036: The Design Adventures

I took an Illustrator online class at Skillshare. I have used Illustrator for some time now - and I thought it was high time that I attempt to master the application. The course was really good and as a project, we were to replicate a poster.

So, being a lover of all things bicycling - I took this bike poster.


And from this inspiration, I put by own twist on the artwork.


Colour is always a good thing. More experiments with colour and design will definitely be soon to follow!



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17:41

034: Summer Internship Diaries: August

Continuing on from June and July, in August I continued designing, but I focused more on brainstorming sessions and recruitment.

Recruitment

 It was pretty surreal going through the many CVs that were submitted. Being on the receiving end instead of the sending end is different cause here I was with about 60 CVs to go through and I was totally just bombarded with information from really highly qualified people. But to be frank, I gave a stink-eye to anyone who sent me their CV in word document format. Have you not heard of a PDF? Like seriously. And being a very visual person, I recommended those who had a well designed CV as well. Some just had too many words with very little substance. Note to self: simple is best.

Then there were the interviews. I sat in in all of them and asked questions when needed be. By the end of the day, I was exhausted. Although I didn't talk much, I found listening and paying attention required just the same if not more of my energy. So after my boss and I swapped notes on which candidates we liked, I went home and slept. However, at the end of the lengthy process, we finally agreed on the most suitable candidate for the team!

Brainstorming sessions




More post its and sharpies! We had a big team session to discuss branding and a small session, with only my boss and I, where we brainstormed and narrowed down the feature list. Both sessions lasted the whole day but it was fun! Mainly because there weren't any rules so we basically brain dumped all our ideas and started sifting the good from the bad. We drew them out, voted and laid out the possible user journeys.

At the end of the 2nd session, we managed to narrow it down to a viable MVP which was absolutely awesome! Then, I had to go and prepare a click-through prototype which I did on Keynote. Awesome application that Keynote - who knew it could be of use other than for slide presentations?

UX Meeting

On my very last week, my boss and I had a meeting with a professional UX designer who was super awesome. I admired the way he thinks - very wide scoped but he also had the ability to narrow down and focus on solving complex solutions simply. Like the saying goes, "It is very easy to make something complicated. It is making it simple that is difficult." So whenever I see that element of focus and simplicity in a person, they immediately get into my good books.

And people tend to not understand why in meetings/sessions I would comment things like, "Why are you suggesting that, when this is much simpler?" or "Lets focus on this 1 feature instead of 3." It is at times like these when I get told, "So you're telling me not to be ambitious?" Which is definitely not true. If you look at successful companies like Twitter, Pinterest and Tumblr - they focus on one thing and they do it really well. So what I'm saying is Yes, be ambitious but at one thing. And make it into THE thing, instead of the things.

So when the UX designer said, "Narrow down 3 features that you can't live without and pick one.", I swear that I instantly mouthed "Thank you". You have no idea how happy it feels to have someone finally agreeing with your methods.

The End




I organised another design thinking workshop with the teachers, but mostly I spent my last week just tying loose ends and preparing hand over notes to whoever who will take over from me. All in all, it was an amazing experience. Meeting people so hungry for change is definitely infectious and I pray that this won't be the last time that I would be in that sort of environment.

Like I said in my previous post, one of my boss's departing words of wisdom was: "Ayne, you have too much creative energy. I'm betting that you will leave medicine and join the start-up industry because I think working in hospitals might just kill you." Although I beg to differ, I have no plans for the future just yet. 

Looking at my track record for the past few years, from Kenya to Impact to Start Ups, I have concluded that my journey has been and will be very random and spontaneous. I guess it just suits my personality. Because if your path is all laid out for you, where is the excitement in that?



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00:37

032: Summer Internship Diaries: July



July was a month of research and experimenting.


User research: On the Ground

I was mainly based at a major English language school in London to talk to teachers and students about their language learning experience. On my first day, I was literally (again) thrown over the deep end when I had to go to the cafeteria, walk up to students I don't know and say, "Hi! I'm conducting research on an app. Do you have 5 minutes to spare?"

