The last few weeks I’ve been learning about what are the necessary elements to create a good case study to share in a portfolio. After looking through some IG accounts, talking with friends and doing deep research, I ended up noticing some key questions and steps that are important to create and organize a good case study for UX.

Here are some “what’s” that will help you create your next case study in a very easy way, don’t get crazy like me the first time I tried to do one:

1. What’s the project about

Make a brief introduction about the company or project.

2. What’s the problem

Describe the problem you set out to solve. Who has the problem? What makes this problem challenging?

Pro tip: Explain what is your role and your plan for this project.

3. What are the objectives

What will the solution achieve? What are the clients goals?

4. What about the process

Go through UX research (interviews, field survey, focus group, etc) to define the persona and discover what features are required to accomplish the objective? What are the target users?

5. What is the solution

What will the product look like and how will it work? Why did you choose that final solution?

Pro tip: Explain the limitations of your final solution. What you would do if you had infinite time or resources?

6. And finally, THE RESULT

Show the measurable outcomes, share the success metrics and the testing results.

Have you used these steps to create your case studies? Do you know other important points to add? Let me know in the comments 👇👇

If you liked this article, share it with others that would be interested.

Kenny ❤

I’m a Digital Communication Specialist and UI|UX Designer from DR.

6 steps to create your next case study was originally published in Prototypr on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

What is it like to be a mentor?

Nothing gives more stress than not knowing what to do.
Am I right!?

People need someone that could challenge them and guide them through their journey. This is why I believe there should be more mentors and you could be that mentor.

Sometimes we believe that we have nothing to contribute to others but that’s not true, we can all contribute and be supportive to each other, even those you cannot imagine.

We all have something to share!.

You just need to be open to give what you have, what you already know, what others can learn.

5 Things to have in mind

1. Everybody has something worthy to share. So, do you!.
2. It’s not about you. It is about how you could help someone to be better.
3. Choose one to three categories that you feel comfortable enough to give support. (Tip: Just place a check on the ones people say or complement you are good at).
4. Improve yourself every day to improve others. Don't stop learning!.
5. You also need to have a mentor. Somebody with the experience could support you and teach you how to be a good coach for life.

My experience as a mentor at Bootcamp WCW

A few months ago, Mujeres Tics’ President invited me to be a mentor in the Bootcamp WCW (Women Changing the World), a six-week hackathon where the girls would create, build and present new businesses or product ideas using disruptive technologies. I was excited and began to wonder how I could pass my knowledge to the attendees.

In the Bootcamp, I taught them how to create Prototypes and guide them to make a great interface of their products. I’ve always loved helping people, and I fell in love with the Bootcamp Girls pretty quickly.

I left you some words the girls shared about their experience in the Bootcamp WCW:

I have to admit that I was excited when the teams presented their projects with great confidence and performance in front of the juries invited to the final Women Changing the World event, knowing that they all worked hard to finish the project successfully. It should be noted that all the ideas were great, which meant a tight competition for all the teams and for the juries to choose a winner.

Thereafter, I ended up noticing that this experience has changed me totally and brought gratification to my life.

The Bootcamp girls may believe that I helped them a lot, but they do not know how much they contributed to me as a person and as a professional. I feel like they are like my daughters 💜and I am super eager to create another workshop or talk in which we can share this experience again.

YOU COULD BE A MENTOR TOO!

As I said, everybody has something to share.

It’s amazing how rewarding it is to know that you can help others grow in every aspect of your life and that no matter how much or little you think you can teach or share you can make a big difference in your life and other people’s lives.

I invite you to connect with somebody (could be a good friend or student) and guide them to improve their projects or their life. Help others in what you know you’re good and start fulfilling your purpose in life.

If you like this article or think it could inspire others please share it 🤗

Click here to read this article in Spanish.

Have a great day!

Kenny ❤

I’m a Digital Communication Specialist and UI|UX Designer from DR.

Nada produce más estrés que no saber qué hacer. Amiright!?

Las personas fuimos creadas con la necesidad de que se nos desafíe y nos guíen por el mejor camino. Es por eso que necesitamos más mentores.

A veces creemos que no tenemos nada que aportar a otros pero no es así, todos podemos aportar y ser de apoyo a otras personas, aquellas que ni te imaginas.

