That is the final prototype AKA Purified Prototype -- try it -- Mobile (first!) + Desktop The Unveiling (⊙ _ ⊙ ) Crafting User Centered Design Epics on a Mobile first approach for a Museum website has never felt so spooktacular. Our client is a Heritage House Museum, NY haunted by a bad digital presence.

Spooky tales ヽ(°〇°)ﾉ The user problem we, a team of four Pratt Institute, NY - graduate students are trying to solve is a case of a non responsive (pun intended) website and mobile design offering cognitive overload on the website, poor legibility on mobile, and overall unfitting UX and unsightly UI design and resulting information overkill. I am one of the four Specter squad members who was part of the redesign ritual. ༼ つ ╹ ╹ ༽つ

Ethereal Objectives ⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ IA accessibility / ease of navigation / discoverability

Spectral Research Phase ଘ(੭ˊᵕˋ)੭* ੈ✩‧₊ Phase 1: We took 9 user interviews, transcribed them for insights and quotes to analyze usability and IA issues using Affinity diagrams / Empathy maps to capture Personas. I did 3 user's data analysis and while the links will take you to these reports, you may access the data of the 6 users here; Tools used: Lark Suite - Minutes for transcription, and Miro for AD and I love them!

Phase 2: We did Competitor Analysis of 8 prominent museums in New York to understand their best and not-so-best user practices in mobile friendliness, responsiveness, layout, aesthetics, functionality, navigation, accessibility, and ticketing experiences.

Knowunity is a learn and earn Website and App for school with a problem to solve.

Our UXR identified (soon you'll see why):

Founded in 2019 by former High School students, the online platform that's available in multiple countries, allows students to share their notes, summaries, flashcards and quizzes with one another, to provide a true peer-to-peer perspective to help students understand a wide range of subjects while studying for exams, and working on assignments or homework.

Project Goals 1. How do US students do homework? 2. What is the student’s "happy flow"? Both to understand how well Knowunity supports its users, and where the competition supersedes and how we can help Knowunity uncover the gaps to attract millions of students across the United States.

Our team at Pratt We are a team of four students, studying our Masters in Informatics, all paired in the Usability Fall 2023 class. Namely, Yizhu, Priyanka and Phil and myself (alter-ego).

Process Usability Evaluation + User Research + Interviews with target audience + Testing of the App

For the client kick-off meeting which we did via Zoom, we had our questions based on an agenda outline that was mapped, and we had weekly check-ins with the client that greatly helped us stay on track with the process. Post every kick-off meeting we also did a group meeting on Zoom to discuss ideas, next steps and meeting key-points while they were fresh in our memory, and also took notes. I had my OtterPilot AI assistant to summarize meeting minutes that were emailed to all the participants. Collaboration We did all our work in Figma and used it as our main collaboration and presentation tool. Here, is also where I learnt Figma beyond design use, and for collaborative documentation purposes. We also created a Calendar of availability and tracked team progress and planned next steps after each client meeting.

How we recruited our participants based on a user profile, via the survey, emails and face-to-face circling among people we knew, and suggested. The 8 that best suited the client brief were recruited for the moderated interviews, all under the age of 18 hence we took parental consent to interview them over an online videoconferencing platform for our research and used screen-share to interact with the user on the Ed-Tech Apps, and document our findings.

Digital Website created as an Architect’s look book

Designed for an #architecture firm that (also) works w/interiors + #comprehensive planning as their #design focus is on #ecology I was brought to its conceptualization and relation to the word #kinetic which means to #move. My client believes in the statement “God is in the details”; keeping all such observations in mind, I began my design journey with the letter ‘K’ which is the first initial of the firm’s and the lead architect’s name. 

Ideation journey: When we make an observation of moving or #growing objects and desire to capture the #trails of growth or #motion in a single image or noting, using #photography, what we get is a terrific moving image that’s actually steady. It was challenging to show movement and growth which is the nature of my client’s business, in an identity that achieves #dynamism without using animation. 

Say we take an instance of growth in nature - of how a plant flowers, or a human movement like dance #gestures, and the likes, we require it to be shot in #high speed or what can also be known as #multi #exposure. Such a photo captures each development of the flower, from a bud to maturity, or the body’s movement of the #dancer frame by frame. What this looks on a single shot, is a multi-exposure photo or what looks like an echo effect or motion trail of the same object, while depicting it’s movement and growth. 

We can see this ideation of Kinetic here, aesthetically incorporated, and the motion trail concept, and movement in the actual still imagery and the identity created. Here, the letter K has an animated trail of motion that looks like an #echo being created on a #spiral movement - spirals are also found a lot in #nature + used in architectural concepts. 

