Our “Get To Know” series features young professionals in Ohio who have started in or pivoted to UX and adjacent fields in the last five years.
Allison Nowak, Instructional Designer at OUCCAS (Ohio’s University Consortium for Child and Adult Services)
Tell us a little about yourself! What do you enjoy outside of work?
I just moved to the greater Akron area.
Outside of work I sew, listen to multiple podcasts, hike, and take care of my houseplants and three cats. I’m working on training my cats to go hiking with me.
Tell us about your path to becoming an Instructional Designer. How did you end up in this role?
It took a few other jobs and lots of research for me to discover Instructional Design. It’s not a widely known career for people working outside of Learning & Development.
But, as I researched Instructional Design and analyzed my current & potential skillset, I discovered I already had a lot of the skills needed. So, I spent four months of full-time, self-directed study to fill the gap in my knowledge and skills. I took a few classes and consumed all the books/blogs/podcasts my mind could absorb. (Shoutout to Luis Malbas & the TLDC—your content has been indispensable!)
I landed my first ID contract in that 4th month. That job and all work since as an Instructional Designer & eLearning Developer has been so rewarding, and downright fun. I finally feel like I’m able to use my whole brain at work and be valued for it!
What’s your favorite part of your workday or week?
When my Teams is on do not disturb, or it’s after typical business hours, and I know I have 4-6 uninterrupted hours to build something beautiful that will solve a problem.
Do you use anything in your work now that you learned in school or in the past that surprises you, that you thought you’d never use “in real life”?
Growing up with parents who struggled to use computers meant I did things like handwrite a “How to Print” guide for my mother. I was maybe 11 or 12. It was a click-by-click guide with numbers, headings, and icons. I then coached her through the steps along with the guide until she was able to successfully print on her own. She kept that guide by her printer for many years.
Understanding the barriers to a work task, coming up with a solution that will help that person successfully do that work task, and presenting said solution in a way that can be used by that person—that’s a lot of what Instructional Design is. It was natural for me to create solutions like this. It showed up in all my previous jobs—tutoring music, caring for an elderly family friend, teaching English to adults. But it wasn’t until later in life that I made the connection that it was a valuable work skill.
Also, playing with fonts in Word ’95 when I was a kid. Selecting the most ridiculous of fonts—Jokerman ITC, Goudy Stout, Curlz MT—just to see how that would change the document. Obviously, those would be terrible choices for most products today, but I still think a lot about fonts: is it readable by my users in all formats (print, digital, up close & far away); will it display in all software (PPT, Adobe Acrobat, Articulate); and does it convey the correct tone for the product?
If you could give yourself 10 years ago advice from yourself today, what would it be?
“Do what you love” is bad career advice. And practicality isn’t everything. You can and should find a middle ground between following your passion and pursuing a strictly-practical field.
Do you know a stellar UX, UI, Product, or Software Designer or Researcher who has joined the field in the last five years that we should feature? Let us know!
