Looking back at 2022
A proper annual retrospective can only begin with cat pictures. You already know Nemchua, meet Banh-mi, adopted this year, a chatty kitty who likes sing sweet meowlodies to us in the morning ❤ Safe to say that everyone has embraced this newest family member.
My tools for this article haven’t changed: I rely on my photo gallery (I take so many random photos of everything; it’s quite useful to remember my highlights of the year) and I’m still backed by Morgane, my super-awesome-not-so-secret-weapon who helps me write, translate and meet the deadlines for all these articles. In short, invaluable help.
Working at MYM
After working as a freelancer in my very fulfilling previous life, I decided to embark on a new adventure: working at MYM as Chief Design Officer. Before that, I didn’t know much about MYM. And after digging around a bit, I was surprised to see what came up. But all my doubts were lifted after meeting the two founders. The project makes sense, the challenges and ambitions are great and the team is truly amazing!
One of the main challenges for me was to build a team that no longer relied on a whole freelance ecosystem, but instead, to leverage talents internally. The aim was to create a cohesive and long-lasting team, able to grow and level-up together. It was important to find the right people, generate momentum and create the magical glue that holds everything together and that I love so much: great flow. The idea is to allow freedom and space for individual expression and to nurture personal growth while working towards the goals set by the company. Hi there 👋 if you come across this 🌈❤️
My magic recipe:
- Create a climate of trust, freedom and communication
- Allow autonomy and proactiveness among team members
- Set aside time to focus on work, exploration, fun and mutual love of food. A saying to remember from Kikk 2022: “People Designing together, People Playing together”
My challenges are to bring the design perspective to the table when looking at strategy, but also to safeguard the design process. More specifically, I launch design projects and methods so that, little by little, teams can take full ownership of these different subjects while I make sure that the various departments work together efficiently. At the end of the day, my role is to arbitrate, keep an eye on production and design and a hand on the operational side of things. There are loads of subjects around Brand, Product and User Research, but I am also learning a lot about Legal, marketing, B2C customer approach, data and how to interpret all that information. It’s really fascinating!
In essence, our role is to create and recreate User Experience design in an effort to become the most innovative platform on the market, to be the bridge between Marketing, Communication, Product and Tech teams in order to create a coherent, relevant and impactful ecosystem to best serve our Users and future Users. In short: a crucial team at the heart of every reflection! That’s not me saying it, but my CMO 👀💙
👹 & 🌈 But most importantly, I am trying to live up to my previous managers, making sure my team is happy, that each and every one of them is able to grow and improve, but also that they are having fun doing what they do.
If you want to know more about the team, you will find further details below (in French) ;)
Want to know even more? Feel free to reach out to me or let’s grab coffee ;)
What about freelancing? It’s never too far away
Freelancing is never over :) First, because it matches with the rhythm that I want for myself and second, because it allows me to follow up on things I started. The idea is to keep meeting people around useful and impactful projects, focused on implementing sustainable and lasting change.
I have significantly lowered time spent on production, and focus more on connecting the right people together and helping out in project strategy, though sometimes, I do work on projects in my spare time. The most important thing is to keep that freelance dynamic and the requirements that come with it:
- Don’t get bogged down in a single subject, always try to go beyond and anticipate unspoken needs for more added value
- Actively monitor relevant trends, test your own practices by sharing them with others and learn from them. Keep up to date on the latest and emerging tools (Hi there Bubble, Airtable, Framer & Spline 👀)
- Give yourself some freedom, through a subtle mix of organisation, self-control and exploration
- Make sure you keep some energy to share, interact and be active in the various communities you belong to (slack/discord/LinkedIn), go to meetups and share with others
This year, I’ve been lucky enough to share several projects with The Product Crew:
- The designer portfolio
- User Test at MYM
- User research at MYM
And I also took the time to write a few articles (that were published on Bootcamp! Thank you Fabricio)
But there’s still room for a few other things ;)
Mentorat Design
Our fantastic duo with Pierre Yvon Carnoy — friend and mentor — still lives on with Mentorat Design! In 2022, we welcomed with open arms three former students. We are looking forward to including them in various upcoming projects. This year, we are collaborating with four companies on very interesting issues:
- Designing, implementing and overseeing maintenance of a design system for a public service agency
- Creating new commercial offers in Legal Design, guiding legal departments in the adoption of a user-centered appraoch and ensuring legal processes are incorporated into a global customer experience. (Have you ever heard of a design sprint specifically applied to Legal design?)
