Hello, folks! I’m Simon, a UX designer working in Tokyo. I like sharing, dedicated to bringing value to people. I’m passionate on many fields, if you want to chat with me or share any opportunity, feel free to drop me a line: linsimon.design@gmail.com, or find me on my Facebook & Dribbble, Looking forward to seeing you soon!
Alright, let’s get into the topic. I’d like to talk about side-project today.
Do you have a similar feeling like me?
You got into a company after graduated from the school, working on the routine works from your manager, sometimes you’re not really enjoying your job because you just try to get things done and meet your boss & clients expectations.
Working as a machine, focused on the performance, sometimes working late, watching a movie in your spare time, traveling abroad when you finally get the paid holiday. Then several years later, your life has nothing changed.
This is the reality, this is how real life looks like. We can’t expect our life as romantic as the movie. It needs to be struggling to make your life turns into what you want. If you’re unsatisfied with your circumstance, you need to take some action.
Here is my suggestion: start to run your side-project.
What is side-project? What side-project can help?
In short words, side-project is the project you’re working on but spend your spare time, which means you are own this project also have 100% responsibility for that. But even though you have to pay extra time to do that, it’s still hard to get any benefit when you just stared.
You might think: “Are you crazy? I’m already busy with my full-time job, and then you told me I have to distribute some of my time to the side-project?”
Yeah, I absolutely agree with you.
Doing a side-project makes you feel exhausted, and you must be passionate to drive yourself keep moving on, otherwise you’ll give up very soon.
But what I’m trying to say is, after I ran the 3 projects in the past year, I deeply feel the growth and the value I created actually beyond the most difficult part that I experienced.
Since mid-2016, I started my first project and I’ve done the 3 project so far, the following are the project what I did:
- Hahow — Online Course (Foundation of Sketch), Lecturer.
2. KAPI — iOS/Android App, Co-founder & Product designer.
3. AAPD — As a product designer — A design publication, founder & Team lead.
By running these side-projects, I literally learned a lot. It’s not only about the skill improving but also the mental growth. The most important thing is, all break surpass specialized field.
Alright, now I’m going to share with you some points that I thought the value that side-project could bring to you.
№1. Bring your idea to the real life, try to solve a real problem.
Be a problem solver.
I think this is the most important thing to me. In general, most of my ideas for the side-projects are aim to fulfill the needs or resolve the pain points of my life.
For example, I made an online course because there was a lack of Chinese material for learning UI design, why not to do it my self? It might help people who want to learn UI design. Another instance, I built an app for seeking the nearby Cafe which is just for solve my pain point when I’m looking for a cafe where is suitable for working in Taipei. For me, all of the ideas have to aim for a problem need to be solved.
When you feel really painful about that, you’re going to find some way to mitigate it.
Hence, if you have a lot of ideas in your pocket, try to find one which can solve the most painful problem. Whatever the form or product, try to follow your idea and just DO it. The idea will hit the ground once you start to move.
Once you have done a project, you’re not only achieve your idea, but also solve a problem in the real world. Don’t you think this is so meaningful?
№𝟮. Rethink the value and meaning of being a designer.
So what is the design? Is that an approach to create beautiful things? Or it is a way to solve the problem? I think no one can really answer this question, and it seems that there is doesn’t exist a standard answers.
But the only thing I’m pretty sure is that our lives will be quite different because of the “design”. The value of the designer’s is to by utilizing “design” to whether deliver the right message or simplify the complex problem. We’d like to make people’s life better, this is a purpose of designer and what we need to bring to the world.
Going back to the side-project topic, when you are trying to solve a problem, your thinking model will not only be restricted to the appearance of your design, instead you will be more concerned about how people perceive your design, and how your design actually helps them. I think this is the core value and meaning of being a designer.
№𝟯. To learn how to design from scratch
Given that side project doesn’t have too much resources, you will be mainly in charge of entire project and build your own process. Moreover, there is no managers or seniors to lead you like what you work at the company. You have to learn how to discover the problems and try to hash it out by yourself most of time.
