Srikanth's Blog

Book : The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results Authors : Gary Keller, Jay Papasan Epigraph : "If you chase two rabbits, you will not catch either one.” — Russian proverb This is not your typical self-help book, containing random motivation, all over the place. Rarely you come across a book that has a crystal clear purpose for both authors and the readers. (You'll understand the authors' purpose, when you read the book) For now, let's focus on how this can help you as a reader. The One Thing is one of the few books that can have an immediate effect on your life and work. In this noisy world, we're constantly pulled from our purpose due to distractions, a platter-of-options, internet-as-entertainment, doom scrolling, multitasking, constant media manipulation, and people as well as brands turning your inbox into their to-do lists. The list goes on and it's designed to work against you.  If you're just wandering and directio...

Book : Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About The World - And Why Things Are Better Than You Think Authors : Hans Rosling, Ola Rosling, and Anna Rosling  We're used to the constant media portrayal, about how the world is only getting worse by the day, that there's no hope for us, and several other bad things that are constantly broadcasted across mass media. Nobody reports when things are normal. This is a fantastic book to see the world in a new light. For example, nobody reports when there's no crime, and all is well. There's no need to in the first place, which is the point being made in this book. We're fed by media only when there's bad events. This is negativity bias, as defined by the Author. You can find more detailed examples in the book. The author has given us a new perspective in understanding the changing world and measuring progress, through in-depth research on a range of subjects that impact our world and our image of it.  We don't ne...

Product designers should be in a position to write an essay about every module or component they intend to design. The essay should capture the why, what, and for whom they are designing a solution. A clear response to why only a certain pattern solves a specific problem in a given context needs documentation. What are the benefits and tradeoffs, and most importantly, how does the solution fit into the user experience strategy, product strategy and overall business strategy. The internet is never short of one thing. Templates! Random templates are not design solutions. Every business demands a unique UX strategy. Delivering this strategy is a buildup of taking contextual design decisions by product designers and product owners. Documenting design decisions and backing them with logic and evidence, builds your credibility and influence in the organization.   "The Why" is of extreme importance. An essay should highlight how your design decisions can achieve your product metrics...

For the unversed, with certain videos on YouTube you can mouse hover the video player slider and explore how the "most replayed" feature works. My observations are based on being a YouTube content consumer and a product designer by profession.   1) Impact on Behaviour For starters, do you think this feature is designed to create certain user behaviour or is this reinforcing latent user behaviour? I think, this feature is creating a new digital-video-consumption behaviour by observing peer viewing patterns. Every video seems to be generating a specific viewing behaviour. The system seems to be averaging and highlighting this behaviour for further consumption, more observation and pattern correction. (Data generated by users is presented back to the users by the system) While this might look like a simple feature on the surface, I think this feature can influence users beyond compare and has the potential to create a psychological impact on users and eventually irreversible so...

Filmmaking is a versatile art form encompassing various formats: including feature films, television shows, music videos, commercials, social media videos, and animation. While this article is specifically for film directors who want to make narrative feature films, the fundamental principles of visual grammar are universal and can be applied across mediums. Let's look at the 5 ways you can learn filmmaking and nurture the skills of this highly demanding subject and craft. I don't see one way as better than the others. In fact, combining all these 5 ways in the right proportions is your best bet forward in terms of building creative confidence and competence. Filmmaking might sound and look entertaining for the outside world. However this is a highly serious business, with lots at stake, and one which demands a continuous learning mindset. It's good to respect the masters who have laid the foundational rules and defined the universal visual grammar of film. Equally, one sho...

Having a not-to-do list is more important than a to-do list. In fact, this works as the premise for all your to-do lists and helps you build relevant and efficient to-do lists. You need to build a framework that caters to your peace of mind and definition of success. Here's my list. Ask permission Seek validation Follow templates Please everyone Chase trends Build your not-to-do list.  Create the right conditions for your personal and professional success.

In an earlier article, we spoke about the two-pronged approach for UX practitioners . Now, let's deep dive into the first approach and see, how AI assistance can be leveraged to optimize and accelerate an ideal UX design workflow. This article is not about the tools available in the market, rather it's more about the design methods. Tools change! (Tools: Gen AI websites, Figma plugins, etc) I believe that we need to use AI — only if the model can do an above-average job in terms of output, and in circumstances where speed is paramount from a UX delivery standpoint. Else, there's no point in seeking AI assistance. The whole idea of AI assistance should be business-purpose driven or by complementing core-skills of a UX practitioner, and not be any other measure. So, use AI wisely and seek its assistance only when you strongly think and feel that — it can significantly empower you, in your work outcomes. Disclaimer: I haven't tested these ideas. However these ideas are ...

UX practitioners need to embrace the almost ubiquitous AI with a two-pronged approach. Unlike other departments in an organization, UX practitioners need to take a highly practical approach to achieve both internal and external design objectives. With changing times, we need to change our practices as well. AI Assistance : Optimise and accelerate design workflow with AI tools

Today I have set myself some goals.  Create 50 YouTube videos and 50 blog posts. Right now, I am at 10% on YouTube and around 25% on the blog front. The idea is to focus only on creating and not spend worrying about the outcomes. Let's see where this goes and what kind of creative possibilities this opens up. I just posted on LinkedIn about the same and I'm looking forward to revisit these LinkedIn posts once I achieve these targets. Here is the screenshot for reference. BTW do connect on LinkedIn . I'm quite active on the platform.  LinkedIn The whole idea of content creation is taking initiative, creating, and also creating the right conditions that can open up new possibilities. Hence the name: Creator. What's the point of calling yourself a creator, if you can't commit your time and energy to the creative process? Building something new is a marathon, not a sprint. I'm off to a good start, bolstered by encouraging data from both my YouTube channel and websit...

Right from the opening, we're immediately drawn into the mind of the assassin and his lonely and dark world. His entire world is his body and mind, and a soul if there's one — as quoted by the killer. The movie is one long inner monologue, with scarce dialogue between characters, plenty of silence, and all we experience is the isolated, silent, patient, and persistent world of the killer. He lives by certain self-defined principles of morality and does not believe in anything else. His self-talk is what keeps the narrative moving forward. This film is a great example for film students who might want to learn in depth about a subjective point-of-view. The audience is deeply drawn into the killer's head and you constantly see, hear, and feel his experience. The intercuts between the objective point-of-view and subjective point-of-view shots replicate the character's visual and aural experience for the audience. You can hear the diegetic sound of music playing on his earph...

By and large, the user experience of your organization, product, service, or system depends on how effectively can a UX practitioner collaborate within the organization. Design is a function of organization-wide collaboration, shared vision, and coherent action towards business objectives. Ideally a UX practitioner should operate away from the desk (mostly); and that's how one can differentiate between a seasoned UX practitioner from the novice — those who are mostly staring at a screen to solve a problem, that is actually beyond screens. UX is beyond screens — it's an understanding of your ecosystem and all related systems. Having said that, here's 10 ways to improve your UX, right now. All it takes is passionate collaboration, keen observation, and extensive documentation in this approach. After all, UX design is understanding the user, brand, and business objectives and solving problems collaboratively. Most of your user-research opportunities are available right before ...