Taylor Clinton

Major: Communication Arts (Radio-TV-Film)

Certificates: Digital Studies & Gender and Women’s Studies

Graduation Date: May 2019

How did you end up working at J.J Keller & Associates, Inc.?

I started out in computer science at UW-Madison but realized that they only had hardware/software paths. I was looking more for web design and front end development. So, I switched to Communication Arts and a certificate in Digital Studies!

During my last few years of college, I did a small UI project for a UW-Madison alum, as well as a social media internship at Gear Learning. After graduation, I did a 6-month front end web development internship at Colony Brands. It was during this time that I realized I was more interested in the design aspect of web/app creation than I was in the development part.

After that internship ended, I was offered a contract position with the company I’m working for today! They hired me as a full time associate after only 6 months, and my 3 year work anniversary is coming up next week!

What does a typical day in the office look like for you?

I work in the transport area of our company, so I work on multiple products designed for transportation companies, their drivers, and their administrators. I work on both web products and mobile apps, and whichever product is highest priority will determine my tasks for that day or week.

A simple day in my work life would be using Figma to update designs for our products, and then giving those design links to development and product leaders.

A more complex day in my work life would be if we are completely redesigning a product, which I’ve been a part of 3 times now. I’ll typically have more collaborative meetings during this time, with both designers and members of the product team. This will include coming up with new features, new user flows, new UI and design systems, and conducting user research and testing. These are the times when I’m the busiest.

A more “in the middle” kind of day in my work life is where I’m doing a combination of both: doing more simple design updates AND helping redesign certain parts of a product (rather than the whole product itself). This is my typical day most of the time!

How has Digital Studies influenced your career path?

Digital Studies helped me realize that there are TONS of different aspects of digital tech/product creation. One of those is UI (user interface) and UX (user experience) design. I thought front end development was my calling, but when I was doing my development internship, I remembered that Digital Studies talked about something called “UI/UX”. I decided to research it more and found exactly what I was looking for in a career! I believe if I hadn’t gotten a Digital Studies certificate and heard the term “UI/UX” during my courses, it would’ve taken me a lot longer to get where I am now!

Do you have any advice for current students?

Don’t just focus on one major/certificate, especially if you came in thinking “this is exactly what I want to do”. There are TONS of different majors and certificates offered at UW-Madison, and a lot of classes can overlap for requirements, so it’s possible to get quite a few certificates in just 4 years. Digital Studies is one that I would argue is one of the most applicable to any major— we live in a digital world and it affects everyone’s jobs/careers at some point.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career thus far?

Even with my background in communication arts and digital studies, I’ve taken it upon myself to dive deeper into UI/UX specifically. I’m almost a completely self-taught UI/UX designer, and I was able to secure a contract job and get hired full-time very quickly. I really proved myself in those first 6 months, and I continue to do so every day. I’m always learning and reading up on UI/UX topics, as well as continuing to hone my design skills.