biting winds. But there are momentary respites, during which I plan to take my Swapfiets out to the Polderbaan at Schiphol for some planespotting. AMS is an av-geek’s veritable Disneyland, and I hope to capture some shots for the ‘gram (if the weather holds up… otherwise, this particular adventure might have to wait until spring).
Quality Kindle Time
Last year, I managed to read 12 books. Granted, there was that part of the year where our lives were preoccupied with moving entire continents, so not much reading could be done. But this year, my goal is to do 14 books.
I find reading the perfect medicine for calming the mind after a busy day. My Kindle has been a trusty companion since I joined the ebook life in August 2023, and since I had to leave my entire library of physical books back home in Durban, it’s become my portable library.
Some of the books I want to get into this year include:
Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson
The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith
Six Days in Bombay by Alka Joshi
Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz
Look out for my thoughts on them here at Life in Pixels.
Projects, and Projects, and Projects…
I wrote over a year ago about finishing my first novel’s first draft. Well, that book’s been marinating in the draft refrigerator since then – and in the meanwhile I started work on what might become a new trilogy. I’m over halfway through the first draft of the first book in that series. I’m writing it entirely with fountain pen (as much a means for creative freedom as it is a chance to get away from screens and return to the basics).
The goal is to get that one into Scrivener and polished (to a point where I can finally tell you all more about it). And then return to the world of Devanagari. With the hype and hysteria around AI, I find myself increasingly compelled to get.it.done and get.it.out.there, because let’s just say, when it comes to this new technofad, I have… thoughts.
Then there’s a few tech projects on the roster, one of them being a massive undertaking: a UX overhaul and complete redesign and rebuild of MyDojo. I’m very excited to get into it, moving to a new codebase based on Flutter and utilising more robust UX practices to really deliver a compelling and valuable experience. The scope is huge, the deadline is mid-year, and so we’ll have to see how that one can be sized to meet SKKSA’s 25th anniversary.
Navigating the chaos
There’s a lot planned for this year. Over the past few months I’ve grown increasingly fond of Notion, and this has become my second brain, helping me keep track of all these projects, ideas and research. I plan to showcase my Notion setup sometime soon.
I say this at the end of every blog, and I’ll say it again, with hope that I do stick to my word this time: I intend to keep more active on Life in Pixels, and I have a few plans for this platform too.
Keep an eye out on my Instagram (where I post more frequently), and subscribe to the blog to keep in touch.
The early explorers used to inscribe the words “Here Be Dragons” at the edge of their maps to mark uncharted territory – to denote the dangerous and the unexplored. It’s both a daunting and tantalising prospect: to venture forth, to see for oneself what lies at the edge of the unknown.
This is where I find myself midway through 2024: on the precipice of an exciting, but also daunting, new chapter. I have left my known world behind, the world of architecture that I was so embedded in for nearly 12 years. I embark on a new career voyage, one to waters partially known, and one where I feel my pursuit of that elusive sense ikigai lies.
In August, I started a new role as a UX designer for a rapidly-growing finance company based in Cape Town. It’s an entirely new world, a new language and environment for me to acclimatise to. But the prospect of the new, of plunging into the unknown, is exhilarating. Parts of this journey aren’t entirely unknown to me: I’ve long held a passion for the tech world, for designing digital user experiences. My work on the MyDojo platform for SKKSA exposed me to the full spectrum of digital product development. And after deep introspection (I don’t embark on such dramatic life changes on a whim, and of course have been carefully planning and studying this career shift for a while now), I realised that this is where my purpose lies: in harnessing my passion for tech, design and problem solving towards crafting a career that can be fulfilling, exciting and one where I can thrive.
Getting there
Once I realised that the UX space is where I wanted to be, I began to bridge the knowledge gaps I needed to make the leap. Fortunately, my architectural background held me in good stead: as architects, we are problem solvers using space to create physical user experiences that are functional and bring a sense of joy and delight into users’ lives. UX Design is essentially being an architect for the digital, rather than physical, world: organising digital structures and crafting experiences for users in the digital world, and reducing the friction for users between their needs and the tools they’re using to achieve those needs.
I took the Google Professional Certificate in UX Design via Coursera, which is a 7-course certification that I felt provided a solid foundation for entering the UX world. It was challenging as I was still working as a professional architect, managing a demanding job during the day, and finding any tiny gap of free time, evenings and weekends to get through the modules and activities. But once you discover your passion and purpose, a new sense of energy is injected, and the deeper I went into the programme, the more I realised that this is the world I wanted to be in. That fuelled my desire to push through those moments of doubt and get me to the finish line.
The Sunk-Cost Fallacy
Shifting careers is a big decision. The hardest thing to get through is not the coursework, but a shift in mindset. It’s about getting through the sunk-cost fallacy, whereby one is reluctant to pursue a major change because of the amount of time or effort invested in their current trajectory. My years in architecture were not wasted, but rather set me up with a solid design-based foundation, and practical experience in a dynamic, professional environment that equipped me with the tools and techniques to solve challenging problems, overcome obstacles and, above all, operate with the user’s needs foremost in mind.
This is perhaps my biggest takeaway from undergoing this major career shift: mindset is paramount. Understanding your “why” is central to charting your journey through the unknown. For me, that “why” was discovering what my professional purpose was, and then designing the journey to get me to that point. It’s unique to each person, and unique to what you’re seeking out of your professional life. For me, purpose, balance and, ultimately, seeking ikigai in my own life, is what drove me towards a career in tech and the field of UX. Solving user problems through design excites me, and being able to play a role in how people navigate their daily challenges – and in reaching millions of users through my work, hopefully bringing some spark of joy through the interactions I craft – energises me.
The journey continues, and I look forward to chronicling bits of it here on the blog, as well as exploring topics around UX, design and tech. I am learning a whole new vocabulary, learning how to engage with different kinds of thinkers, stakeholders and voices, and so dragons still lie at the edge of my own world map.
But as Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote:
“Never let the future disturb you.You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.”
These words have guided me through this journey, and continue to do so.
And as the tagline for this blog remains: haud ignota loquor – I speak not of unknown things. I look forward to chronicling this journey as it unfolds, understanding and exploring the things that remain unknown. There’s lots to unpack, and I look forward to taking you along with me.
Rahul Dowlath 