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If UX Designers had a Spotify Wrapped 2024…
Here’s my “year in the life” as a UX designer
Ah, the holiday season. A time to sip hot cocoa, watch cheesy holiday movies, and reflect on the absolute circus that was 2024.
As a UX designer, I’ve navigated design sprints, stakeholder battles, and the occasional existential crisis—all while trying to figure out if reformer Pilates is a form of exercise or medieval torture (spoiler: it’s both).
Let’s dive into the highlights, lowlights, and downright ridiculous moments of the year. Here’s my “30 Things That Made 2024… Interesting.”
The dumb things I did…
- Said “Let’s circle back” without knowing what I wanted to circle back to.
- Tried to fix a website bug at 2AM and ended up crashing the whole thing.
- Replied-all to a company-wide email: Cue the flood of unsubscribe jokes.
- Scheduled a meeting at 5PM on a Friday: I became the villain of my own story.
- Accidentally deleted a Figma file: My team still brings it up in therapy sessions.
- Created a survey with no open-ended questions: Feedback was as dry as toast.
- Used Comic Sans in a presentation as a “joke”: The stakeholders were not amused.
- Made an “urgent” Slack channel that no one used: Turns out, not everything is urgent.
- Introduced an AI tool that no one asked for: Cue mass confusion and passive-aggressive feedback.
- Overpromised on a delivery timeline: Thought I could do it all until reality hit (and the team reminded me of time zones).
The wins: 10 moments of “Hey, I’m Doing Okay”
- Tried reformer Pilates: Didn’t die. Barely.
- Ran 5k without dying: Depression, meet endorphins.
- Got featured in Jakob Nielsen’s content share: Geeked out for days.
- Launched 51 brand campaigns: Some flopped, some soared. That’s life.
- Kept a team of 4 amazing people alive and thriving: The true MVPs of 2024.
- Grew my social following by 33,000+: Proof that consistency (and memes) work.
- Helped onboard 389 new customers: And 41% of them got discounts through pricing parity.
- Hit 9 million impressions on LinkedIn: Turns out, people like it when you’re honest about your failures.
- Survived a stakeholder pushback with grace: Held it together—barely—but hey, that’s progress.
- Hosted live events for 32,000 people: Turned a “meh” idea into a surprisingly engaging series—without resorting to bribes or bad jokes (maybe a few).
The global chaos: 10 things we all shook our heads at (they’re not all bad)
- Threads vs. X rivalry: The social media equivalent of Pepsi vs. Coke, and yet… it’s still unclear who’s winning.
- Climate change’s “mild inconvenience” phase ended. Hello, global heatwaves. 2024 had us sweating a lot more than we should be.
- Reformer Pilates became TikTok’s obsession: Trust me, it’s harder than it looks. Every influencer now thinks they’re a Pilates pro.
- Remote work debates raged on: Office? Home? Coffee shop? Nobody knows anymore, but everyone’s pretending to have strong opinions.
- AI took over literally everything: From design tools to writing emails—we’re living in the future. Can’t escape it, but at least it’s smarter than us now.
- Gen Z took over meme culture: Move over, millennials—Gen Z has redefined what it means to be internet famous, and we’re just trying to keep up.
- Wegovy got FDA approval for heart disease: Weight-loss drugs aren’t just for shedding pounds anymore—now they’re saving hearts too. The future of medicine is wild.
- Cybersecurity reached a crisis point: With high-profile attacks on both public and private sectors, we all realized that even our digital security can’t be taken for granted anymore.
- China’s lunar probe brought back Moon samples: In case we didn’t have enough to think about, now there are samples from the far side of the Moon on Earth. Space race, anyone?
- The tech layoff surge hit hard: The industry faced a major reset, as post-pandemic corrections, inflation, and automation led to waves of layoffs across sectors. A tough time for many, but necessary for the future?
UX Playbook 2024 in Numbers
In case you missed it.
Wrapping up your year: 5 questions to ask yourself
Before you pop the champagne, take a moment to reflect on your year. Here are five questions that might just spark some actual insights:
1. What did I achieve this year that I’m truly proud of?
Don’t just think about big wins. Small wins matter too (like surviving reformer Pilates).
2. What lessons did I learn from my biggest mistakes?
If you’re not learning, you’re just repeating history with more flair.
3. Who had the biggest impact on my life this year?
Reach out and thank them. It’ll mean more than you think.
4. What’s one thing I’d do differently if I could restart the year?
Don’t dwell—just apply it to 2025.
5. How can I make next year more fulfilling?
Think less about resolutions and more about intentions.
And that’s a wrap, folks! Here’s to learning from our mistakes, celebrating our wins (big and small), and surviving whatever global chaos 2025 throws our way.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a date with a stiff drink and some sipping by the beach.
Cheers to you, UX fam!
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That's it for today. Speak soon 💛
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