Been A Minute!

Hey guys!

Sigh! It's been a while, nay, it's been forever!

How have you been though? Like really. How are you doing?
I hope you're great. I hope 2017 is turning out to be all that you wished for and more.

Well, for me it is. I am doing good. So much has changed and it's amazing what a year can do. I am in a completely different head space since my last post. And that is a great feeling.

Accessibility: 7 Things Every Designer Needs To Know

Good read alert! I recently bumped into this post by Jesse Housler, an Accessibility Specialist at +Salesforce, and I absolutely loved it. Here is a summary of the main points discussed but check out the original post for all the awesome deets.

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Accessibility enables people with disabilities to perceive, understand, navigate, interact with, and contribute to the web.

1000 Words

The internet is a visual media. According to Wishpond, websites with photos get 90% more views than those without. Visitors judge with their eyes and will only digest the content if you make the whole experience a pleasurable one. Photography and imagery are very vital in design as they may convey more than what words would.



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It is no wonder memorable quotes like "A good sketch is better than a long speech" or "A picture is worth a thousand words" are so popular. Coupling good photography and pictorials with a well written prose (or two) will definitely win over the masses.

Cupcakes Vs. Wedding Cakes

What a catchy title huh? You know I had to reel you in somehow and if you are anything like me, just the thought of sweet, creamy treats tends to do exactly that. I however wish I had come to the title on my own but the Google UX Master Class that I attended a while back kind of contributed. I always wanted to put a post surrounding the title since then so when the time presented itself a little over a year later, I couldn't resist.



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Baking tins and flour aside, we can look at cupcakes and wedding cakes as approaches to take when it comes to product launching. When launching a product, you can decide to go big as in the case of a wedding cake, or choose to start small much like a cupcake. The end goal is the same. Some companies tend to release "cupcakes", something small that works while other companies launch products that are like "wedding cakes", something with big, elaborate and complex designs.

Hey There! I Am Using WhatsApp.

"Hey there! I am using WhatsApp" That is the default WhatsApp status. Other people, myself included, change this status update from time to time depending on the time, season, mood or the current situation. Other people, on the other hand opt to stick to the default update for reasons only best known to them. Those ones are not so common in my contact list so anytime I see it, I can almost always be sure that it is a new WhatsApp user.

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A few months ago, my father purchased a smart phone. During the days that followed, we found his struggle with the new device a little bit too hilarious. And as a Computer Science graduate, I was constantly on call to help him with the swiping, sending messages, apps download and the data bundles that were devouring his airtime within minutes. You know...exactly what I studied in campus. But within a few weeks, he had caught on. In fact, he had caught on so fast that he even signed up for a number of social media sites. WhatsApp being one of them!

1280 x 720 {Resolutions Vs. Goals}

I had every intention of putting up at least three posts per month during the last quarter in 2015 but life just got in the way and quite frankly, I felt like it got a little bit too much to handle at some point. Nervous breakdown anyone? Nevertheless, it is a new year and I am so geared up for it! I hope I don’t get a burn out by February though.

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Speaking of new years, have you made your resolutions yet? The last time I made resolutions I failed at most of them miserably. I therefore didn’t make any in 2015 but surprisingly it turned out quite well. Which left me wondering whether I had put undue pressure on myself by having resolutions in 2014 in the first place. I later learned that there is a huge difference between resolutions and goals. So as much as I didn’t have resolutions for 2015, I had clear goals. And while New Year’s resolutions rarely work, goals do!

Tajriba {UX Month: Nairobi 2015}

It was in 2013 when the first Tajriba event was held and that was the first time a UX month was being done in Africa. You can read how that event went down from this blog post by +Mark Kamau who orchestrated this feat.

[Reblogged: Originally posted here]

Tajriba – A Swahili word which means experience.

Partners from all over the world supported this mission and their stories are the most interesting such as +Erik Flowers Principal Service Experience Designer at Intuit who received his invite through a tweet from +Kagonya Awori or +Susan Dray a leader in the UX field who contributed in the founding of ACM’s sigCHI {Special Interest Group in Computer Human Interaction} chapter and found this new development in Kenya – a must do.

Colour 101

“What colour roses should I buy for my girlfriend?” he asked.

“Well, it depends with what you trying to show.” I replied.

“Love, of course.” he answered.

“Red. Then definitely go with red.” I concluded.

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This conversation wasn’t as brief as I have made it seem. Before we arrived at the ‘red roses’ conclusion, I had already confused my friend with a number of information with regards to colours and techniques of mixing and matching {Complementary colours, Triad colours etc.} some of what we popularly refer to as ‘Colour Blocking’.

Career Moves: {Passion Vs. Stick To It!}

When should you quit your day job to pursue your passion? And when should you just suck it up and stick to your current job regardless of how much you hate it? Many articles have been written about this, each with a different perspective and take on the subject matter. And just like every debate, there are always pros and cons of each option.

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I have had this discussion with a number of my friends over the past couple of days either after reading an online article about successful entrepreneurs or listening to motivational speakers talk about how they came to their success. Different opinions have been raised during out chats and I consider each valid. However, I tend to lean on one side at the moment. Just a slight lean though, more like a head tilt…

Time Management

If you are anything like me, I am sure that almost every morning you wake up with a mission to make the most out of that day. You set goals and make to-do lists and hope that by the end of it all, you would have achieved them. However, by the time it clocks 5:00 pm you realize that you weren’t as productive as you’d wished. And a little part of you dies, or maybe not. Just work with me here…



You set these bars and make all these lists, but are they the right ones? Although you understand intellectually that time is your scarcest resource, you probably find it difficult to gain a strategic perspective on how you actually spend each and every day.