- How to be agile in a company with over 300 employees and leading a pilot project
- Guiding a young start-up on promoting music on various social networks and creating automated campaigns
On top of that, I dedicate a bit of time to teaching, but in a different context than before. On a shorter period of time, I was able to coach three groups in the context of the CFEE. The concept is just awesome: mixed work groups between working professionals and master students around really cool and tangible issues!
Horaisan The thorn in my side, the absolute horror and despair! It’s a big 3D project with my dear friend Yannis, but given the ambitious nature of the project, we needed more time than we actually had. And despite the summer rush, the extra work both of us had forced us to postpone Horaisan. It was way too frustrating and we needed time to really dig in. But, all things considered, a lot has already been done: all the 3D assets (and all the UV mapping T_T), the writing of the poems and the storytelling. So, let’s cross our fingers for 2023, or at least, we’ll definitely reuse all the hard work that has already been done.
JoliDoli, the more I look at it, the more I find it unfinished, nothing feels quite right. I didn’t even have the strength to add text or work on post-production. But I feel it’s time to let it go and release it into the world. I did add a little music to it for fun though :)
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cm688eZuEdz/
Looking back at my 2022 objectives
Learn to cook Armenian food, like seriously. If I’m truly honest with you, I often (if not always) remix recipes, but I did draw inspiration from Armenian dishes to make mezzes, various types of skewers and of course, mantis and bamias!
Improve snowboarding and longboarding skills. (I confess: the longboard did not leave the basement) Some would say yes, but I would tend to say no. But one thing is for sure: I have mastered carving turns :p
Motorcycle road trip. I did little outings here and there with my motorbike, but I wouldn’t go as far to say I did a “roadtrip”. And I’m fine with that. Besides, guess who had the crazy idea of driving through France in snowy weather with his brand-new motorcycle?!
Sort out my clothes. Let go of things that don’t spark joy. Abso-lutely! Quality>quantity, I’m done with having too many clothes.
Do a 3D project on Behance, finish Horaisan and publish the JoliDoli? Why not? For the reasons explained above.
Lessons from 2022
- Great Design = Design Skills + Human Skills
- Nature is good, it is sweet, it is a source of energy
- Switched up my work/life balance to find a healthier balance. More info here: https://bootcamp.uxdesign.cc/freelance-vs-employment-whats-the-difference-ae8b18cde6cd
- Sumac is a spice I discovered thanks to Armenian cuisine (2022 objectives and all that) and when you cook it with rice, your rice turns pink, which is great for adding a bit of colour to your plate and add a nice salty-tart flavour! (Sumac (épice) — Achat, utilisation et bienfaits — L’ile aux épices)
- Don’t always try and make life easy for others. By bending over backwards for others too much, you can end up hurting your own health
- Working with friends can be difficult, but it’s so amazing once you find that smooth flow 👀 💙
New section for this year’s retrospective — what made me laugh in 2022:
The YouTube channels I watch a lot:
https://www.youtube.com/@femkedesign
https://www.youtube.com/@SnowboardProCamp
According to my Spotify Wrapped, I listened to one artist over and over. Favorite artist this year: Orelsan!
The three series I loved to watch:
https://www.netflix.com/title/80014749
2023 objectives
- Explore even more, try new things, deconstruct
- Keep dedicating time to sports and to my well-being
- Continue to grow in the big beautiful world of Design and share with others
- Participate in a local community project
- Read even more
- Travel abroad at least once
Ending on a cute note
- This year, I feel like I did less, focused on quality over quantity, delved deeper into my various projects and learned to take a step back when it comes to work. I also learnt to be more patient and less of a constant drama King ;)
- I also feel like I spent more quality time with the my loved ones — though never enough to my taste. But I did create beautiful memories this year.
- Basically, I’m happy!
