Mandar Apte

UI/UX Designer from Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.

Category: User Experience Design

User experience design (UXD or UED) is the process of enhancing user satisfaction by improving the usability, accessibility, and pleasure provided in the interaction between the user and the product. User experience design encompasses traditional human–computer interaction (HCI) design, and extends it by addressing all aspects of a product or service as perceived by users.

  • Why we don’t do Pilot Projects or so called Free Mockup Designs? & Why Pilot Projects & Free Mockup design doesn’t work?

    Few collection of thoughts from my experience of design freelancing & pursuing design processes & doing design oriented business for living for last more than 4 years.

    When somebody asks for Mockup before starting any paid & finalised project,

    Following situations can be seen & felt by designer

    • Client is unsure about prospect of project
    • Client has unpractical approach towards project
    • Client lack proper investment & money
    • Client is hesitant about future of project
    • It’s just real waste of time if you are not going to paid for it
    • There is confusion in conversation of respective parties client & designer
    • Time is blocked by unpaid Mockup design process
    • Designer can’t take more interesting & paid work because he is occupied by just making Mockups
    • Mockup has no value for showcasing in real world because people want what is more sellable content & design & finished product

    Now you can understand why we don’t do Mockups for any clients or any prospective client.

    Thanks & Regards
    Mandar Apte

    –

    by

    Mandar Apte
    , , , , ,

  • User Experience Notes from implementation of Google Adsense in website

    I have realized after implementing Google Adsense in my blog with right background with borders while matching it to style of Adsense ads they are surrounding to,

    CTR i.e. Click Through Rate is increased now with 100%

    I am getting good results & comments offline & online, Nobody feels presence of ads distracting or useless or nobody asks about why I am using Google Adsense.

    Simple answers I use to give that to monetize my blog & fund my online projects with website’s self-sufficiency.

    But I now can tell you that use right CSS Backgrounds in Website’s HTML & Color Styles in Adsense Templates your CTR will increase & you will find difference in few days or two.

    Best Luck… Design Buddies…!!!

    Thanks & Regards
    Mandar Apte

    –

    by

    Mandar Apte
    , , ,

  • Windows 8 & OSX 10.8, The Design Similarities & Differences

    Some of My Observations About Design of Modern PC Operating Systems:
    After watching OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion Preview & Windows 8 consumer preview, Here are few of my observations about their design…

    Windows 8 Preview Video

    OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion Preview

     
    Similarities

    Gestures
    Now All Mobile or PC (Desktop & Laptop) Apps & OS has built in Gestures support.

    Apps Centered
    With popularization of concept of ‘App Store’ & it’s success they switch to App Centered OS i.e. Replicating iOS (iPad, iPhone & iPod Touch) experience on Desktop & Laptop

    Touch
    With introduction ‘Magic Trackpad’ for Desktop ‘Touch’ OS & Apps are hot favorites of all consumers

    Intel based
    Now Macintosh & Windows are intel based architecture with Multithreading & Multicore technologies.

    Mobile Operating System
    As Apple calls OSX a Mobile operating system as they sale more laptop macintoshes than Desktops like iMac & Mac Pro

    Multitouch
    Multitouch, A Touch & Gestures with more than one finger is hot property on OS market now a days

    Differences

    it’s Windows
    After all Windows 8 OS is after all ‘Windows’

    Tablet Or PC
    W8 Works on Tablet & Desktop & Laptop but OSX 10.8 only on Laptop & Desktop

    Finally I have to admitt that I am writing this on my iMac, So for me Mac OSX is right choice Operating System & Personal Computer. Like Apple nobody designs hardware & software & integrates it as fluently than Apple itself.

    So I choose OSX as my present & future Operating System…!!! What About You? Do let me know with comments….!!!

    Thanks & Regards
    Mandar Apte

    –

    by

    Mandar Apte
    ,

  • Design Inspirations: Getting Inspired…!!! to do design & finally learning from it…!!!

    Today with broadband connection on my iMac & connected to the World Wide Web fearlessly with my own website & design blog… Switching from one website to another, reading blogs, going through Twitts, reading Facebook updates… Sometimes I feel It’s really easy to get inspirations through web if you do it right…

    Not like olden days when you only have to visit art gallery exhibition to see art & get inspired with…

    Here are few links that I find as inspiration to learn & do design…

    Apple Developer
    A website dedicated to Apple Mac, iOS & safari developers. Registration is free & site is loaded with deleopment learning videos & ebook learning resources… So happy Learning…!!!

