D.I.Y. (sort of)

So much can be found online...for free

Once upon a time before there were many (or sometimes any) classes, many folks were experimenting with interactive design. Much like the early graphic designers who forged a path for others to follow, these brave men and women were retooling careers as the internet took off because the web was so promising.

Myself? I made my entry after switching first from typography and then to marketing. The latter providing the annoying, yet opportunistic, encounter with a rougue web designer who frustrated me just enough to inspire endless hours of self teaching HTML (with help online, of course, from the likes of Web Monkey, A List Apart, W3c, and many others). Luckily for me, my employer at the time was just as frustrated with our designer and very patient with me while I hacked away.

The only tool available to me at the time was Notepad on the PC, which ended up being the best thing really. It forced me to learn to code in pure HTML. An even better constraint was that said employer preferred to review a live working site to a clickable wireframe or photoshop layout. Although I would never choose to work this way now, this circumstance of forcing me to code draft after draft site turned into great practice. Thankfully, I was eventually on my way to working as a full-time web-designer.

To be honest, my first sites were not very visually stunning, but they were a school of sorts. An experience I now realize was invaluable. In fact, I would challenge any person who wants to take the plunge into interactive to just start learning with by trudging through a project - albiet keeping in mind that there are very established processes for web strategy, design, and development.

If you are serious about interactive, you will soon realize that ongoing learning is both the challenge and the excitement of the UX field.

Now is actually a perfect time to jump in: web standards are highly recognized and encouraged, css has become accepted by lots more browsers, and exciting innovations are underway with design approaches.

Hopefully, you will start out with some real design skills, unlike me. This was a huge handicap that eventually nudged me into an arduous return to school for my BFA in graphic and interactive design (with honors, thank you) from Tyler School of Art/Temple University. Knowing how to use typography and layout will definitely give you the edge with interactive design. So even if you skirt around it in the beginning, don't underestimate the value of good design.

Whatever the future throws at us, reading tutorials online are certainly very helpful (and much appreciated). However, putting what you learn into practice is what helps you turn all of this stuff into a something where you can actually measure ROI. That is, a professional skillset. mt