{"id":17269,"date":"2019-03-05T10:50:52","date_gmt":"2019-03-05T10:50:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marvel7077.wpengine.com\/?p=17269"},"modified":"2020-11-05T14:51:26","modified_gmt":"2020-11-05T14:51:26","slug":"interview-molly-lafferty-design-director-also","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/interview-molly-lafferty-design-director-also\/","title":{"rendered":"An Interview with Molly Lafferty, Design Director at This Also"},"content":{"rendered":"

What was the moment you knew you wanted to work in design?<\/h2>\n

I had no idea what I wanted to study in college, so I picked something that sounded fun: film. And it was! But I had lots of other interests and also took classes in psychology<\/a>, computer science, theatre design. When I saw a web design course listed it felt like an easy A - like many designers in my age, I had coded Livejournal themes during high school. But in that class, I was exposed to this concept of \u201cinteraction design\u201d and it felt like this magic moment - all these disparate things I was interested in could be combined in this really interesting field.<\/p>\n

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How did you get to where you are now?<\/h2>\n

I took the unusual path of going straight from college to graduate school for design. After I discovered design, I shifted all my focus into that but was there were very few courses and opportunities at my school. So, I went to graduate school for interaction design, and from there I spent time as an interaction designer at a larger digital agency before settling into the smaller studio I work at now.<\/p>\n

Anything you'd do differently?<\/h2>\n

My path worked out perfectly for me. That said, I don\u2019t encourage most people to go directly to graduate school from undergrad. More undergraduate programs these days cover digital design, and there are many more entry-level product design positions than when I graduated college. But graduate school is a great option if you\u2019re switching careers to move into design, or looking to dive more deeply into a certain aspect of design.<\/p>\n

What did your teachers think of you?<\/h2>\n

You\u2019d have to ask them :) I will say I was one of those kids that did well at school because I can embrace rules and structure. I actually struggled a lot once I left the academic environment and had my first real world job because there were no grades and much less structure.<\/p>\n

What was the biggest challenge you've faced so far?<\/h2>\n