Hello, I’m Octavia. Tiny Things, Big Projects
My favorite hobby right now is building miniatures, and it has officially gotten out of hand in the best way. I'm working on three 1:12 scale dollhouses at the same time. The first one I started is a Westville Greenleaf, and I've fallen hard for it. Everything in these houses is a tiny version of something real, so I get to be the architect, the carpenter, and the interior designer all at once.
I'll be honest, my laser cutter and my 3D printer are two of my favorite things I own. The laser cutter lets me cut pieces with exact measurements, which matters when a whole fridge or oven has to fit in the palm of your hand. The resin 3D printer handles the details that are too small to cut, like stove burners and oven racks. I love that I can design a tiny part, hit start, and watch it turn into a real object.
The kitchen is where I've gone all in. I'm making a miniature fridge and oven, and my miniature bed is done, painted in chalk paint. I'm working on the mattress now. It's very satisfying to watch something go from a flat sheet of material to a piece of furniture.
My UX/UI background shows up here more than I expected. In my bootcamp I built prototypes in Figma, and I do the same thing with my builds. I test a cardboard version first, because I can't tell what's wrong with a design until I'm holding it. With three houses going, that habit saves me a lot of wasted material.
Crafting
When I'm not building tiny furniture, I'm crocheting or sewing. I make purses and skirts, and I love picking out fabric almost as much as I love sewing with it.
The Rest of Me
I love reading fantasy, romance, and sci-fi. My to-read pile is growing faster than I can read it. LOL.
My favorite games of all time are (in no particular order):
Dragon Age Trilogy
Mass Effect Quartet
Horizon Zero Dawn Duology
Subnautica Duology
A Little More About Me
I first heard about UX design from a friend who had just started a UX bootcamp. She told me all about the field and how excited she was about design. I went home and started researching, and I discovered the world of UX/UI design. I looked into CareerFoundry right away and enrolled the following week. It’s been a long journey, but I have loved every minute of it.
When I started, I thought UX/UI design meant putting boxes on boxes to make a website that worked without any pain points. Now that I’ve finished my bootcamp, I see it very differently. UX/UI design is a field where designers work with many people to build products that make life easier and less stressful for both companies and users. We take a user-centered approach, which means bringing users into the process early. Then we keep improving the design through prototyping and usability testing. In my bootcamp, I built interactive prototypes in Figma, and I learned that the best way to find a problem is to put something in front of a real person and watch what they do.
My background helps too. I have an Associate’s degree in Information Technology and I’m working toward my Bachelor’s in Computer Science. My work in risk and compliance has taught me to be careful with data and details. Even my miniature dollhouse hobby follows the same process. I test a cardboard version before I cut the real thing.
So why UX/UI design? Because it’s the career I was meant to do. It lets me imagine, create, and organize, while making products that help the company and make life easier or happier for the people using them. My goal is to grow into a UX Engineer or Analyst role, where I can combine design with the technical side.