9 Habits Of Profoundly Influential People

Not so long ago (about one month actually), our country had the pleasure of hosting one of the most influential people in the world, the POTUS. President Barrack Obama’s visit nearly brought Kenya to a standstill. The last time I had witnessed such rigorous cleaning and organization was while I was in high school as we made arrangements for visiting days and PTA meetings. LOL, story for another day.

 

President Obama’s eloquence, sense of humor, counsel, value for women empowerment and great mastery of the subject matters being discussed kept everyone keen and interested in everything he had to say. His quotes and punchlines made for great status updates and tweets which were liked, retweeted and shared for days to come. He commanded a following and an audience, without a doubt and it is no wonder most of us had a sense of ‘What now? Who are we? We weren’t ready! What next?’ after we saw his plane depart that Sunday evening.

Giving Thanks {2nd Blog Anniversary}

I still can’t wrap my fingers around how fast this year has gone by, not that I am complaining though. I didn’t start off 2015 with the resolve that I would make it my year but without a doubt it has become just that! I have so much to be thankful for and I am not going to wait for November to do just that.

Everyday above ground is a blessing. I almost always see this tweet every morning when I do my usual online scroll-a-thons before I leave the comfort of my bed. And it’s until you realize that so many people never made it to see the beautiful morning that you become truly grateful for life, family and friends.

Just Checking In {Part V}

Happy new month folks!

Remember how I talked about my much needed mini vaccay sometime back? Yeah, I am currently enjoying every moment of it and I’m guessing that the crickets and the cobwebs on this site might have already given me away. However, in the spirit of the new month, how about a Checking In post? Shall we...

Excited: About my new look. Yeah, I cut off my hair and I am so happy I took the plunge. I love how it looks already with all the curls and all. It is just a fresh feeling! So don’t be so shocked when you see me rocking my #TWA {See Picture}

Google UX MasterClass { 2nd Edition }

The first edition of the Google UX MasterClass was a blast and that's why I am so happy to announce that the second edition is here with us! ...and the crowd goes wild...

This April, designers from the Google User Experience Team will be visiting Sub-Saharan Africa to conduct hands-on user experience MasterClasses in Cape Town, Nairobi and Lagos.

We Are Hiring! {Graphic Designer Internship}

Hey guys,

I come bearing good news this evening. As you all know by now, I am proudly associated with Waridi Events Limited so it gives me great pleasure to inform you that we are hiring! +Waridi Events  is an events management company and we are looking for a Graphic Designer intern to join our team. We would like to offer you the opportunity to interview for the position. Read more about: Waridi Events Limited

The Graphic Designer internship role entails creating visual concepts, designing 2D and 3D events concepts. As an intern, you will be required to work hand in hand with the events team, during the event design phase to bring our creative, experiential and fresh event concepts to life.

GSoKites Virtual Classroom {Google Summer Of Code}

The +Google Summer of Code is a global program that offers students stipends to write code for open source projects. GSoKites Virtual Classroom (GVC) is a community which is best suited for University students interested in coding and want to enhance their open source development through +Google Summer of Code. 

If you are interested in participating in the Google Summer of Code 2015, join or invite your developer friends to this community in order to get every update and guideline that will prepare you before you apply.

5 Year Tech Bash

+iHub has come a long way as a tech community in the last 5 years. It is therefore time to celebrate the growth and appreciate all the people who have made this happen. +iHub is facilitating the largest tech gathering in Kenya...ever! All the tech companies and individuals who made this happen are welcome. It's a community event by all of us, for all of us!

It starts on Saturday afternoon at 2:00 pm with a tech job fair, speed dating for techies, and a chance for everyone to demo what they’re doing. There is tons of space available, so there are few limitations on what you can do if you want to show off what you've done as a company, and what your focus for the next year is. Plans for big media to be at the event are underway.

Personas

In user-centered design, a persona is a fictional character created to capture the important aspects of your target users. They represent the different user types that might use a site, brand or product in a similar way. Personas are useful in considering the goals, desire and limitations of the users in order to help guide decisions a service product or interaction space such as features, interactions and visual design of a website – Wikipedia

A user persona is a representation of the goals and behavior of a hypothesized group of users. In most cases, personas are synthesized from data collected from interviews with users. They are captured in 1-2 page descriptions that include behavior patterns, goals, skills, attitudes and environment, with a few fictional personal details that make the persona a realistic character. For each product, more than one persona is usually created, but one persona should always be the primary focus for the design.

Smart Phone, Dumb Battery

I have never been so frustrated with an inanimate object the way I was frustrated with my phone these past couple of weeks. Reason: Battery life! I noticed that it was deteriorating towards the end of last year but it wasn’t until the beginning of January when things took a turn for the worst.

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When I first got this phone back in 2013 I couldn’t be happier. You know, despite the fact that I had to sell a kidney to pay for it...I was still excited! It had everything I wanted in a device. It was smart, it was loyal and I appreciated it.

Just Checking In {Part IV}

It’s been a while since I did one of these checking in posts. And a lot has happened since the last time I did one.  However, I am currently in the KISS {Keep It Short and Sweet} business so I’ll just mention some it. If you missed the previous check in, you can find it here.

Needing: A new phone battery. The fact that is number 1 on this list, should really tell you something. I will rant about this lost love in my next post…stay tuned. #SmartPhonesDumbBatteries