Hey There! Welcome

Thanks for coming to my blog. This is where I have started my journey to become a UX designer.

Here I have 3 different sections:
• Podcast Review

• Design Challenge

• Product Critique

I’m in the process of creating a personal portfolio and needed some help understanding the fundamentals of UX design – since I have no formal training and my pockets are a little light right now! So I figured the best way to do it myself.

My name is Dawn Binder, I am a 2017 graduate of the University of Arizona. I have a Bachelors in Systems Engineering with a minor in Electrical and Computer Engineering and a focus in Product Management.

How I got in Engineering.

I grew up in Tucson and never really thought about any other college but the University of Arizona. I knew that I wanted my major to have something to do with technology, science, math, etc – I figured I would be decent at it since I was in high school. My mom was actually the one that had told me to try out engineering – at first, I didn’t think it was for me (I had the, very wrong, stereotypical picture in my head – nerdy, never sees the sun, behind a screen all day, no social skills type of career in my head).

I attended the U of A’s Engineering camp, by the end of it, I loved it. I applied, I was accepted, and I was confused. I was sure I wanted to be an engineer… what type? I had no idea. Good news, the U of A anticipated that, for most, if not all of their incoming engineering freshman. They had a class, ENGR 101 – a lecture and lab series, which had an individual lecture that detailed each one of their 13 (yes, THIRTEEN – no wonder I was confused) types of engineering majors. I eagerly listened to all of the options I had, in the span of 4 months, I had decided I would wanted to be a Chemical Engineer, a Mining Engineer, a Biomedical Engineer and an Electrical and Computer Engineer – they all seemed so fun with a clear definition of what they were, what they contributed, the projected growth and how they were essential to the world.

How I got into Systems Engineering

Selecting a major wasn’t an easy task – it meant that the rest of my life, I was going to be that type of engineer (silly me, I know). As I stated before, I would change my mind almost weekly for the first part of my first semester learning about all of the different type of engineering. That was until I sat in on the Systems Engineering lecture series. I automatically knew, for sure this time, that I wanted to be a Systems Engineer. I found it to be the perfect combination of all the areas that I could see myself in as a professional. Systems Engineering stood at the intersection of technology, design, and business. I was absolutely enthralled by the potential that Systems Engineering offered me in the professional world. It was exactly what I wanted to do.

  • Understanding entire ecosystems and how everything plays a role in the functionality, usability, and
  • Elicit all requirements through user interviews while prioritizing and modifying to create a clear scope with appropriate deliverables for different stages of execution
  • Ensuring all features aligned with the business needs as well as optimizing them for users
  • Modeling and analyzing how internal and external factors can greatly impact the system as a whole and planning for each occurrence
  • Creating scoring functions and detailed comparisons for scenarios to give insight to the best solutions
  • Cultivating relationships between the business and the project to ensure maximum support, alignment and progress
  • Creating a rapports with developers to establish trust and open communication when looking at opportunities, limitations and creation
  • Create enticing, thorough and clear snapshots of all research to persuade and inform upper management of data findings, iterations of solutions, and recommendations

It was perfect for me.

What do I do now?

As I went through school, I had a lot of internships (co-ops and summer).

  • Integration & Verification Intern at Raytheon Missile Systems
  • Operations Intern at Metropia, Inc.
  • Product Development Engineer Intern at The Walt Disney Studios
  • Project Manager Prototype III/ReTA at the U of A Solar Technology Lab
  • Electrical Subsystems Co-Op at Raytheon Missile Systems

Throughout these different roles I gained an enormous amount of experience (if you’re actually interested in what I did at each of these internships – please follow me on LinkedIn or check out my website). They all had different metrics, goals, cultures, and processes. One of the most important lessons I learned as a whole was, I gained insight as to what I liked and didn’t like.

As I approached the overwhelming graduation date, I got an offer I couldn’t pass up, at a company I very much enjoyed…

I got an offer to be apart of the coveted Technology Rotational Program (Associate Development Program – only the highest performing recommended past interns at the Disney qualify; one is selected to be the Technology ADP, one for Finance, one for Marketing, and one for Theatrical). I was ecstatic because I would be joining the Technology Innovation Group.

TIG has been one of the best teams I’ve ever been on.  I have gotten to work on countless projects that span across the entire production life of a movie – that’s pretty hard to do in your first few months of working. I have played roles as innovator, researcher, product owner, project manager, and product manager. I love the environment. All through we are in a huge company, our team is like a small start up within. We work hard together, collaborate daily, and bring together other facets of the business – it feels good to be on this team.

I would want to say I’m lucky – but I worked hard to get here, so I’m really just thankful for an opportunity like this.

Thanks for reading!