¡Todos tenemos algo que compartir!.

Solo necesitas estar dispuesto a compartir lo que tienes, lo que ya sabes, lo que otros pueden aprender.

5 Puntos a tomar en cuenta

1. Todo el mundo tiene algo valioso para compartir. ¡Así que tu también!.
2. No se trata de ti. Es sobre cómo puedes ayudar a que otro sea mejor.
3. Elije de una a tres categorías en las que puedas aportar que te hagan sentir lo suficientemente cómodo. (Tip: Presta atención a las cosas que los demás dicen que eres bueno).
4. Crece y mejora cada día para que puedas ayudar a crecer a los demás. ¡Nunca dejes de aprender!.
5. Tú tambien necesitas de un mentor. Alguien con experiencia que sea de soporte y te enseñe como ser un buen coach y mentor.

Mi experiencia como mentora en el Bootcamp MCM

Hace unos meses, la presidenta de la comunidad Mujeres Tics me escribió invitándome a ser mentora de los talleres de UI/UX que iban a ser parte del Bootcamp MCM (Mujeres Cambiando el Mundo), un hackaton de 6 semanas en el que las chicas crearían, construirían y presentarían un nuevo negocio o producto utilizando tecnologías disruptivas. Me emocioné bastante y de una vez empecé a pensar en cómo podría transmitir mis conocimientos.

En el Bootcamp, enseñe a las chicas a cómo crear prototipos y las guié para que diseñaran la mejor interfaz para sus productos. Siempre ha sido mi pasión ayudar a otros y rapidemente me enamore de la pasión por aprender que tebían todas las chicas del Bootcamp.

Estas son las palabras que compartieron algunas de las chicas sobre su experiencia en el Bootcamp WCW:

Tengo que admitir que me emocioné bastante cuando los equipos presentaron sus proyectos con gran seguridad y desenvolvimiento frente a los jurados invitados al evento final Mujeres Cambiando el Mundo, sabiendo que todas trabajaron muchísimo para terminar con éxito el proyecto. Cabe destacar que todas las ideas fueron buenísimas, lo que significó una reñida competencia para todos los equipos y para los jurados el elegir un ganador.

Después de ello me di cuenta que esta experiencia me cambió totalmente y ha sido la que más gratificación ha traído a mi vida. Aprendí que todo lo que haces con amor y pasión para ayudar tiene un impacto positivo en los demás.

Las chicas del bootcamp quizás piensan que yo les aporte mucho, pero ellas no saben lo tanto que aportaron a mi como persona y profesional. Siento que son como mis hijas 💜 y quedé super deseosa de crear otro workshop o charla en la que podamos volver a compartir.

TU TAMBIÉN PUEDES SER UN MENTOR O UNA MENTORA!

Como mencioné anteriormente, todos tenemos algo que compartir.

Es increíble lo gratificante que es saber que puedes ayudar a otros a crecer profesional o personalmente y que lo poco o mucho que crees que aportas puede hacer un gran cambio en su vida.

Te invito a conectar con alguien (puede ser un buen amigo o un estudiante) y guiarlo a mejorar sus proyectos o su vida. Ayudar a los demás en lo que sabes eres bueno y comienza a cumplir tu propósito en la vida.

Si te gusto este artículo o crees que puede inspirar a otros COMPÁRTELO 🤗

Click aquí para ver el artículo en inglés.

Feliz resto del día!

Kenny ❤

I’m a Digital Communication Specialist and UI|UX Designer from DR.

These days there are many interested in creating visual content to build a consistent brand that catches people’s attention.

For me, it is very important how the pictures transmit the message I want to share. Being honest, I’m crazy about apps. I download apps just to see how they look and work inside and out most of them are for photographs or video editing. Many are free and others have pay features that could cost you a few bucks.

The apps that I’m currently using to edit my photos and create my IG stories are:

Snapseed

One of the best if not the best app for mobile photo editing that exists for free in the App Store and Google Play, in my opinion. It comes with a lot of options and it’s easy to use. Try it for yourself.

Unfold

This app is here to stay. Unfold brings templates to create beautiful IG stories. I started using Unfold months after it released but every day I see more people using it to create their stories.

