Sameer Dwivedi
Senior Information Architect SapientNitro, Bangalore
Sameer has 9 years of experience in user experience methodologies, interaction design and user research. He worked extensively in domains like Retail, Banking and Finance, Insurance and Travel. He guides teams on integrating Agile and UX processes.
Understand ‘why’ before deciding on ‘how’. Ask right questions to derive the right answer.
What do you do?
I create digital experiences for brands and enterprises. I specialize in design thinking, user experience methodologies, qualitative and quantitative usability evaluation. I am also trained in eye tracking usability testing evaluation. Two things that I do everyday in my profession are — firstly, I am always in the pursuit of finding design solutions that cut across science, art and creativity. Secondly, deep dive beneath the interface skin and understand the process of design behind the great designs. That way, I always make an attempt to better myself. On records, I am a Senior Information Architect at Sapient Nitro, Bangalore Office.
Can you tell us about the path you took to get where you are now?
I am a self-taught designer. My design journey started at my alma-mater DA-IICT where I was heavily influenced by eminent faculty and multi-disciplinary curriculum. I strongly felt that a diverse curriculum in technology, humanity, design and economics helped me to be a better problem solver and not just see things from a single point-of-view. The turning point of my career was to undertake final year project under design leader Prof. Binita Desai which eventually helped me in getting my first job in Communication Design Group, Infosys. Since then, it has been a learning odyssey. After spending 6 years in Infosys, I had a short stint with a design agency followed by 2 year tryst with Amadeus India. Currently, I work at Sapient.
Tracing back my career path, few things that helped me to reach today’s level were
- A foundation based on qualitative and quantitative usability methods gave me an ability to ask right question and suggest scientific solutions
- I never let learning to take vacation. Reading, learning and interacting with people helped me to strengthen design foundation. One learns best when they apply principles in practice.
- Over the years, I have worked with a few of the great usability practitioners, user experience designers, graphic designers and management gurus. I owe my success to them.
How do you stay up to date with trends in the field of UX and in the industry you are in?
I heavily rely on online medium. Twitter and Medium keeps me going. I have created a public User Experience group on twitter which includes world’s best design publications, leaders and practitioners. That keeps me updated on global design trends , deep insights and new solutions in the market.
I also read from User Interface Engineering, HFI, UXMatters, Google Insights, NNG Alertbox , SmashingMagazine to name a few.
Top 5 applications or tools that you use as part of work.
I primarily rely on Adobe Indesign, Axure, Balsamiq and sometimes Visio for all my conceptualization needs. Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator helps in playing with colors and forms. Currently, I am learning After Effects to create motion graphics.
What does your workspace look like?
Minimal
What does your typical day look like? How do you structure it?
My day starts with reading all mails, news, Twitter and Facebook updates. I usually create a list of tasks in hand and put a priority. Second half, work till perfection is reached.
Why do you do what you do? What makes everything worth it?
Being a User Experience Designer is not just a job, it’s a way of living for me. It helps me to see the world differently and appreciate small things in life. Great part of this profession is to work with crazy misfits, mavericks, philosophers, cinephiles, engineers, artists who happened to be great design thinkers.
Evolution of a small idea that transforms from a sketch on a paper to a working digital solution is a great sight. Having a delighted users/customers makes everything worth.
What is the greatest piece of advice /wisdom you ever received?
There are couple of them. One was given by a design leader, understand ‘why’ before deciding on ‘how’. Ask right questions to derive the right answer.
One more I remember, “Design for people, impact and value.”
What advice would you give to a junior designer or someone aspiring to become a UX Designer?
Few things come to my mind.
Being a great design leader is hard. Great designs require painstaking attention to detail, thorough knowledge of design principles and powerful storytelling. Show your worth.
Never ever rush to a solution without understanding the problem and compromise on building a strong foundation.
Owning up is the first step of leadership
Be humble. Let your work speak.
Which phone do you use and what are your favorite mobile apps?
I have been using iPhone from past 4 years for the simple reason, it has been designed with utmost care, attention to detail and numerous delightful interactions. Some favorite apps are
- Runkeeper — Undoubtedly a great app for tracking fitness and it seamlessly integrates data across channels. Statistical data analysis, gamification strategy and detailed blogs make it a must-have app in your phone
- Evernote — Again a great omni-channel app to keep documenting ideas and access from anywhere
- Dead Trigger 2 — A first-person shooter game
What Indian website/app or service do you think is well designed and why?
There are a good number of Indian websites / apps which have raised the experience bar specially in travel, e-commerce, on-demand taxi booking and fitness space. Few I admire
- Mygola — Having traveled far and wide, I felt planning is more difficult part of any travel. This app very well understood that use case and features right recommendations and direct booking through a clean interface
- Zomato — They made decision making simple. The best thing about this solution is they let users create stories around their food experiences.
- Cleartrip- For being minimal, simple and focused interface. The Cleartrip design team has set the benchmark in India on how transactions websites/app should be designed
Who would you like to see featured on IndianUX’er?
I will recommend to reach out to
1. Infosys Ex-UX-head Shan (https://twitter.com/ShanRajasekaran). I have worked closely with him during my stint with CDG. He has been working on creating UX Knowledge framework for some time. I can assure, he will be a good point of contact for your work.
2. Sudhakar (https://www.facebook.com/teddy.foryou?fref=ts)
He was my manager in Infy and currently setting up a design school in Coimbatore and some great stuff which can be read here.