    Adobe Developer Connection
    Adobe’s website do feature developer resources to develop for their adobe products or just learn to design using thei products like Photoshop, Illustrator etc.
    Adobe Developer connect is do present on iTunes Podcast Directory… You can find it here.

    Adobe TV
    Adobe TV is like adobe’s version of YouTube but all gathered to learn & get inspired about designing & learningthrough their products.

    Animation Mentor Blog
    You may know ‘Animation Mentor’ as an Online Animation Training school for learning Character Animation. But they do featured their own blog which is worth reading & bookmarking. Here is link for ‘Animation Mentor Webinar’. Here is link for ‘Animation Mentor Podcasts’

    (more…)

    –

    by

    Mandar Apte
    , , , , , , , , ,

  • How to learn to Design & Develop for iOS Devices like iPhone & iPad

    Here are two free ways to learn to design & develop for iOS devices like iPad, iPhone & iPod Touch.

    Apple Developer Videos

    I know you definitely know Apple’s Website but there is one website dedicated to developers only called developer.apple.com

    As you may know Apple has ‘World Wide Developer Conference’ i.e. WWDC every year dedicated only to Developers on Apple Platform. Lucky thing is that Apple releases it’s WWDC keynote & learning session videos on web through their own developer site which is mentioned above.

    To access those videos you have to have ‘Apple ID’.

    That means you have to register on ‘Apple Developer Website’.

    Videos are available on web to view or You can download it to your iTunes application.

    developervideos

    Here is iPhone Development videos on iTunes

    (more…)

    –

    by

    Mandar Apte
    , , , , ,

  • Wondering How to give design Interview? Here are few Design Interview Notes that will help you to prepare for the same

    Here are few words about Design Job Interview preparation from my own experiences.

    Here are my two earlier blog post that will allow you to prepare Resume & Portfolio

    1. How to write your Design Resume?
    2. Creating & Choosing Your First Design Portfolio Format & updating it over the years

    Details of Preparation

    • Prepare yourself for interview a day before on interview date
    • Cycle through in your mind what are your capabilities, your professional goal in life etc.
    • Go through your portfolio to see it is in perfect order for presentation
    • Read your resume to see there is no spelling mistakes or something missing from it etc.
    • Preparation can also start with having own domain & personal dedicated blog & portfolio website that showcase your work handsomely.

    Preparing specific job related Resume
    It’s not bad idea to have separate resume for different domains of Design dedicated to each i.e. If you work in this three domain called Web Design, Animation Film Design & Graphic Design then you can prepare three different resumes dedicated to each three domains.

    Preparing specific job related Portfolio
    If you have three types of resumes dedicated three different domains that can also go with three differently designed ‘Portfolio’ dedicated to three separate domain of design. e.g If you are going for post of Web Designer then surely you can show Web Design Portfolio & Web Design Resume to recruiter to tell him you have mastered the web technologies like HTML5, CSS3, ActionScript & even design tools like Adobe Dreamweaver, Adobe Flash, Adobe Photoshop etc.

    (more…)

    –

    by

    Mandar Apte
    , , , ,

  • How College Drop Outs changed the Design itself

    Just Today (i.e. 25th August 2011) after coming home I read the News through RSS feeds of respective companies…

    The big News was, “Steve Jobs Resigns from Apple’s CEO Position”

    First though come to my mind was, There will be no more Apple Keynote Events Starring Steve Jobs no more breath taking announcements or new product launch… he dominated style called Marketing like Steve Jobs, A Stetment like – ‘It Just Works!’, ‘And there is one more thing’

    So I sat down & made one study about Charisma of these people from silicon Valley called Steve Jobs 7 Bill Gates. So, here is small study,

    A college dropout like Steve jobs has contributed to design industry…

    Steve Jobs – Apple CEO & Founder
    After founding Apple in 1976, A company dedicated to create Personal Computer revolution with Apple 1, Apple 2 & Lisa & then reinventing personal computer with Macintosh at 1984 with Graphical User Interface was milestone for Personal Computing Revolution from which Designing on Computer started & took center stage.

