--- title: "5 Years - 300+ Posts!" description: "Personal update after 5 years of blogging: leaving IKEA, joining Superfriendly, and reflecting on the future of UX work." date: "2019-07-30T00:00:00.000Z" canonical: "https://www.antonsten.com/articles/5-years-300-posts/" --- One of the things I always try to push right away with new or potential clients is that I'm just a one-man company. That means more personal service and better communication. If you call me, I'll be the one answering (please email unless it's super urgent though). So I figured it's time to give some personal updates here too. Lately, I've been thinking a lot about the future of my work. On a general level - what will be the requirements for the [UX designer](https://www.antonsten.com/uxdesigner/) or [UX lead](https://www.antonsten.com/uxlead/) of tomorrow? It seems like it's been ages since we all agreed that voice is the future, but I'm not sure if we're any closer to that future at all? ([The Future of the UX-Designer (2017)](https://www.antonsten.com/future-ux-designer/), [Hey Siri, what's the future of user interfaces (2015)](https://www.antonsten.com/hey-siri-whats-the-future-of-user-interfaces/) and [Voice Input is the Next Big Thing - Or is It? (2018)](https://www.antonsten.com/voiceinput/)) On a personal level, what is the kind of work I want to do? I think any senior designer have thought along these same lines from time to time... "Will I still be doing websites 20 years from now?" "Do I have the motivation for *another* 20 years?" "How do I want to work?" "Do I have other options?" ([Let's assemble like the Avengers and... do work (2019)](https://www.antonsten.com/avengers/)) During the past year, I've been doing somewhat different kind of work for IKEA, leading a team and focusing on aligning people and deliverables rather than designing or focusing on features. I realized that it's not exactly the kind of work I wanted to do, but, in hindsight, I'm really grateful for the experience and the insight it brought. It brings to mind a quote from [Kaleigh Moore](https://www.kaleighmoore.com) from [Mastering Freelance](https://www.antonsten.com/books/masteringfreelance/): > Everyone’s path is going to be different, but I think one of the best ways you can find your purpose is by doing a lot of things you DON’T like. I had a few jobs and internships in college that made me realize what things I absolutely did not want to be doing--so getting those experiences, even while they weren’t fun at the time--were important. > > — [Kaleigh Moore](https://www.kaleighmoore.com) Since then I've begun working with [Superfriendly](http://superfriend.ly). I reached out to my friend [Dan](http://danmall.me) to talk to him about [my idea of a new type of consultancy](https://www.antonsten.com/avengers/). If you want to grow as a designer, as a developer or whatever it's really important to surround yourself with the best people out there. This is easy to dismiss because you don't have the power to change your co-worker's skills. However, you CAN always try and find other, better co-workers. Working with people who are better than you is the easiest way to grow your skills and makes work a whole lot more fun! ([The Life of a Freelancer Shouldn't Be a Lonely One (2016](https://www.antonsten.com/the-life-of-a-freelancer/)) and [Without Struggle, There Isn't Success (2017)](https://www.antonsten.com/without-struggle-isnt-success/)) I'm planning some traveling in August (Biarritz, France), September (Antibes, France), and October (Toronto, Canada) as I haven't really had any time off at all since last summer. I was in Boston for a few days in the beginning of July and traveling is such a great way to find inspiration through reflection. ([Built to last (2016)](https://www.antonsten.com/built-to-last/)) A good sign that it's soon to be fall is that I've begun thinking about doing a minor update on the design of my website. This time, I'm thinking both of features and visual design (and less about technology). ([A Redesign](https://www.antonsten.com/redesign/) (2017) and [I've redesigned my website and it looks exactly the same](https://www.antonsten.com/newdesign/) (2019)) I also want to get back into more long-form writing this fall. I've had a bit of a lack of inspiration lately and, to be honest, it's felt more like something I have to do rather than something I want to do. I have an idea where I would publish one article a day for a month. It sounds like a fun challenge! ([Why Designers Need to Write (2017)](https://www.antonsten.com/designers-write/) The other week I ran a small ad for [User Experiences that Matter](https://antonsten.com/books/user-experiences-matter/) in [Dense Discovery](https://www.densediscovery.com), an excellent newsletter that I think you should subscribe to if you aren't already. It performed really well and I sold more than 10 books in a single day (which is about what I normally sell in a month). Yay! You can still get 20% off using the code 'DENSE'.