It’s totally free in the App Store, it has layout packs available for just $0.99 (This is not a sponsored post). My favorite pack is the FF1 ♡ It has that vintage camera style that I love so much.

Story Art

Very similar to Unfold, it has many different templates to create stories with nice themes. This is free and has layout packs available for $0.99.

VSCO

Is a well-known app that has a lot of time in the market and maybe you heard about it before. VSCO has so many cool filters and options available that you could use to edit your pics and give them that nice personalized professional touch. This app is free and has a premium membership to download all the filters available. I mainly use VSCO for my minimal photos or to add them a vintage style.

KUNI

This is such a cool user-friendly application that is worth every penny.

KUNI is all in one for me: it allows me to add filters to my photos, edits values, adds dust and 3D effects and even saves presets in case I want to use the same style later. I use KUNI a lot. It allows me to recreate that trend vintage style that I like so much (yeah, I know. I already mentioned the word vintage three times in this article, but it’s because I love it so much).

Lightroom

This is heaven on earth for the photographs. Adobe Lightroom is if not the most, one of the most used software for editing used by professional photographers.

I’m using Lightroom to edit the pictures that will go to my IG feed. It has a ton of presets available that you could download to use on your pc and presets that you could also create to use on your smartphone or your desktop.

Remember that everyone is creative and we can create good content with crazy and new ideas. JUST HAVE FUN!

There’s no trick or magic to use apps or software in a “PERFECT WAY”. You just have to play through the options until you find the style that matches your brand.

If you liked this article, share it with others that would be interested.

What app do you use to edit your photos and create your IG stories?

Let me know in the comments.

Kenny ❤

I’m a Digital Communication Specialist and UI|UX Designer from DR.

First of all, I want to give thanks to Raydelto Hernández, a well-known Dominican Software Developer and Professor who is currently located in Canada, for inviting me to speak about my professional career and my passion.

Something I want to leave very clear is that I am not a pioneer. I did not discover or was the first person to work with UI or UX in the Dominican Republic. Even though, I would've loved for it to be me being I consider myself an evangelist, a person who is always looking to teach and learn from others and motivate them to be part of the world of design and tech.

I invite you to watch the interview and know more about me, why I decided to study a designing career, where and how I begin as a UX/UI Designer.

I’ll also recommend you to watch all the great videos and interviews Raydelto is uploading on his Youtube Channel.

—

And that’s all for today guys.

If you like this article or think it could inspire others please share it.

Have a great day!

Kenny ❤

My experience attending WCW: Women Changing the World

This year I had the opportunity to work in the coordinating team of the largest women’s technology event in the Dominican Republic: WCW: Women Changing the World or MCM: Mujeres Cambiando el Mundo, in Spanish. This year with the slogan: “For more girls in Science and Technology”.

The event took place last Saturday, March 23 at the Technological Institute of Santo Domingo (INTEC), where there were a little over 200 attendees, including both men and women.

This meeting, which takes place every year, was attended by fourteen native speakers, four international speakers alongside five special guests for the panels: Microsoft MVP Dominicans and Women Changing the World.

These events are organized by the community of women in technology Mujeres Tics, that seek to inspire and help the insertion of more girls in the technology of the Dominican Republic.

All the talks and panels that I attended were very inspiring to me and safe for the other people who attended. I had the opportunity to connect with women who are changing the world. Just to name a few:

Barbarita Lara, the Chilean of the year who created a device that allows communication without the need for a signal and that led her to be the first Chilean to be on the world list of innovators under 35 years of the MIT Technology Review.

Tania Vaca, the Colombian who works to create Digital Transformation in companies, developing and implementing solutions that streamline and facilitate processes.

Elena Aguilera, the Honduran winner of the Mujeres Transformando Honduras award that founded Guala, the association that creates a 3D prosthesis for people with limited resources.

Lesly Zerna, the Bolivian director of the School of AI who seeks to promote experiences on applied artificial intelligence and is also a teacher of AI in Platzi.

María Shrayber, the Russian based in DR, an expert in lighting that is impacting on the matter of the correct use of artificial lighting to avoid health problems.

Along with other wonderful women that spoke about different topics at the event.

