Hey there! Brian Dys here — I’m a visual and visceral person at heart. Ever since my mom lent me her old film camera, I fell in love with photography. All of my creative musings were exemplified by my second brain, the computer. This journey is a topsy-turvy ride of creative pursuits — from electronic music to UX design.
I enjoy every dull and wild moments of it — yes, this life of mine that I share with a woman named Jaycelle and a boy named Bryce. Take a peek into my kaleidoscope!
It was a very early morning at 10 a.m. I was half asleep, half awake when a phone call jolted me from sleepiness. The signal inside the apartment was so weak that I went outside to answer the call. It was an invitation from Chikka for an interview.
A mere seven months ago, I resigned from a night-shift job and ventured onto the mountains – equivalent to working freelance without a clear business plan. The offer from the other line was a real wake-up call for me to set focus once again into designing for the web. The position being offered was quite new to me – User Interface Designer. I said that as long as it’s on a senior level, I was interested.
Web products need to be supplied with a Technocal Document. Its content are the basic specifications of a mobile app or website in the following aspects:
Filled-up by developer
Filled-up by product developer
Filled-up by front-end designer
This document aids all team members involved in the project by providing with a preview of each team’s specifications. It also puts in context the capabilities and limitations of the product.
Consider this scenario:
The same goes for websites wherein each team member knows that the product will not be supported in IE versions 8 and below.
A UI Review is a testing methodology conducted by a designer (UI/UX/Front-end) on web products prior to Usability Testing.
The first aspect to be reviewed is visual design and the second is usability.
This is conducted primarily to ensure that the obvious negative findings in a Usability Testing are lessened.
Consider this scenario:
It is recommended that a UI Review is conducted on a working product rather than on a prototype or mock-up because this puts the reviewer in the context of actual usage and not just a replicated one.
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Months before the big day, I’ve heard a song, ‘Good Morning’ by Jah Rule – right there and then, I imagined it to be one of our wedding songs. In fact, it inspired me to compile all the songs that I dedicate to Jaycelle. One of those was ‘Hold My Hand’ by Hootie and the Blowfish. From there, the compilation grew and grew that I was able to categorize it by Preparation, Ceremony, and Reception. Over the years we’ve shared so many songs together, mostly from me and when I dedicate it to her, she would instantly like it. Some songs were soundtracks from movies we mutually like upon watching.
In fact that is how we started. During her 1st few weeks at LWS, we have gotten each other’s Yahoo! Messenger IDs and I would share some MP3s with her – songs that I find with mushy lyrics – songs that only sentimental types would like. These songs didn’t have consistent genres – from Tracy Chapman’s The Kiss to Chances by Athlete.
Now, on our 1st wedding anniversary I chanced upon a very apt song by Ed Sheeran – Thinking Out Loud. It prompted me to compile another 28-track mixtape for our 1st year. Came in second is Rico Blanco’s Time for You. Stars aligned for me to hear these songs and dedicate it to her.
I’m in the process of letting go/disposing of/getting rid of/selling stuff that I no longer need around the house. In line with this activity, I signed up for two online shops, namely: OLX and Tackthis. Both offer free registration so I went on to set up my online shops.
Just a disclaimer, this blog post does not intend to rigorously compare the two services – I would simply like to document my experience as a user/seller – specifically the noticeable stuff whether positive or negative. Also, this could be an ongoing piece of “review” as I go along with this new adventure of garage selling on the internet.
