Some words to start with

This case study was inspired by an illness that gave me time to reflect. I don’t want to use the usual buzzwords about UX methods, design thinking, or agile processes. Instead, I’ll talk about what worked, what didn’t, and what I learned.

It started during my studies when I created an interactive documentary about my village with interface on a cow shape (it was funny how you could click on her patches). Later, I joined an online hackathon, which led me to vnLab and a growing interest in visual storytelling. I recalled memories of Mikołajów (place near to my home countryside), a village that no longer exists due to resettlement. I wanted to understand what happened to the people who lived there.

With friends, I formed the Tarta collective and started this project about mining and displacement. Initially, things went well, but managing the project while working full-time was overwhelming. I tried to juggle everything—writing the script, managing tasks, handling budgets, negotiating with authorities—only to realize later that it was too much. The project was completed, but I wasn’t fully satisfied. It wasn’t clear, and it wasn’t accessible on mobile devices.

My observation

I worked too fast, let details slide, and focused too much on information architecture over storytelling. I wasted time assigning tasks instead of doing my own work. I also didn’t listen enough to others' ideas and wasn’t confident in my decisions.

but thanks to all these things I learned...