Running a side project is a great process to help you grow up rapidly. Try to recall that when you were working in a company, there normally have various roles to break down the works to the small pieces. When you get the task, it really hard to see the full picture and you’ll have some constraints based on different stakeholder’s point of view.
The advantage of side-project is that side-project allows you to think deeper about the reasons behind decision making, and your design solutions will be gradually evolved from the visual level to a problem-solving driven design.
№𝟰. Like running a business, you have to drive yourself all the time.
As I mentioned, side-project is resemble to business extreme sports and work as an entrepreneur. You need to force yourself to move forward with limited resources and time.
And the scope of your responsibilities are more likely than just design, you will need to think about the strategy, content creation, marketing, and even project management.
You need to understand an extensive knowledge that you maybe think designers should not need to know, and spend a lot of time on “non-design” matters.
But trust me, if you have a strong motivation to implement your ideas, you will finally get a way to overcome these difficulties. If you don’t have a team, just get someone who interests in you idea, If you don’t have resources, you just someone willing to sponsor you.
When you established your own project, you will definitely gain a lot.
№𝟱. Personal project will be your best resume and portfolio.
I knew that many of new grads or those who want to switch their career to UI/UX field are worried about one thing: I don’t have a convinced or self-satisfied portfolio to land on a job.
There is such a problem because there are some “restrictions” of the homework or company’s projects, such as time constraints, resource constraints, pressure from your managers and so on. You may not be able to do whatever you really like in your own, and showcase your design philosophy.
However, there is a huge advantage when you’re doing side-project. No timeline limitation, no direction limitation, you can experiment nearly everything as much as you want, no one will impose their idea on your stuff.
The only thing you need is to be patience, passion, and awareness of problem-solving.
Based on my personal experiences, side-project is fairly a good portfolio for your job hunting, and I got relatively positive feedback from the companies I ‘ve interviewed. Given that you make this project from scratch, you will have a better understanding of the big picture and context, and you will able to express the project better than others.
Besides, running a side project can tell that you are a passionate designer with a proactive personality, it’s can be a big plus for the interview.
№𝟲. Connect a potential opportunities and network
Another great benefit of doing Side-project is that you can create many opportunities to connect with people. When you finished a work you’re proud of, you will try to publicize it and propagate to more audiences.
By this approach, you can make others know you better, and there are many potential opportunities might reach out to you.
In my past experiences, by running my online courses and hosting the design content platform, I got to know & met many excellent designers in the industry. And those people will help me connect to more and more people.
I even got a chance to be a speaker in the design event, freelance work request, which was unexpected when I was doing side-project. So I think side-project is not just a skill development, also brought a lot of the extra value to me.
№𝟳. Regardless of success or failure, the whole process will be the unforgettable experience.
There is no guaranteed for a successful business in the world. You may end up in half-way because of many factors, honest to say that the failure probability of side project is pretty high.
But think about it from other perspectives, how can we define a failure? Even though your project is failed, there have nothing to lose; inversely you learned a lot.
I believe that focusing on creating value and solving problems will be more important than the final result.
Most people must have heard a famous saying: “Failure is the mother of success”, and my experience has always told me that failure will give you more learning more than when it succeeds.
Because you will always remember what make you fail, you paid great efforts yet you still didn’t get there, these experiences will be the most profound, and will keep motivating you to go forward.
Don’t you go for it?
I genuinely encourage everyone to run a side project if your time allows. Even though the process could be tough but you’ll benefit from that. Also, you will be able to clarify your ability and find out what you love.
Lastly, if you really want to change something or make stuff on your own, go for it! Looking forward to seeing your project!
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Hello, folks! I’m Simon, a UX designer working in Tokyo. I like sharing, dedicated to bringing value to people. I’m passionate on many fields, if you want to chat with me or share any opportunity, feel free to drop me a line: linsimon.design@gmail.com, or find me on my Facebook & Dribbble, Looking forward to seeing you soon!