    Here is image of Steve Jobs with First Macintosh

    stevewithmac84

    After Returning to Apple on 1997 after gap of 17 years, apple’s product line with great Industrial design has evolved immensely with first iMac, iBooks, & Power Books. Today Apple Dominates Personal Computing era with their MacBook Pro, iMac & Mac Pro.

    Today’s iMac Design is so immensely revolutionary that competitors can’t resist or even think beyond design of iMac’s Design

    Here is iMac’s Design:

    (more…)

    –

    by

    Mandar Apte
    ,

  • Design Tools Comparison

    Today I decided to compare different design tools or computer applications available in market to just to differentiate them with each other

    Before even talking about Computer Design Applications you can guess what big companies are involved in to developing them, examples are Adobe, Autodesk, Apple, Microsoft

    Sometimes as Graphic Designer, Web Designer, Animator is really hard to understand what tools to choose before even starting a design process but you have to keep in mind that tool are just tools not an design solution that will dictate your design process but it will just help you to do your job done.

    Comparison of Design Tools can be made on following basis:

    1. Price
    2. Ease of Use
    3. Popularity
    4. Type (Raster or Vector or Voxel)
    5. Apps’ Availability over particular Computer Operating Systems
    6. Compatibility with other file format & tools
    7. Features

    Price
    Price of paid apps like Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator are around $ 1,000. Paid apps may cost too much to your pocket if you are starting a fresh as a freelancer. But there are other opensource apps may just cost nothing to you pocket & save lot of investment in digital assets like apps

    (more…)

    –

    by

    Mandar Apte
    , , , , , ,

  • What is right PC or Mac for Design i.e. Choosing Your Dream Machine to do Designing & less Computing

    Let me help you to buy your personal computer to do design…!!!

    As Apple’s Boilerplate suggest, ‘Apple ignited the personal computer revolution with the Apple II, then reinvented the personal computer with the Macintosh. Apple continues to lead the industry with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system, and iLife, iWork and professional applications. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store, has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.’

    It all started with Macintosh & Mac Paint…

    But in decade of 90’s Microsoft’s Windows system dominated the User Interface Driven & icon & folder driven computing.

    But When you want to buy a personal computer to do design tasks in your work routine you will want to buy a better computer with great processing power, a large display to occupy big images than to just minimizing & maximizing images, with good internet & networking support, big amount of RAM, Larger capacity hard drive.

    If you go by cost factor attached to buying a personal computer then assembled computer will win the race as computer hardware will cost around $500 & installing a linux operating system will add no cost to the bill. but you have to keep in mind the Adobe doesn’t support Linux operating system so most Adobe Apps like Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Flash will not work & support Linux.

    Then you will say what about Dell, HP & Sony computers…??? Well don’t they just are another type of Branded Assembled Computer who are using Windows 7 Operating system???

    (more…)

    –

    by

    Mandar Apte
    , , , ,

  • Creating & Choosing Your First Design Portfolio Format & updating it over the years

    Being in field of ‘Design’ where person identified by his work… So documenting your own work in some kind of portfolio or just collection of well designed Artworks will work for Artist & his career.

    In today’s world of digital art having portfolio in tradition form like printed artworks on fine paper sticked inside leather jacket & having own domain name & website dedicated to showcase portfolio online will build credibility to artist’s professional career

    First I will describe what details that portfolio should describe on his portfolio

    1. First Page with Introduction to Artist & his Background
    2. Title of Artwork
    3. Brief Given
    4. Method of Approaching to Work & some details
    5. Nice High Quality Screen Shots of work
    6. Nice Layout & Arrangement of Artworks
    7. Year of Design
    8. Copyright Notice
    9. Artist’s Contact Details
    10. Credits
    11. A Thank You Note

    Here we look in to two ways of building portfolio, Digitally & in Traditional printed form.

    Digital Portfolio
    A Digital Portfolio may contains of two platforms PDF (Portable Document Format) PDF is Open Standard of Document Exchange, (I will not recommend PPT – Power Point Presentation as it needs Microsoft Powerpoint installer on display machine) & HTML (Website)

    Portfolio in PDF File
    You can design portfolio in Raster Format through Photoshop & then export it to PDF or Design Portfolio in CorelDRAW, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign & then export it in to multipage PDF. Having consistent user experience will definitely work to identify you with your artwork.

    (more…)

    –

    by

    Mandar Apte
    , , , , ,

Search

Pages

Social Media