Travel

I can't turn off the design brain when I travel, and honestly I've stopped trying. A new city is basically a free UX research trip — how do people actually move through this train station, why does this crosswalk feel confusing, why does this signage system work so much better than the one back home.

I end up photographing a lot of wayfinding signs and public transit maps, which probably looks strange but has genuinely made me a better designer. Seeing how other places solve the same problems — getting a stranger from A to B without confusion — is one of the best crash courses there is.

Between the observing, there's also just the wandering — no itinerary, no destination, just following a street because it looked interesting. Some of my best notes come from those aimless afternoons.