My work in WCW

I was fortunate enough to partake in this opportunity and work with a wonderful group of women of Mujeres Tics, consisting of the coordination’s team and volunteers who put all their love and commitment to the event to fulfill its mission.

It’s been about three years since I decided to be a part of this awesome community, where it was not until January of the year in process that I was appointed Director of Communications by Julissa Mateo (President of Mujeres Tics). From that moment I thought and told myself this has to be an event created with a lot of love and professionalism to make it one of the best. And this is how I was very involved with everything related to the design, communication, and logistics of the event.

Being this is part of my responsibilities. I put all my effort and knowledge in creating MCM as a brand that inspires and motivates people to attend. The brand had to be consistent in all publications and documents that I created (from t-shirts to banners).

The very first thing I did was decide upon what we wanted to express to our target (women and girls) and the main goals were: inspire, motivate, educate let them know they could also be a part of the group of people who were changing the world for good.

Then, after meetings and meetings, the team and I, set up what we needed to spread the word and impact not only women but the companies and organizations that could support our cause since the Mujeres Tics is a non-profit community.

The results: A beautiful day full of emotions, where everybody seemed motivated we had a great satisfying feeling: We did it!.

We were able to reach out to so many people and impact them so that they can continue with our mission to create, alongside making them feel capable of changing their world.

In conclusion, I would like for these types of events to continue to be organized, not only in the Dominican Republic but in the rest of the Latin American community’s and the world, little by little we can close the digital gap so that more girls are motivated to study STEM careers, if they can become good at it, they can create new things, they can change the world.

I invite everybody to do their best in what they do and keep working even if the things are not as easy as they thought at the beginning.

If you want to know more about the community and the work we are doing, you can find us at @mujeresticsrd or our webpage www.mujeresticsrd.org

If you like this article or think it could inspire others please share it.

Have a great day!

Kenny ❤

I’m a Digital Communication Specialist and UI|UX Designer from DR.

How I became a UI/UX Designer

Many people have come to ask me how and where I learned everything necessary to be a UI/UX designer, if I can send them material, ebooks, videos, etc. to help them begin to know about this wonderful discipline.

Personally (like many) I started in this field in a self-taught way, researching, reading and watching the few tutorials that were available on the web about it. At the time I started, the UI or UX term was not even known in my country, we used to looked for web design videos and books that were often outdated or far from what we wanted to create.

In 2013 I discovered that I liked this, after developing several projects in the university, in which I learned the basics to create a profitable and beautiful digital product. Notice that at first, I hated everything that had to do with the web. I found it super complicated and felt that I had no talent for it.

It’s not enough know how to design a website if we do not know the necessary tools to be liked by the people, that solve a problem, that is easy to use, profitable and also innovative. We have to keep learning and making trial error to accomplish that goal.

Thanks to the years, the diversification of information to different platforms and people who have dedicated themselves to create content in several languages, today it is very easy to keep up with this topic and many others.

In my first formal job I had to work with web design and apps. My desire to learn how to do things better led me to read a number of articles and ebooks that guided me to what we know today as User Interface and User Experience design. But …

What I did it to be where I am now?

Well, I’m not a famous designer, i’m still learning, but I have almost 6 years of experience working with digital products and I started from zero. Every morning when I sit down on my pc, I used to check out the InvisionApp blog, Smashing Magazine, 1webdesigner and a bunch of others that create really good content.

From then on, I started to practice the bases of the UX design and apply it to the design I was doing.

Due to my studies in Multimedia, it became very easy to learn UI design. I dedicated myself to practice styles that I saw in Behance and Dribbble (Today people call it UI or UX Challenge).

Everything else is summarized: RESEARCH, LEARN, PRACTICE …

It was a matter of time before I gained experience and could work effectively with more complex projects and then lead a department of designers and front-end developers.

My suggestion if you want to start as a UI/UX designer is to start today, practice a lot and find a mentor. That will give you a plus.

I hope this article has inspired you and motive you to start today.

Please, let me know which accounts you follow to learn about UX or UI? Leave it in the comments 😊 I’ll love to read them and start following new designers.

Have a great day!

Kenny ❤

I’m a Digital Communication Specialist and UI|UX Designer from DR.

