UX and ME

I am tired. I really don't want to go. The rains are bad and the train service has stopped. I call up Ajith (my friend and writer) to drive me to Trivandrum. i hate depending on someone for my personal shit. I am giving a small talk at UX shots "LETS TALK UX". I don't know much about UX when compared to people who practice. So i prepare a presentation extolling the interdisciplinary nature of design and bringing them all together in the presentation.

The presentation goes fair and I am able to answer all the questions. Some people are really fascinated by the presentation whereas others who came for advanced knowledge is unhappy with basic thinking direction.

I am tired. We go for Lunch and then AJit and me goes home. There is flood at home and we clear the water out of the house. The memento and the plotted pant rests on the sofa while me and AJit along with Amma clears of water.

What UX shots wrote about the event

Event Highlights: Let’s Talk UX

aug 16, 2019 by ux shots, posted in events

Reading Time: 2 mins approx.

On the rainy Saturday morning of August 10th, 2019, UXShots conducted its very first event, “Let’s talk UX”. The massive turnout for our event in spite of heavy rainfall reinstated the value and passion prevalent among Technopark employees for User Experience. Our speaker for the day was Krishand R.K., an independent filmmaker and designer hailing from Bangalore. He is also a design educator and takes workshops on design thinking, filmmaking, and photography. 

“Let’s talk UX” was an interactive session where Krishand shared with the audience the basics of design, design thinking, colors, user research, user experience, and usability testing. He addressed several tugs of war discussed commonly in the design community, especially UI vs UX, Art vs Design, and Aesthetics vs Functionality. 

In Krishand’s words, there are only two rules to design: 

Rule 1: Don’t be stupid

Rule 2: Use your common sense

‘Eggs’ are one of the most versatile and common food in a kitchen and he used them to explain the iterative process of design. Everyone has a specific texture they’d like on a boiled egg and we can achieve that only with trial and error. Is this iterative process worth? Any egg-lover would say, YES! And so is the iterative process of designing for optimum user experience.

He explained vital UX principles like Hick’s law, Miller’s law, cognitive load, accessibility, universal design, and how all of them contribute to taking an experience from good to great. Let’s say we have a product that checks all the boxes in a usability test as well as an aesthetics test but the content used does not resonate with the user. That’s another trouble we must avoid. Content is King! The text, icons, visuals, images, colors, feedback, and interactivity are all intertwined to guide users through the tasks they want to achieve.

Smartphones and the internet have reached all corners of the world. Any product that you publish online is not limited by demographics anymore. It’s good news for businesses and users but it brings in another dimension to design: Accessibility, designing for everyone. Globally, 1.3 billion people have some form of visual impairment and it’s up to designers to ensure that no man is left behind without a good experience.

Design and user experience is simple, but it’s also complicated. It’s a continually evolving field and trends may come and go but if your product is made with users at its center, then you’re already one step ahead of the herd.

We are immensely grateful for the chance to meet and interact with such a lively crowd of UXers and we are planning many more exciting and insightful workshops for everyone. We can’t wait to meet you all again and learn together.

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The kick was slight and flavors were normal.