Brian Dys

Blog

  • The Outline: That Thing Before the Wire Frame

    As UI designers, it’s easy to jump into sketching UIs through wire frames. Afterall, UIs are commonly visual. But taking a careful step of planning before sketching is a rewarding way of ensuring that the information embedded into the UI is well-thought of.

    The Outline
    An example of the Outline used in PinoyHoops App

    Just like it making speeches or writing articles, the writer may create an outline. For UI designers, the Outline may be accomplished by these simple steps:

    • Step 1: What do you want to show the users
      Or what do the users want to see? Based on personas, list down the things that will help them achieve their goals or accomplish tasks.
    • Step 2: Content / component inventory
      Using the list in Step 1, break down each piece of content that will be put into the UI. You may also start with bigger groups thru components.
    • Step 3: Information architecture
      Now, rank the content and components based on the user’s task flows and based on importance
    • Step 4: Interaction
      Plot down connections between content and components. Ask yourself “what will happen if the user interacts with a component?”

    Each step, in general, is a task of prioritization – which is appears first? Which comes first? Which is not important enough to be the last?

    After having a list bearing the interaction of content and components, it will now be easier to sketch its corresponding user interface or the Wire Frame.

  • The Week in Review: Week 1, 2016

    Our new year celebration was a minimalistic one – having some of our relatives who used to celebrate at our place celebrated at their other side of the family. It was nonetheless meaningful, having our newborn asleep peacefully in the middle of the firecracker noises.

    Finally, we visited Shiphrah with Bryce in tow (he’s been travelling with us since day one!). Too bad the midwives and a nurse who took care of us were off-duty – so we left our presents underneath their Christmas tree. It feels like it’s our second home – Jaycelle having had her round-the-clock labour in room number 1 and all – how can we detach ourselves from this home? It’s one of the longest days of our lives!

    Bryce, nicknamed Buchokikok, turned one month on the ninth of January. It feels like forever – having no past and future, only present. We have lost count of diaper changes and have grown accustomed to the smell of pee and poop. We can flip him like a pancake if he wanted cradling and burping. We can sleep all three together in our bed without hurting one another. It’s still a long way to go but it sure is lovely to see him smile while sleeping and addictive to smell the baby scent.

    Personally, I did a mini-reflection about my own personal life. It feels like my brain was reformatted and rewired by the whole nine months of preparing for our baby’s arrival. But little did we know that it was just the beginning of real sleepless nights or lack of sleeps. All of our energies were put into caring for a little human being. Thanks to my company, Voyager, we could work from home apart from my paternity leave. So my reflection turned out ok. I barfed all the dreams that I could remember I had the previous months – all into several sheets of paper. I prioritized the list that when given the chance to focus on two things only, I chose family and work. Duh! But there are other options really.

    Twenty-sixteen can only be exciting – with our baby’s surprising developments and other professional challenges and opportunities, the best is yet to come.

  • Reformatted

    It’s 2016 and it seems like my brain was reformatted, rewired into a blank slate. Blank but unable to accept new records, new writings.

    It’s difficult to feel as if I’m waiting for all my plans and dreams to jump into conclusion and become true – just thinking about beginning hinders me from starting.

    It’s ironic for a new year – when resolutions and fresh starts are timely.

    Maybe I need a better sleeping pattern? Our little bugger (who came around just around the corner of December 2015) has made himself manageable already (at least for me who does not breastfeed).

    I’ll begin with simple tasks and simple goals – better sleeping pattern!

  • Jaycelle’s Birthday 2015

    2015 - Jaycelle's Birthday Cover Photo
    Facebook Event Cover
    2015 - Jaycelle's Birthday Invitation
    Invitation

  • It’s Rivermaya! It’s Rico Blanco! No, it’s Japsuki!

    Pinoy Pop (2015) by japsuki

    Pardon my ignorace but the two former personalities (Rivermaya and Rico Blanco) are who I’m familiar with. Then I wikisurfed to Japsuki. (more…)

  • I Passed the Post Exam of GWT Training of Trainers!

    Awhile ago, I received a surprise in my email – that I passed the ToT post exam.

    The little sacrifice of waking up early in the mornin, driving 46km to the venue, simultaneously participating in the discussion and working remotely – paid off.

    I am now qualified as a lab assistant during the Web Development Training. (more…)

  • Instant Pedestrian Lane

    Instant Pedestrian Lane
    A worker blow-torching white stripes on the ground as pedestrian lanes. Taken near City of Dreams, Macapagal Blvd., Pasay City. 28 October 2015

  • Onesies

    What Is a Dad?
    “What is a dad? You. You is a dad.” written on a card. Sourced from Reddit

    It was another day of going to the office. Early in the morning at six, coming out of the shower I opened our matrimonial closet and saw there hanging at the spotlight the onesies we bought for baby.

    Even before we knew baby’s gender, we picked brightly-colored onesies for three to six months of age. Jaycelle hang it by the closet facing forward so that it will slap me into reality that baby’s on the way.

    And yes it did. Every time it caught me staring at it because I couldn’t believe. Maybe I don’t want to believe that in a few month’s time, someone will join in our lives like an exchange student from a foreign country with the promise of stay.

    It is heart-melting – like the feeling I had when my younger brother came into this world. I wanted to carry him every day at our front yard, under the rising sun before breakfast. I wanted to show him how happy it was to bathe in the rain and under the downspout.

    I needed more slapping.

    And this time, it was a set of onesies for ages zero to three months.

    —

    Would you believe that US has a government agency for Fatherhood?

  • Break

    I want to tell you… Whoo-oo… That I love you…

    You won’t believe it. That was me singing.

    Guess what? I was drunk last night. Maybe I should make this a template.

    I found myself meeting up with my former officemates / drinking buddies, Peachy, Alex, JE, and Badong. Too bad, Mandy retired earlier. These beer-repapips made the tiresome work at the office bearable. Of course, the venue – at Stir-Crazy. I don’t remember shelling out money. Well, there were very little that I remember, anyway.

    Then they all went away except for Peachy who stayed with me and my bottles of beer. Suddenly, my brother texted me; telling me to go to some beer-house at Timog. He needed my drinking-buddy expertise, and my sensible opinions on matters ranging from ants and dinosaurs to end-times religions. But mostly, it’s about love. It’s all about love.

    When people who rarely call you up (to ask you how have you been) suddenly call, ninety percent of the time, they have a problem. And you know what it is about.

    Cutting the long story short, we went home and at 4AM, I went to the other side of the street where the carinderia was still open. I had my dinner, finally. The papaitan was served smokin’ warm. After five minutes of wondering why in the world did I not have rice, I told the girl to give me one cup. I thought I was going to rot there staring at the viand.

    The real moral here is that every Wednesday, I and my friends should have a Stir-Crazy session. That’s what I realized with my genius brain.

    —

    Originally published on Friendster, 18 January 2007

  • Miss

    I miss Something New. A friend borrowed it for a Swatch photo contest.

    I found Cozy But Nozy. I’ll be looking for this whitey in stores; wear it on my left wrist then give it to my girlfriend if she wants it.

    —

    Originally published on Friendster, 04 March 2007