Hi Merina, glad that you’ve reached out! From what you’ve said above, it sounds like UX is a good match for you. You’ll also find parts of the HCID course very familiar (hopefully in a good way) — a couple of the modules are quite creative and your visual design skills will come in handy.

If it helps, I also wanted to be an architect since I was 14 years old, and have worked in it for over a decade before deciding to move away from it! And I also miss some of it, but for me it has been well worth leaving it behind. UX is a good mixture of design and analytical/data-driven approaches. I’d say honestly that there is less creativity in it than in architecture, but that is a good thing — decisions are not made based on “gut feel” but on data, and established patterns are followed for a good reason.

I’m also finding that UX is actually not a direct equivalent of architecture in tech; but instead, it’s UX + product management (will write more on that at some point). For one, I’m relieved not to have to do two jobs and to share decision making with a product manager.

If you miss the physicality of architecture, you could try to aim more for product design than digital design, the course is a good foundation for that.

Anything more specific that you want to know? Feel free to add me on LinkedIn and we can talk more. I’ve been approached by a few other beginner HCID students at City and have even met some in person.