Welcome Beautiful Misfits! We are beyond delighted to introduce Jerel Ramsey.
Welcome Beautiful Misfits! We are beyond delighted to introduce Jerel Ramsey.
"... If i dont understand it, its going to take a lot more time for me beacuse I also have ADHD and a lot of people dont understand how that works. So it tends to become more of a weakness but ialso a strenght because its why I have such an attention to detail and why I'm so creative as well".
Learn more about Jerel in this week's Beautiful Misfit Spotlight!
Find Jerel Online here:
Listen to the Full Interview Here:
Tell me a little about yourself.
Hi my name is Jerel Ramsey and I am a UX/UI designer and I also do music, mutliple different genres as I like to fuse them a lot. I actually trained, well my educational training is in graphic design. I went to school in Miami and I live here in Trinidad.
What is your role and how did you get there?
I started off in pyschology here in trinidad and i realised after two years of doing pyschology that its just not for me so i switched majors to graphic design and then my dad lives in Miami and he asked me i wanted to go to school there and I said why not. So i applied to some schools, transferred the credits and started school over there. When I came back i got jobs here. Graphic design is always easy but then when Covid hit and i was working a job like a dead end, I just felt like i wasnt getting much out of it, I started teaching myself UI/UX because I felt like eveything was finally going to go digital in Trinidad .I applied for a job, got it and then got another job IN UI/UX and ive been working there for the last year and a half.
What’s one of your biggest strengths?
I would say my attention to detail would be my professional strength because in design I feel like thats one of the biggest things that you need in terms of any kind of design. whether thats UX/IU, billboard design it really doesn't matter.
What’s one of your biggest weaknesses?
I have a hard time when it comes to not understanding something. If i dont understand it, its going to take a lot more time for me beacuse I also have ADHD and a lot of people dont understand how that works. So it tends to become more of a weakness but ialso a strenght because its why I have such an attention to detail and why I'm so creative as well.
Thank you for disclosing that. What is one professional accomplishment that you're most proud of?
While i was in school i actually designed the school's magazine during my final year. I was also the creatikve direcor in charge of how it was going to be laid out in general as well and we won many awards that year. A lot of them were for design in aprtivular.
Wow! That must have felt absolutely incredible! What is the most meaningful part of your job?
I think when it comes to UI/UX just creating something thats user friendly and easy for people to use. I just feel like when it comes to making sure people experience whatever product you're making, whether it is a website or an app, I just feel like thats the most important thing.
What piece of advice do you wish someone had shared with you earlier in your career?
Just having patience, especially when it comes to working with clients. So i feel like that was something I wish i could tell myself back in the day. I just feel like clients can be a little unreasonable sometimes.
Have you felt like thats across the board of just in Trinidad?
I think its mostly tinidad, bgut maybe someone who'smore o9ut there would say diferenlty. When I had clients from Miami, majprity 9of them were from the Caribbean as well, so its more like the regional. I think having paience to just listen to people and hear them out because its not all the time clients are wrong its just someitmes they may not know exactly ehat they want, but its important to figure it out.
Do you also work freelance as well? What does being authentic in the workplace mean to you?
Just knowing where to stand your ground and where to let people stand their ground as well and know when theyre right or when you're right that brings about a little bit of authenticity there beacuse its very easy for you to just not.
As a creative, how important is it for you working in a structured environment to feel as though your voice is being heard?
I feel like its very important. So obviously working in a workplace there are projects youll like, projects you wont like, just in general. I feel as though when you're really invested in a project, if you believe in the product itself then its cool to do. Having your own voice gives yyou really gives you the freedom to express yurself.
What skill, capability or competency has been the most difficult to develop?
So in UI/UX theres just a lot to do with like copyrighting as well and user experience writing and SEO writing is something that i tend to do sometimes if a client doesnt provide it and I would have to figure it out. Im not the best in enflish on a whole so it tends to be a little difficult for me. I have to sit down and write, think it over, make sure it makes sense but also make sure it sounds like I'm on a website selling things...
Where do you tend to draw inspiration creatively? Where do you tend to draw inspiration from when facing a challenge or a problem at work?
Creatively I would say I like to look at industry best practice just across the board. In graphic design, I come up with a design and look to see if there's anything similar. With UI/UX i look at other sites within the industry and formulate it from there. With music I just listen to a lot of music that relates to the kind of genres that I want to do. Professionally, one good thing about my work is that i do have my boss and another coworker who does UX/UI design to bounce ideas off of. So if I'm being challenged and they have the time, I usually just bounce the ideas off of them, and get input into the design as well.
So then do you prefer to work on a team where you have people readily available or on your own?
So my freelance work is usually with my wife. We actaully have a company together.So we actually work together. If i'm doing purely freelance by msyself, whoever I'm working for will have their input. So i'm always working on a team regardless. I used to like doing it by myself but working on a team actually helps when you have people to bounce ideas off of.
How has a particular leader, colleague, manager or mentor had a positive influence on you and your career?
I would say my wife. I feel like she put a lot of things into perspective for me just when it comes to what I should put up with or what I shouldnt put up with. She comes from a leadership standpoint as well so she will also give me feedback on how working with me will be as well so I know what improvements have to be made.
What would say is your unique superpower at work?
I feel like my ADHD is like a superpower because it comes in handy when i need it to. So design wise, it you gave me something to do where you need two versions of that, I can come up with two completely different versions. At first this confused me but now I understand that clients want to see completly different versions. Now i can do this off the top of my head and know exactly what I want to do from the start.
How do you find balance?
Another thing i've gathered through discsusion with my wife, especially beacuse i've worked with some people who just didnt understand boundaries, is setting healthy boundaries. It's what gives me that balance. Knowing when to shut off from work and as a designer it can be pretty hard, even as a musician it can be hard to do sometimes, especially if you get excited about something. I know when i get home its time to take off work and just focus on relaxing. In the past its been a work, I feel like now because of the job i have, we have more boundaries in the work place, you're not working afrter horus or trying to do stuff. It's really up to you and your personal choice and i feel like that helps me a lot.
What does success mean to you?
So I have a d=few different answers for this.I feel like overall success is just to be comfortable and not have to worry about anything across the board. Professionally, I genuinely would love to work for one brand, whether its like apple or cashapp or even netflix and just work on one brand, continuously throughout the year.
Finally, what career advice would you offer our beautiful misfits?
I feel like just beliveing in what you want to do, truly having it as your heart led purpose, thats very important. That would help anyone who's trying to get into any field do anything professionally one you belive in it, you can make anything happen.
What exactly would you say is a heart led purpose?
So one of the pillars of the work my wife and I do, we work with heart led brands. Brands whos work are literally their purpose in life, whether its an NGO or a small business, or a sustainable business, just having it be something you could truly believe in and not just something to make money.
