Ruchin Portfolio 2014

RUCHIN SHAH 2014 Portfolio

From the sequence of forms, comes the condition of the mind...

Sutra 24, Chapter 6, Vastusutra Upanishad

RUCHIN SHAH

WORK

EDUCATION

I’m an Information Experience Designer. I create digital experiences and brand identities that delight users and exceed clients’ business goals. Drawing from my experience in information design, data visualisation, graphic design, and applied artistic practices, I am able to provide unique and holistic solutions that are relevant to people in their social, cognitive and cultural context.

May 2013 - present

2009 – 2011

Senior User Experience Designer

Master of Design in Visual Communication

Oct 2012 - Apr 2013

2005 – 2009

User Experience Designer

Bachelor of Fine Arts (Applied Arts)

I have worked on numerous projects in multi-disciplinary teams, assisted young start-ups to blend design thinking in their business strategy & product roadmap, researched opportunities for design intervention, developed games for children and helped co-ordinate international conferences.

Interaction Design Associate- Projects

I aspire to provide engaging and inspiring solutions, to define strategy, improve processes and accelerate adoption, using visuals to communicate my ideas.

May 2010 - Jun 2010

Clarice Technologies, Pune

Clarice Technologies, Pune

IDC, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay

University of Pune, Pune

July 2011 - Oct 2012 Cognizant Technology Solutions, Pune Jan 2011 - Apr 2011

Research Assistant

Centre of Social Media Innovations for Communities (National University of Singapore), Singapore

Graphic Designer

Design Flyover Consulting, Mumbai Feb 2008 -May 2008

SKILLSET Adobe CC: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign CorelDraw X6 FontLab Studio 5 Omnigraffle Copywriting Calligraphy Graphology HTML (beginner)

Event Manager

Creative Art and Production, Pune

ETYMOLOGY

COMPETENCIES

INTERESTS

Sanskrit: Ruchi +een :: Interest + within the self Ruchin = Inherently Interesting

User Experience: Interaction Design, Visual Design Brand Experience: Brand Strategy, Visual Identity Typography and Letterform Design Visual Semiotics

Information Experience Design Design for Cultural Heritage Design Education Concrete and Blank Verse Poetry

PROFILE

LANGUAGES

CONTACT

Single Indian male, aged 26 (DoB: 22 Nov 1987), residing in Pune, India.

English- Proficient Hindi- Proficient Gujarati- Proficient Marathi- Proficient Italian- Beginner

ruch.in ruchin@ruch.in +91 97665 20001 www.be.net/ruchin in.linkedin.com/in/ruchins/

Break-up of Population in Singapore: Chinese: 74%

Malay: 13%

Indian:9.2%

Others 3.8%

Heritage Resources

FOR INDIAN MIGRANTS IN SINGAPORE

Reasons for Migration

Employment

Business

Marriage

Education

Other

Men Women

Migration has been a key factor in human evolution; right from the This project investigates the historical and cultural highlights of stone ages to the information age. Examples from history prove the Indian migration to Singapore and presents the findings in a visual importance of human migration. The study of push and pull factors, narrative. The aim is to probe into the role of designers in mediating community building, multiculturalism and geo-politics becomes the creation and preservation of intangible cultural constructs and even more relevant today and for the future. find out whether there’s an opportunity for design intervention.

It is interesting to observe how migrants define their identities in a new place; how they adjust and interact with a foreign space, socioeconomic structure and unfamiliar cultural practises. A brief look at cultureshock and its impact on migrants reveals problem areas where attention is required.

INFORMATIVE PANELS The research was categorised in 3 broad themes and presented in an exhibition. These talk about the type of people who migrated to Singapore (then called Malaya). It touches upon why and how migrants from India travelled to Singapore over time.

Migrant Stories: This set tells of a few success stories of people who came to Singapore and their experiences while settling down here.

MIGRANT NETWORK CONCEPT

New migrants can find and locate existing members who are migrants themselves. On their own page, they get a map filled with information about people, places and events.

The user can view members who are located in close proximity and ask for a friend request. Once added, they can initiate conversations through chat or email.

Local businesses which might be of use to the migrants, such as Indian restaurants, grocery shops etc. can get listed here. The map acts as a tool to help migrants navigate to that location.

Š Ruchin Shah

How do migrants tackle cultureshock? One of the best way to The idea is to enable new migrants to connect with those who overcome the fear, loneliness and frustration of adjusting to a new have already settled in the destination by harnessing geo-tagging culture is to take the help of others who have experienced the same web technologies. The result was a hybrid networking site concept before you and connect with people who are in a similar condition. which had properties of a community along with a social network.

