We recently connected with Dara Thomas and have shared our conversation below.

Dara, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

At the start of the pandemic I was laid off from a job I’d hated but needed at the time. I had already been thinking of how to pivot into tech, and exploring the various careers that a tech move could offer. My wife suggested UX design, which I had never heard of. After doing some research, I realized that It was the perfect mix of creativity and strategic thinking, and I became hooked. When my layoff happened, I took a leap of faith and joined the General Assembly UX Immersive bootcamp. Fast Forward 4 years, and I’m now a Sr. UX Designer with a large nonprofit.

But I’m also someone with a variety of interests… and so I’m about to take yet another leap of faith now, as I pivot from UX into cybersecurity. At first glance it might seem as though the two roles have nothing in common. But the thing is, design thinking can be applied to almost anything, because it’s a creative approach to solving real-world problems. Because I see design in all things, my goal now is to bring my design thinking and UX methodology as transferrable skills as I dive into designing and building secure systems. And so it’s just another way for me to express my creativity.

Work aside, I’m also a paper artist, creating large scale portraits with confetti and medical scalpel paper cutouts. I also play bass guitar. My wife Angela (who you also interviewed) is a dope illustrator and UX designer as well, and we’re currently working on launching our joint creative studio. It’s dope being married to someone who also views creative expression as essential to her wellbeing.

This phase of my life has been all about taking leaps of faith and building my parachute on the way down. It can be scary at times but the reward lies in being able to curate my life doing the things that make me happiest, and being able to earn a comfortable living doing so.

My UX portfolio can be found at https://www.daradoesdesign.com , and my artwork can be found on my Instagram page, @daranjeripaperalchemist

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I got into my line of work when I was exploring different careers in tech and my wife suggested I look into UX design. I quickly became fascinated by the idea of taking an end user’s problem and challenging myself to design a digital product that fixes their issue. I design wireframes and clickable high fidelity prototypes for mobile apps, web apps, websites, and point of sale units for a variety of industries.

I’m passionate about accessibility and so I make sure to bake that into the products I design, to ensure that as many people as possible can enjoy and use them, regardless of any visual or mobility challenges that they might face.

In the 4 years since I pivoted into UX, I’ve had the fortune of designing digital products for clients such as Starbucks, Lexus, Toyota, Takeda Pharmaceutical, Optum Health Care, and many others.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I wish that I had understood that it wasn’t necessary for me to join an expensive bootcamp in order to gain my UX design skills. There are so many free and inexpensive resources – YouTube and Udemy, especially where I could have learned the basics and built my portfolio around. The thing is – you have to have the discipline if you’re going to go the self-taught route. What my bootcamp experience was good for, was providing me with a structured pathway to follow.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Being able to envision something my mind, and taking that vision and translating it onto the screen or a canvass. Being able to make things with my own two hands is incredibly fulfilling.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.daradoesdesign.com
• Instagram: @daranjeripaperalchemist
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darafthomas/

Image Credits
All images by Dara F. Thomas