While creating this identity I also felt inspired by this quote: “I move, therefore I am.”― #Haruki Murakami; and I referred to typefaces that have been developed to showcase motion, hence to satiate my need to create something original while referring to a great body of work out there on the internet. I use #google a lot + minimally too - mainly so that staying #original in a growing world is necessary to me as a creative and ethically so as a human. Image on the left-side: used as a point of reference only; all copyrights reserved by the creator. 

Product Ideas for a Newspaper Box

Campaign Ideas for a pitch for Caparol paints

While I was running an office in the capacity of a Creative Director in Dubai, I enjoyed working on some concepts for an odourless and chemical free paint brand. This is just WIP and usually the method I use to pitch ideas with visuals and text that support the conceptualisation for a creative brief. 

I saw something similar a year later to this work, that was done in the same region, but of course, two people can think alike they say. I believe it is an established case of multiple discovery :)

Anyway, I really enjoyed the process on this one, as I used the forest metaphor to depict the environment advantage of the product, and health benefits to the end user, no matter if they are in their living, office, kitchen, playroom, and the target audience is really every human that takes their health and their family’s health as a priority. 

Digital Logo and Website for a Film Institute and Fest

Mood-board Bilingual Logo Design

This bilingual identity work was made for a high fashion crystal jewellery house. Conceptually, I thought of associating jewellery in its geometric entirety and kaleidoscope like beauty. I also made a visual reference to the Rorschach test  to depict intelligence or to put it in context of the customer, I would say to showcase an intelligent choice / audience. Another reference is of a self reflection, to denote that this brand and its products are a crystal clear reflection of the wearer and their beauty, so its not the jewellery that adds to the beauty of the wearer but rather the vice versa. Overall, I feel the brand is mystical and I have tried to show that through the design.

Bi-lateral symmetry, used in this logo option, is scientifically proven to be the most pleasing to the eye. The perfect symmetry represents the symmetry that naturally occurs in crystals. 

Branding Logo, Stationery and Packaging Design for a Fusion Beauty Brand Zareen

Campaignable Skincare Cosmetics Brand DermaCare Clinic

Digital Organic Food Website for Burger Boutique

Ambient Infinity Booth

To have individual rugged mirror slabs placed inside the booth to enclose the booth space. Each mirror will have a corresponding mirror to create a optical illusion of a multiplicity effect that visually has no end. These mirrors can be arranged in a way that a person can enter this space and be a part of the optical illusion, where his/her reflection appears in multiple ways all over the booth mirrors to signify unlimited.

Campaignable Advertising for Nikon

F&B Luxury Brand

Remote Work Life

So out of sheer bravery and seated boredom, I realised a few years in to my creative journey that the way forward is remote. Yes, way before the WFH days, were the gig days. I craved me some too. So I moved out of my cozy office life (I really miss that window view of the city from the 21st floor *sigh*), to some creative head opportunity, only to realise that the city traffic needed some serious urban planning, okay on a serious note, I realised that what I was looking for was solopreneurship* (whatta loverly wor(l)d). And I gave it a go, and enjoyed long years of willfully toiling within a variety of roles, and ran a one human show with a dash of networking and worked on my soft skills. 

You may see how it started here: www.otherhalve.tumblr.com (It used to be www.otherhalve.com with a FB and IG presence. You can still find traces of these in my Instagram for good reason)

This is how I found academics and this year I have gone independent (yeah, more than solo, imagine) - details on my LinkedIn

I aim to study and through this prospective goal, that I have been tediously chalking since 2019, I intend to find my nest AKA next. *Fingers crossed*

Digital GMO Free Agribusiness Products Website

Sustainability is a striking concept adapted by the business domain the world over. I worked on five (yes!) concepts for a well known Textile business, that also produces a variety of GMO Free crop. So, sticking with the theme of organic, and handcrafted, a story was scripted for Arvind Mills, visually narrating various produces cultivated by them, and their heartfelt partnership with nature friendly products for a better today. I started with illustrations which became the landing page and dynamic User Interface for their website. Here I designed the concept, illustration and navigation of the Home page UI. You can view the entire process in another post titled “Process...”. Yeah, how original right?! *No pun intended*

Process How I work somedays

Showcased is the approved idea, with trial and errors of the illustrated concept narrative, and R&D on the drawings, followed by the wireframes / scribbles and the website. It is live and can be viewed here: arvind-agri.com So, sticking with the theme of organic, and handcrafted, a storyline was scripted for Arvind Mills, visually narrating various produces cultivated by them, and their heartfelt partnership with nature friendly products for a better today. I started with illustration tracings to create different visualisations of the main concept map, and the final crafting became the landing page and dynamic User Interface for their website. Further, I designed how each visual prompt would depict a relevant section of the site.

I have attached a live example of the website with a live run in another post.