Varshini_Thangaraj - UX & UI (Level 2) Pathway

WEEK1_ UI/UX TEAM 3 -Varshini Thangaraj

Technical Area & Knowledge gained:

  1. Gained immense knowledge and insights from all the kick off meetings by the mentors.

  2. Understood UX strategy and UX design in terms of design thinking framework.

  3. Got a clear understanding about the various UX research methods used and also about the various stages of UX design.

  4. Conducted secondary research on bioinformatics and got a fair idea about the R shiny app .

  5. Went through the module thoroughly for week1.

Tools used: discord, google slides, notion, zoom, micro board.

Soft skills : Team work, communication skills

Achievements:

  1. With the teams effort we were able to approach candidates from the bioinformatics team.

  2. Conducted secondary research on bioinformatics.

  3. Gained wonderful insights about UI/UX research and design.

Goals for week2:

  • To do Primary research and conduct interviews with the candidates from the bioinformatics team.

Hurdles faced:

  1. I found it slightly hard at the beginning while using and navigating through the stem away portal, but now its become much simpler.

  2. As all my teammates were from different time zones it was initially a bit hard to coordinate for the meetings, but now we have discussed and worked out timings that will suit everyone.

Thank you

UI/UX Team3 -SELF ASSESMENT-WEEK2: VARSHINI THANGARAJ

Technical Area

  1. Got wonderful insights on how to conduct semi structured interviews from the mentors during the
  2. kick off sessions.
  3. UI/UX primary research methods
  4. Making affinity maps
  5. Conducting interview with the bioinformatic team member
  6. Gaining more insight into the Bioinformatics Pathway project

Tools-

  1. Stem-away Platform
  2. Discord
  3. Notion
  4. Miro
  5. Google Drive
  6. Zoom

Soft Skills-

  1. Communication skills
  2. Teamwork and collaboration.
  3. Networking
  4. Time management
  5. Project Management

Tasks Completed & Achievements

  1. Conducted a semi structured interview with one of the participants from the bioinformatics team.
  2. Recorded the interview and made notes.
  3. Understood the pain points and shortcomings of existing solutions.
  4. Gained insights on the team’s usability and development goals
  5. Discussed possible design interventions to cater to the needs and goals of the Bioinformatics
  6. team.
  7. Created an affinity map from the collected interview data and brainstorming sessions.
  8. Presented one of the slides during the week 2 deliverables session.

4. Hurdles:

  1. Dealing with time zone differences for meeting up with team members
  2. Deciding a platform to conduct interviews

UI/UX Level 2 Team3 -SELF ASSESMENT-WEEK3: VARSHINI THANGARAJ

Technical Area:

  1. Learned to use and work with figma.
  2. Learned how to create personas and journey maps.
  3. Got wonderful insights and knowledge from the sessions conducted by the mentors about the job opportunities and interviews in UX.

Tools:

  1. Stem-away Platform
  2. Discord
  3. Notion
  4. Figma
  5. Zoom

Soft Skills:

  1. Creativity
  2. Teamwork and collaboration.
  3. Time management
  4. Thinking out of the box(getting innovative ideas to do the personas and journey maps)
  5. Project Management

Achievements:

  1. We consolidated and analysed the data which we got from the primary research(interviews) and the secondary research to create personas and journey maps.

  2. With the teams effort we were able to complete 2 personas and journey maps in Figma for two core stakeholders.(one was a Project lead Jane Doe and another one was for a student researcher Nancy Shetty)

Goals for week4:

Create story boards and UX Flowcharts for the core stakeholders.

Hurdles:

  1. Dealing with time zone differences for meeting up with team members

  2. Working with figma initially, but now I am quite comfortable working on it

UI/UX Level 2 Team3 -SELF ASSESMENT-WEEK4: VARSHINI THANGARAJ **

Technical Area:

  1. Learned to create storyboards & UX Flowcharts.
  2. Learned to work in figma.
  3. Got wonderful insights and knowledge from the sessions conducted by the mentors.

