Hi, I am Neeraj. I am a UX Designer and a Computer Engineer.
I currently work as a software engineer at Lockheed Martin. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from University of Maryland, Baltimore County. I studied Architecture for a year and have been graphic designing for 6 years. Iʼm a passionate User Experience Designer with knowledge in the user-centered design. I advocate for user needs through planning, design and implementation ensuring all output reflects a solid understanding of UX principles. I have a strong desire to inspire creativity, innovative thinking and offer compelling solutions that translate into building worldclass interactive experiences and products across all digital platforms. I like tinkering with art and technology.
Personal Projects
Google New Look
UX Design
JD Accounting
Rebranding
Linking Faces to Names
User Experience Design
Zara Website Concept
UI Design
Baby App
Interaction Design
Calorie Calculator
Interaction Design
Photoshop and Graphic Work
Logo Design
Typography
Arc de Triomphe
Photoshop
Procreate iPad Drawing
Digital Art
Skills
Research
2 years of experience with User Research, Contextual Inquiry, Game Research, Usability Evaluation, and Data Analysis.
Design
3 years of experience in Visual Design, primarily focusing on User Interface Design. Skilled at design and prototyping tools.
Design Prompt: At the beginning of each new semester or school year, teachers are faced with the challenge of remembering names for a large number of new students. Names & Faces is an attempt to design a digital experience to help an educator match faces to names, with the goal of shortening the time needed to reach complete un-aided accuracy.
PROCESS
Timeline: 2 weeks
LITERATURE
How does memory work?
There are three main stages in the formation and retrieval of memory: Encoding or registration (receiving, processing and combining of received information)
Storage (creation of a permanent record of the encoded information)
Retrieval, recall or recollection (calling back the stored information in response to some cue for use in a process or activity)
What tricks do people use?
Listen carefully. Focus on the name when they first say it.
Repeat the name out loud.
Create a memorable link to something popular. Ex. curious George.
Visualize their name - picture it written across their face.
Use Mnemonics (Dale works in sales), or alliterations (Joann from Jersey)
Associate names with things about people: Ex. Margarita runs a bar.
Interviewing Teachers
I interviewed 3 teachers currently teaching classes of sizes ranging from 20 - 100 students. Interview questions revolved around the trouble teachers face while remembering names, the workarounds they use, their personalized strategies, and the importance they attach to students' names. I arranged the interview notes into an Affinity Diagram, and found some key insights:
It is important for me to remember students’ names.
Recollecting names helps me as a teacher.
I have developed strategies to remember students’ names.
Some students’ names are easier to remember than others.
I find it difficult to remember names, and work hard to store and recall students’ names.
Competitive Analysis
Apart from understanding what teachers need, I looked into what tools already exist in the market that have attempted to solve the problem. I analyzed each of these tools by using them, and reading user reviews. I made a list of what works about them, and what the gaps are.
Tool
What works
Call reminder application that you can add contacts to.
Use it to add contacts and notes about them. Example: “co-worker on the third floor with the office plant” is named Chelsea.
Remember Names & Faces Of People Through Awesome Quizzes.
Categorize people - Church/work. Pull photos from social network. Add them to a list and test yourself on their names.
Improves your memory of people's names using repetition and mnemonics modelled from memory 'athletes' and studies of the human memory.
Add contacts. Import their social network info. Search by info.
Import data from social network.
Send challenges to friends. Train & quiz yourself, keep score if you want to.
What are the gaps
Search by notes is not very effective.
It requires time and focus to add every person’s information.
Not ideal for teachers, since they will need to add the entire class.
Nature of quizzes inappropriate for teacher-student interaction.
Doesn’t work for contacts that are not on social network / don’t use real photos.
Doesn’t work for contacts that are not on social network / don’t use real photos.
Doesn’t track progress.
Very beta, search does not work.
Users reported preferring normal contact saving.
Not feasible for a large group of people.
Doesn’t work for contacts that are not on social network / don’t use real photos.
Very little and impersonal information for quiz generation.
Research Insights
Combining all the insights from contextual interviews, literature review and competitive analysis, I gathered the following insights which directed my design ideas:
It is important for me to remember students’ names, since it helps me as a teacher.
I find it difficult to remember names, and work hard to store and recall students’ names.
I have developed strategies to remember students’ names.
Some students’ names are easier to remember than others.
There exist several tools in the market that aid people in remembering names, but none of these are focused specifically on students and teachers.
There are several memory tricks that can help me remember students’ names better.
I feel proud when I can remember all my students’ names.
Concept Model
Based on the findings from the idea-testing exercise, I built a concept model for the envisioned product. I combined ideas based on what worked and changed about them, what didn't work.
Wireframing
High-fidelity Mock-ups
Logo Design
Design Prompt: Designed a logo for a photography company.
New Logo
Timeline: 2 hours
Arc de Triomphe
Photoshop Challenge: Cleaning up the background at Arc de Triomphe.
Disappearing Cars
Timeline: 2 hours
JD Accounting
Rebranding: A local accounting firm was in need of rebranding their image.
End Result
Timeline: 1 week
Calorie Calculator
Interaction Design: Everyone loves to eat but stay in shape. This app will help people calculate their calories to either gain weight, lose weight, or remain the same.
End Result
Timeline: 1 week
Zara Website Concept
UI Design: Giving a new look to Zara's website.
End Result
Timeline: 1 week
Baby App
Interaction Design: This project was made for parents to be able to track their baby’s health and find out the problem their baby is experiencing.
End Result
Timeline: 3 week
Digital Art Drawing
Drawing: Using Procreate on my iPad Pro I created this Digital Art Drawing.
