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Information and Digital Design
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gaurav@schmizz.net |
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Designing the User Experience for Orkut Communities
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Guide Vinai Kumar |
Sponsonr Google India Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore
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Social networking has quickly become the mode individuals are using to share and communicate with others for a variety of reasons. Orkut is India’s largest social networking website. Orkut is currently undergoing a massive redesign. The objective is to increase communication and conversation and improve the overall user experience.
My project, a subset of this larger endeavor, focused on designing a vision for a new user experience on Orkut communities. A critical part of this new experience is to engage users in communities that they find interesting. I feel that communities have great potential and can be a key distinguishing feature between competing social networking websites. While features like scraps, photo sharing and status updates all foster one-to-one and one-to-many communication, communities are the hub for many-to-many communication or group conversations around shared interests.
A strong background in information design led me to emphasize the role of information in designing user experiences and then to look at these experiences from an interaction design perspective. I first identified design opportunities and outlined usage scenarios. Subsequently, I followed an iterative design process and developed my ideas from information and interaction blueprints and wireframes through detailed visual mocks and design specifications. The final prototype is currently copyright protected with Google India Pvt. Ltd and cannot be disclosed here.
My mentors provided me with UE, engineering and product perspectives leading to a valuable interdisciplinary approach to my design vision. I learned to incorporate and balance their concerns. I have also acquired an appreciation for the importance of constraints in the design process. |
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