Yes, I was the annoying survey person who bothered people's days. Thankfully, most of the people who I approached were friendly enough to talk to me. But there was this group of girls who were like:
'We're eating lunch'. And as I am very sensitive by nature, I took that as a personal blow and didn't talk approach anyone for the rest of the day. But all in all, throughout my stay, I interviewed about 50 students all together. Not bad for an introvert.

I also talked to many teachers and sat in during their classes. What I could conclude from these encounters is man its hard to be a teacher! Getting students interested in the subject matter is a real feat. And there is also the non-stop preparations that they have to make before each class. If you're a teacher, I take my hat off to you. When I was a teacher in Kenya, I learnt teaching the hard way with 80 kids in a class and needless to say, I sucked at it - so whoever who successfully does it well is a hero in my eyes.


Design thinking workshops







It was this month too where I started organising a series of design thinking workshops. I had been very intrigued by their methodology and pitched to my boss to try it out with groups of teachers. And by using videos of IDEO teaching design thinking to Dartmouth students as main point of reference, I constructed the workshop to be able to get the most out of the participants in that limited time frame. And Alhamdulillah, I managed to organise 4 design thinking workshops with varying groups of teachers which produced alot of interesting and insightful data. The teachers found it helpful too as they found an efficient way to visualise and share their ideas.


UX




Also quite strangely, I found myself doing a bit of UX work with my very limited skills on Illustrator. Managed to sketch up a few feature prototypes to make visualising ideas much easier. Its always good to discover new skills in the process. Through this, I found out that I really love visualising ideas or making thoughts easily understood by others. These are challenges that I find exhilarating so when I am designing something for this purpose, I become so focused at the task that I rarely talk to anyone till I'm done. And when people talk to me when I'm in the zone, I will give them one word answers. Weird, but true. Hopefully I won't bring this trait with me in medicine.



Education Fair

In between those workshops somewhere was the booth at Digital Summer Camp. If I can describe that day in one word, it would have been: chaos. The main aim of the booth was to engage the students as much as possible using music and language, so I had an idea to hold a competition where there were 25 jumbled lines of lyrics from 25 different songs - and the person who got the most songs right won an ipod shuffle. Needless to say, the booth was packed with students all throughout the day - each one of them cracking their brains and humming tunes in efforts to remember where these lyrics came from. In the end, I had to go through about 70 entries to pick a winner. But that day was beyond tiring because it was also the first week of the fasting month with 18+hours waterless and foodless in the English summer heat. Somehow rather, I survived!

And just like that, July came to an end, just like June did.


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23:42

031: Summer Internship Diaries: June

Way before I signed up for the placement, I thought 3 months was way to long. Now, I stand corrected. It really went by quickly - and now its over, I find it hard to get coherent memories of my time there, so I am trying to jot down the ones I do remember before they are all gone forever.

So, June. I might have to call this month - the month of 'ooo shiny' and communication.


Google Campus decor







My usual desk set-up




Events events events




Networking give-aways



I walked in the office so excited on my first day - I've seen pictures, but seeing it live is just something else. Although it's not Google HQ, it feels like Google. People in flip flops, scruffy hair and t shirts carrying laptops, or as I call them - tech hippies everywhere I turn. I don't think I ever looked the part - but even being in their presence made me feel like one of them. Free toast, tea and coffee anytime, with free bagels on Tuesday mornings, and the occasional free ice lollies when it was hot. I was in Disneyland. Because when you're in a space where people could freely skateboard, bring their pet dogs and plonk on a couch for the day, work does really feel like play.

The website.






On the communication front, I redid the company website to make it alot cleaner, set up and managed their Twitter account as well as their Tumblr blog and set up their newsletter on MailChimp. This month was also my most active month in terms of events - went to alot of networking events on campus and around London to meet techies. And since meeting new people and small-talking is by no means my forte, I still cringe when theres a 'networking' event that I have to attend. I don't really know whether I'll ever be comfortable in them to be honest. If there is someone at the corner of the room, busy drinking water or eating the snacks provided, you can bet that it'll be me.

Oh, and there was the day where I worked from my boss's house. I think we cooked an omelette lunch and took long walks with work in between, rather than the other way round. Oh well, it was just another day at work! 

Before I wrap up June, guess what I found at the basement of campus on one of my very first days:


Since I named this blog way before I started my internship, I can confidently assume that it was just meant to be :)





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22:02
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