How I became a UI / UX Designer was originally published in Prototypr on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

If your answer is “yes”, there are certain factors that I have noticed as determinants if we want to start in these areas:

1. The most important thing is to have empathy and a lot of desire to learn day after day.
2. Focus on what we want to specialize.
3. Devote time daily to learn and practice.

After you are clear that this is what you want, you must use the sources of information necessary to educate yourself at each point: Blogs, Podcasts, Youtube, Ebooks, etc.

I recommend you the Invision Blog and Medium accounts like Tubik Studio, they create great and inspiring content for designers that want to be better at creating digital products.

There is a bunch of information out there, the important thing is that you do not obtain too much knowledge and in the end, you don’t know how or where to start. Focus on learning and practicing step by step. This way you will get better results in less time.

I want you to take the time to invest in adding knowledge to yourself and start doing what you want to do.

Once you start practicing find a mentor that helps you in your path and improve your skills.

GOLDEN RULE

Never, never, ever stop learning. In User interface and User experience design, like all areas very related to technology, things are evolving very fast, you must maintain the habit of documenting yourself so as not to become obsolete.

I hope this article has inspired you and that today you start your learning marathon.

Do you know another tip to start learning something new? Leave it in the comments 😊

Have a great day!

Kenny ❤

I’m a Digital Communication Specialist and UI|UX Designer from DR.

It’s been a long time since I wrote my last article.

I love to write and to be in touch with tech and design along to share what I learned with you guys… but let’s be honest, adult life sucks and sometimes we don’t have time to do all we want to do, but if we really love one thing, we’ll fight for it and left time to do it.

Last week I watched a Youtube video from Lavendaire about the things that we want to do before 2019 and I was so impressed because I know I want to come back writing but do not have the kick-ass that I needed till now.

After a long time writing on my journal for myself (cause I was afraid to post it here) I decided that is time to being serious with it and share it with you. Share how I grew up in the design field, my experiences, and mistakes I made in the beginning and what I am passionate about Design and Tech.

I’m that kind of person who spends hours and hours in a screen consuming content: reading blogs, watching tutorials, etc. But, I’ve never decided to left time to create content for others.

As I said, I love to write and I believe this is a great platform to write and share content people want to read and also help others to grow like I’ve been growing thanks to other creators.

I know is hard to start from zero or begin again, but we have to do it because: “Those people who stay stagnant and never take risks to fulfill their dreams will end up being miserable. They would sit in a reclining chair and complain about the lives that did not live. Neither you nor I want to be like that”.

This article is special for me because this is the first of a lot more I will write the upcoming weeks about Design, Tech, and Lifestyle of a designer.

I used to write articles about a couple of things that I think could help, but I want you to be my friend in this path and hear from you what do you want to learn about user interface, user experience, how to find inspiration and all design related topics, so I could help you with that and also be motivated to write more articles.

Thank you so much in advance and wait for more great content :)

Have a great day!

Kenny ❤

I’m a Digital Communication Specialist and UI|UX Designer from DR.

Hace unos dos años creé una cuenta de Trello como sugerencia de un amigo con quién tuve que trabajar un proyecto en grupo. Nunca me detuve a utilizarla porque simplemente no la entendía y para colmo no llamaba mi atención. No fue hasta que me encontré con un video recientemente donde la exponente explicaba cómo utilizaba Trello para planificar sus proyectos. Al verlo todo tan bonito y organizado dije a mis adentros: Tengo que aprender a hacer esto.

No pasaron 5 minutos y ya estaba en Youtube investigando como sacarle el jugo a mi cuenta de Trello. Desde que aprendí lo básico y le cogí el truquito, me he enganchado hasta hoy.

Qué es Trello

Trello es una aplicación ideal para organizar de manera dinámica y visual cualquier cosa con cualquier persona. Los tableros de Trello consisten en listas llenas de cartas, usadas con un equipo o por ti mismo.

Cómo Trello cambió la forma en que organizo mi vida

Siempre he querido aprender a tener todo organizado y sacarle el mayor provecho a mis días. Veía y leía todos los videos y post sobre productividad. Tuvieron que pasar dos años para darme cuenta que lo que le funciona a otro no necesariamente me funciona a mí y que debía empezar a probar con aquellas cosas que más me ayudaban a enfocarme en mi día a día.

