writing a lot, lately.
About
My work takes place on the intersection of design, technology, people and data. Beyond my day job, I happily run my own design-focused newsletter called working title on substack. I consider writing as a core foundation to everything I do.
nikkiespartinez.substack.com
nikkiespartinez.com
nikkiespartinez@gmail.com
Writing
I am currently exploring an idea that may or may not turn into a book. Instead of giving you a synopsis, I'd rather tell you the questions I'm deeply thinking about:
- How do you build a rich and meaningful career as an immigrant?
- What are the things one has to learn (and unlearn) in order to break generational and cyclical patterns when it comes to personal ambitions?
- What are the barriers to achieving those lofty goals?
- What does the future of work look like for young and ambitious people looking to move abroad? Particularly for Filipinos (or 'OFWs')
- How can we design our careers with existing constraints in mind?
More soon.
Working Title is a design-focused newsletter born in the quarantine-era (Summer 2020). I explore the themes of user experience, design methodologies, business and philosophy for each of the entry. I value breadth, above all. Inconsistent releases. Much like real-life conversations, I’ll make every entry worth your time.
For more general pieces of writing, things that don't fit elsewhere
Speaking
The promised land is the internet. For a lot of OFWs*, we were conditioned to think a certain way since the dawn of time: do well, get a degree (preferably in medicine), and find a way to work abroad. This is a mindset that goes beyond the individual. It's a systemic kind-of thinking that's supremely evident for a lot of Filipinos. My talk is a challenge to this status quo, especially for the next generation who are looking to not just survive but THRIVE abroad.
With technology and the internet, it is possible to carve promising creative and innovative careers and reach a certain level of success at home, and elsewhere. No need to wait for a visa to start working on that.
Digital-native, Tech-focused, Design-literate. This is the future of OFW* work.
- Overseas Filipino Workers
In today's fast-paced world, what is the meaning of UX Design and how is it relevant to the future of our careers? How do you build a portfolio, career and ultimately, a future in tech starting in high school? I explored these insightful questions and more with young and talented Filipinos who are studying design and media. Thank you so much, Jonelle Pinlac-Gupit for the opportunity and to Jen Mandia for these fantastic illustrations.
Gave the same talk at a UXPA-Chicago event.
This is special -- my first talk in North America.
Mapping the Journey of a Design Career
The User Experience field is an infinitely rewarding one that has no shortage of serendipities, fears, risks, wins and losses. My story is one of fear and bravery, bravery and fear, all told from the fresh perspective of a designer who is convinced she is just getting started.
How do you design a career you’ll be proud of? How do you turn constraints into advantages? These are the questions I want to explore as I talk about my own journey into UX from traditional design. From past failures to wake up calls and personal reinventions, I’ll map out this human’s journey so far.
Side Projects
This is a 27+ pages of original writing, divided up to 7 short chapters, about the practice of User Experience Design and building careers around it.
Among the topics I've covered:
- Why choose UX as a career path?
- How to think like a user experience designer
- How to supercharge your craft— and get hired by a startup along the way
- Freelance lessons (in America) that no-one taught me
This is an ongoing side-project developed for a more general audience.
This is a web-based dashboard that allows you to compare a variety of commercially available models of Electric Vehicles (UK/USA) through price, drive/power and battery technology! Proudly built with Figma, Jupyter Notebook, Python and Streamlit.
Work Experience
My responsibilities for my work at Verisk include:
- Pitches and demos complex prototypes for products at the intersection of data, machine learning, and UX
- Leads and facilitates user research for specific applications within ISO Underwriting
- Manages and designs legacy platforms used mainly by Verisk employees
- Creates information architecture alongside manager for said platforms
- Builds user journey maps and refines processes for a variety of products and services through service design
- Generates user research reports and documentation to serve stakeholder needs