Tools:

  1. Stem-away Platform
  2. Discord
  3. Miro Board
  4. Figma
  5. Zoom
  6. Lucidchart
  7. Microsoft word
  8. Storyboard Creator

Soft Skills:

  1. Creativity
  2. Teamwork and collaboration
  3. Improved writing skills
  4. Thinking out of the box(getting innovative ideas to do the Storyboards and UX Flowcharts)
  5. Project Management

Achievements:

  1. Created two detailed storyboard’s for 2 core stakeholders .(one was a Project lead Jane Doe and another one was for a student researcher Nancy Shetty).

  2. Created a UX Flowchart for the R shiny Bioinformatics app using Lucidchart.

Goals for week5:

  1. Create a Wireframe.

Hurdles:

  1. Dealing with time zone differences for meeting up with team members
  2. Initially faced a little difficulty while getting ideas to create storyboards, but later enjoyed this process and learnt a lot on how to create storyboard’s and UX Flowcharts.

UI/UX Level 2 Team3 -SELF ASSESMENT-WEEK5: VARSHINI THANGARAJ **

Technical Area:

  1. Learned to create wireframes and wireflows.
  2. Learned to work in figma.

Tools:

  1. Stem-away Platform
  2. Discord
  3. Figma
  4. Zoom
  5. invision app
  6. Microsoft word

Soft Skills:

  1. Creativity
  2. Innovation(thinking out of the box).

Achievements:

Created a wireframe for the Bioinformatics R Shiny App.

Goals for week5:

Create an interactive Wireframe along with user testing.

Hurdles:

Dealing with time zone differences for meeting up with team members.

UI/UX Level 2 Team3 -SELF ASSESMENT-WEEK6: VARSHINI THANGARAJ **

Technical Area:

  1. Learned to create low and high fidelity prototype.
  2. Learned to work with various features and functions of figma.

Tools:

  1. Stem-away Platform
  2. Discord
  3. Figma
  4. Zoom

Soft Skills:

  1. Creativity
  2. Innovation(thinking out of the box).
  3. Patience
  4. Team work
  5. time management

Achievements:

We created a high fidelity prototype with interactions & navigations in figma for the Bioinformatics R Shiny App.

Goals for week6:

Create a interactive final high fidelity prototype in figma along with user testing.

UI/UX Level 2 Team3 -SELF ASSESMENT-WEEK7: VARSHINI THANGARAJ **

Technical Area:

  1. Learned to create high fidelity prototype by adding interactions, animations and navigation features in figma.

  2. Got wonderful insights from the mentors session about mental models that users may make depending on the design of the product.

  3. Learnt the key points and tips needed to make a full fledged, concise, creative and a professional presentation.

Tools:

  1. Stem-away Platform

  2. Discord

  3. Figma

  4. Zoom

  5. google slides

Soft Skills:

  1. Presentation skills

  2. Communication skills

  3. Patience

  4. Team work

Achievements:

  1. Represented team 3 and did a mock presentation on the progress made so far in designing the UX/UI in the presence of the founder and the mentors.

  2. Made note of the feedback given by the mentors and working towards modifying the prototype and as well as creating a professional presentation.

Goals for week8:

  1. Create the final professional presentation.

  2. Perform a little more user testing and finalize the high fidelity prototype design.

UI/UX Level 2 Team3 -SELF ASSESMENT-WEEK8: VARSHINI THANGARAJ **

Technical Area:

  1. Learnt the key points and tips needed to make a full fledged, concise, creative and a professional presentation.

  2. Finalized the design of the final prototype in figma.

Tools:

  1. Stem-away Platform
  2. Discord
  3. Figma
  4. Zoom
  5. google slides

Soft Skills:

  1. Presentation skills
  2. Communication skills
  3. Patience
  4. Team work

Achievements:

  1. We showcased our final presentation and prototype to the mentors during the internal presentation

  2. I really thank all the mentors, leads and the stem away founder who have mentored and helped our entire team to create and complete this project successfully in the span of 8 weeks.

  3. I would also like to thank my team members without whom this project wouldn’t have been successful.

I really enjoyed and learnt a lot throughout the entire process and overall it was a great learning experience.

Looking forward for more opportunities in future through which I could improvise my skills and boost my knowledge.

Thank you