En mi búsqueda, me di cuenta que soy mitad análoga - mitad digital. Hay cosas que prefiero tener en la PC, pero hay otras que me conviene anotar en papel. Así que dicidí invertir tiempo en analizar mis patrones de comportamiento con diversas herramientas.

Inicié utilizando apps como: ToDoIst y Wunderlist (muy buenas ambas por cierto). Pero solo me dejaban ahí, en listas que nunca completaba a totalidad y me frustraba al ver que finalizaba la semana y solo cumplía 4 de las 10 cosas que me proponía hacer. Así que seguí en mi búsqueda de apps que me ayudaran a planificar las cosas como deseaba.

Empecé a investigar las virtudes de Asana y a darme cuenta que a la vez me salían muchas sugerencias de Trello. Así que decidí analizar las características de ambas a ver cual se asemejaba más a lo que buscaba. Aquí les dejo algunos tips de cómo lo utilizo en mi día a día y en mis proyectos:

1) Vista general al entrar a mi Trello. Por el momento solo tengo cuatro tableros personales y uno de equipo. Pero como siempre quiero ver de primero el tablero de Planning decidí ponerlo de favorito.

2) Tablero de bienvenida. Al crear una cuenta, el primer tablero que tendrás es el de bienvenida. Para explicarlo de una manera simple, Trello es una pizarra/tablero que puedes llenar de listas. Cada lista tiene tarjetas dentro. Las tarjetas a su vez, pueden tener: descripción, imágenes, comentarios, checklists, etc.

Para organizar las tarjetas por orden de importancia o categoría, puedes agregarle fechas de vencimiento y etiquetas de colores.

3) Creando tableros. El primer tablero que creé fué 2018 Here We Go, donde añadí todas las cosas que quería llevar a cabo y experimentar este año. Lo dividí en 5 listas:

• Cosas por cumplir en el 2018.
• En progreso.
• Las que logré hacer.
• Libros que he leído.
• Cursos que he tomado… etc.

Puedes agregar las listas que necesites para mantener un traqueo de aquellas cosas que vas haciendo. Créeme, poco a poco irás logrando cosas. Si lo anotas todo te mantendrás más motivado.

El Segundo tablero que creé fue el de Planning. Es el que más utilizo, pues en el planifico mi día a día. Aquí todo es diferente. Tengo una lista para anotar todas las cosas por hacer en la semana, las que designo al día en que debo hacerlas.

Además, tengo listas para los 7 días de la semana (aunque suelo dejar los domingos para descanso). Cada día tiene una tarjeta con un checklists dentro (ver imagen) donde organizo toda mi rutina. Como son cosas que se repiten a diario, dupliqué la tarjeta y la agregué a las listas de lunes a viernes.

4) Marcar tableros como favoritos. Una vez le coges el truco a Trello querrás hacer un tablero para todo; pero OJO, los tableros se hacen para desvincular un tema de otro. El objetivo es que te organices, no que tengas que perder tiempo pensando dónde dejaste cada cosa.

5) Crea tableros grupales. Cuando tengas un proyecto que trabajar en grupo, recurre a los tableros de equipo, donde todos podrán colaborar a la vez y ver en tiempo real los cambios de los demás.

Lo que más amo de Trello ❤

• Es muy visual. Amo poder cambiar los wallpapers a cada tablero.
• Interfaz adaptada correctamente para todos los dispositivos.
• El poder agregar checklist, links e imágenes dentro de las tarjetas.

Trello es simple y fácil de usar. Contiene muchísimas funcionalidad que aun estoy aprendiendo a implementar. Mi consejo es que con todas estas opciones en mente, empieces a crear tableros y tarjetas adaptadas a lo que necesitas para tener todo mejor organizado y sacarle el máximo provecho a tu tiempo.

Tengo la sensación de que también lo encontrarás muy útil :)

¿Es la primera vez que oyes sobre Trello? Si no, ¿cómo lo usas y cuáles otros tips conoces? Déjame saber en los comentarios.

Ten un feliz resto del día!

Kenny