In August 2019,
I went back to school — starting the two-year Digital Media Creative program at Hyper Island, Stockholm.
Before that, I had been freelancing as a printmaker and graphic designer for 5 years. I was at a point where I felt somewhat stagnant; I still enjoyed doing what I did, but it just didn’t feel enough. I needed to learn something new, to know that I could make my way forward through the self-doubt, laziness, and perfectionism that often managed to creep in.
#the100dayproject
My inspiration came from Tiantian Xu who had completed a couple of 100-Day Projects include 100 Days of Vector Illustration and 100 Days of Motion Design. Something she wrote always resonated with me:
Creativity is a skill — the more you practice it, the more creative you are… In order to be creative, you need to stay inspired.
So, two weeks into Hyper Island, I mentioned the concept of the 100-Day Project in my class of 50 people. I said that I wanted to start my own project and that if anyone else is interested, I could create a Slack channel where we document and share our processes. My idea was to use the sharing and mutual support to inspire and fuel commitment.
100 Days of UX Sketches
Of the 20 or so people that joined the Slack channel, my classmate Claudia and I decided to take on the UX Sketching Challenge designed by Krisztina Szerovay, where one sketches 3 UX-related concepts every day for 100 days.
I was (and still am) interested in UX design but feel that my knowledge in the subject was limited; I also love icon design and graphic conceptualization, so this felt like a perfect challenge for me.
I decided to do this challenge on my morning commute — the tram to school takes 30 minutes every morning; I usually manage to get a seat and it’s quite a smooth ride.
Sep 2, 2019 — Dec 10, 2019…
…that’s how long the project took.
Sketching usually takes 10–15 minutes. There were days that I missed and days when I sketch 2–3 days in a row; the latter are often Mondays after not having sketched over the weekend.
I usually look at the keywords of the day when I’m waiting for the tram; sometimes when it was concepts I didn’t know, I do some Googling. Then I get in the tram, find a seat and put my backpack down; I get my sketchpad, pencil, and eraser and start sketching.
In the beginning, I really hated taking pictures on the crowded train. But as they say, it didn’t get easier, I just got better at it.
One day as I was sketching, I felt the guy sitting next to me intensely staring as what I was doing. My headphones and mild social anxiety made me really try not to take notice. As I completed and took a picture, he tapped me on the shoulder, gave me two thumbs up and a huge smile. It made my day.
My favorite seat was the one right behind the driver, next to the window. The days shortened greatly since I started the process; in December there was barely any sun on my morning commute.
On days when I didn’t go to school I did the sketches at the kitchen table, usually accompanied by Fluff the cat.
Needless to say, there were good days and bad days — there were days when I was so proud of what I’d made, and days when I was too stressed about other things in life that very little of my heart was in what I was doing.
Here are some of my favorite sketches:
So, what’s my takeaway?
1. Why routines matter
What started out making me self-conscious and nervous slowly turned into a Sudoku-like routine that I look forward to.
I realized that how I started the day made a big difference — instead of passively consuming content (usually on Twitter or Medium), I was solving a mini-puzzle where my eyes, brain, and hands actively took part.
When I finished the sketch of the day, sharing it on Instagram and Slack feels like a little reward and a confirmation that I could do what I set out to do.
2. Work through it
Not all sketches were great — far from it, some look generic and sometimes I simply couldn’t find it in me to be creative. However, I’ve learned that the important thing is not to obsess over how outstanding my output is because it’s not always going to be outstanding, but to find it in myself to show up every day and work through the hardships.
3. Find your people
In the Slack channel that I started in August, there are now quite a few 100-Day Projects going on — people are doing everything from Illustrator, animation to entrepreneurship and meditation.
No matter how often or seldom people are updating, I always find myself so inspired and empowered by the drive and ingenuity I see in them. I also find myself feeling a connection with these people — I understand that they are trying to be better and that we have this in common, and it makes me feel more sure about what I’m trying to do.
🙌 Thanks for reading! This is my first Medium article and it means a lot to me that you made it this far.
👩💻 I’m also doing #100DaysOfCode and documenting it on Twitter.
🖼️ See all my UX Sketches on my Instagram, and more of my work on my portfolio site.
