I am a graduate student at NYU studying to be a UX designer, this semester I signed up for design for inclusivity course because it seemed exciting and different from other courses. Little did I know I was venturing into something that was going to be more than just a class taken over a semester, it became the most crucial learning as a UX designer. Co-incidentally all my other classes ended up being in the same area giving me more depth and understanding on designing for inclusivity.
I got the opportunity to work on two of the most interesting projects…
I have been working as a Researcher at New York University MakerSpace. It is a place for students to innovate and collaborate using the resources available. These resources include machines like 3D printers, laser cutters, CNC, Otter Mill for prototyping student projects. After 7 months of research including ethnographic observations, stakeholder interviews and quantitative research, our team wanted to know more about the behavior of the students and the usage of machines. Our idea is to encourage people to interact with each other and build a maker community around the space.
What words can’t say, design can — nothing could explain this better than a visit to Luba Lukova’s exhibition. Luba, a New York based Bulgarian graphic artist uses metaphors, juxtaposition of symbols, very few lines and text to bring out the most basic essence of humanity. I happened to stumble at one of her exhibitions at MODA in Atlanta last month.
Her posters provoke you to think and expose the injustice worldwide. Luba’s posters finely reflect on the human behaviour, hypocrisy and injustice. Something that really struck me were her series of posters on women inequality. Luba designed these posters…
A lot of times, while building products, designers, developers & product managers tend to think of the product before the people they are building it for. In short — they are building for their convenience and not the users.
Almost 2 years into working on software products, here is the most important lesson I have learnt:
Do not blame people when they fail to use your product properly
What we call an error could be bad communication and interaction — There is always a reason why the user is reacting to your product in a certain manner.
Nothing is more enthralling than an impromptu trip to the hills. Just when the Delhi heat was getting unbearable, a couple of friends and I decided to trek to Triund — which is a 10 KM trek from McLeodganj. An easy trek for novices like us — it was the first one for me and another friend. We couldn’t hold our excitement and left on a Friday evening.
The overnight journey was comfortable and we mostly slept through it, waking up to a freshly bathed mountain, a cloudy and beautiful Mcleodganj welcomed us. The Himalayan glory was at its best…
Srishti Kush
Human Computer Interaction, User Experience, User Research, Design Thinking, Product Design
