Danielle Franco

Background

About Danielle Franco

I don’t just make things look pretty, I delight users with their usefulness. I always thought my dream was to be an editorial designer, working for some of the fashion industry’s most iconic publications. Think Vogue, Cosmopolitan, FASHION Magazine and Elle Canada. It would be like living out Andy’s life in ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ without the getting scorched by your unpleasant boss part. It seemed like an appropriate dream given my BA in Design and love for fashion, which more than likely rubbed off from my mother. Naturally, I gravitated toward an internship at Weddingbells Magazine while in University, and thought I’d be set post-grad to start my career in the industry. Well, I was wrong. Little did I know that landing a Junior Design position would be so hard. No one ever tells you that you require a minimum of 3 years working experience to land your first job. It’s like a double-edged sword; you can’t get experience without a start, but you can’t get a start without experience. So I took whatever I could get in the first 2 years upon graduating, which led me to a digital internship opportunity at Konrad Group. And that’s when it happened; my journey into UI/UX started and I never (really) looked back. I’ve come a long way from the girl who used to dread Interactivity class and cry every time she had to code her own designs. Thank goodness it actually doesn’t work that way, and you can leave the developing part to the developers; no unicorns required. Though UX is a long way from print or editorial design, it has its perks. No late nights at the press reviewing proofs and praying you didn’t overlook a typo that got published to hundreds of copies. Changing and iterating in digital is not only easier, but encouraged as the final product is less finite. It enables me to incorporate both creativity and problem-solving into user-centred solutions. I enjoy helping people and if my work can positively impact a user’s life in some way, than I’ve done my job. In some ways, I consider myself flexible and adaptive like the products I strive to design. I’m a creative at heart and enjoy things that allow me to express myself and my imagination; it’s the Pisces in me.