Tata Classedge

(TESTEDGE) SCHOOL ACADEMIC PLANNING AND MONITORING Interactive teaching material and question bank in the cloud.

Integrated Learning System in Schools

Projects & Activities

Interactive Content

Pen & Paper Methods

An innovative and comprehensive educational solution designed to help teachers deliver high quality instructions, with an effective blend of classroom activities and interactive multimedia

demonstrations. It also provides a platform for schools to plan & track their activities for the entire academic year. It is a new web-based school management and information system which

aims to facilitate educators to make timely decisions that impact student performance while creating a collaborative environment for Principals, Education Co-ordinators and Teachers to work together.

CONTEXTUAL INQUIRY

CURRENT SCENARIO

USER NEEDS AND PRIORITIES Teachers and Senior Teachers - Prepare interactive presentations and modules for classes - Create question papers and conduct exams, tests and quizzes - Evaluate academic and extra curricular performance of students - Quick report creation and viewing for classes and students

Department/Section Heads - Allocate teachers to classes and prepare timetables - Track the curriculum progress for classes in their section

Interviewing principals and teachers from 2 schools near Pune gave us a chance to observe the intricacies of the planning process of an academic year and management of the school. Assimilation of this information helped identify problems currently faced by them.

Filling daily logs, attendance sheets and marksheets is done on paper - making it a repetitive and time-consuming job. Monitoring curriculum and activities is a verbal process - limiting the scope for Planners.

Principals - Define the Academic Year Plan for the entire school - Track the planned schedule and activities in the school - Check the performance of teachers and students

CONCEPT The goal of the product is to enable teachers to utilize their time for teaching rather than administrative tasks. Wherever possible, the system automates data entry and allows filled data to flow to relevant modules of the product. Innovative methods of monitoring students performance help the teacher plan her agenda for the upcoming teaching sessions.

The Principal’s strenous job of academic year planning was eased with the design of features like an automated Time-table maker, Events and Curriculum planner.

WIREFRAMES

The Product has been launched successfully and is being used by schools across India. For more information, visit: http://www.tataclassedge.com/products/tataclassedge.aspx

Š Ruchin Shah

New migrants can find and locate existing members who are migrants themselves. On their own page, they get a map filled with information about people, places and events.

LEARNING ASSISTANT

ONLINE LEARNING MADE ACCESSIBLE AND SIMPLE

KINDLE FIRE

A renowned educational institution based in USA, famous for it’s courses for higher studies and examination preparatory advice wanted to design and develop a Kindle Fire/Android App for students. The aim was to help students take advantage of the instituition’s facilities wherever they go using online channels.

ANDROID 7” TABLET

The App assists the enrolled students with study material and educational support through access to an online library, pushing relevant links and documents over time, discussion board and chat facility with professors etc. which complement their offline learning.

The Visual Design enables users to browse content easily.

Role: Interaction Designer Responsibilities: Interaction Design for Android 2.3 and Kindle Fire Apps.

DESIGN CONCEPT The homepage updates the User with notifications and alerts from the university as well as facilitates the quick launch of the courses the User has signed up for.

Students may participate in online discussion boards along with their peers or professors. This helps in clearing doubts first-hand and hence fosters better understanding.

© Ruchin Shah

Accounts, grades and course details needed to be presented clearly and consistently in tables. The student can browse through or sort the information.

UX Strategy

FRAMEWORK FOR COGNIZANT ONLINE CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

The aim of this engagement was to develop a strategy which would enhance the ties Cognizant has with it’s existing customers using online channels. The solution involved creating a microsite which allows users to come directly to the site for any information about their relationship with Cognizant.

The requirement gathering sessions yielded significant insights into our target users, content, expectations etc. Service offerings were detailed out and were provided as supplementary information using Videos, Podcasts, White Papers and documents which would be of value to the high profile visitors.

Role: Visual Interaction Designer Responsibilities: UX Consulting, Interaction Design, Visual Design

The Login screen uses the Cognizant logo and the client logo to denote the collaboration between them.

On Login, the graphic animates into a globe and welcomes the user to the homepage.

Global Connection: The Hompage features the interactive map pointing to the locations of Cognizant’s current client projects . Articles and media are also updated regularly.

Details of all current projects: Teams, Location, Documents, Diagrams, Status can be viewed on a single page.

Praise “I was blown away from your creative spec and latest thinking for the Credit Suisse microsite.

Congratulations. I think you are all on track and looking forward to the next update.

You are developing something unique and world class and will make a positive impact to the relationship Cognizant has with <client name>.” -Perzon Mody, AVP - Projects, CTS

Achievements The project recieved visibility across top management in CTS (including the CEO)

© Ruchin Shah

Testimonials, Case Studies and Articles are regularly updated to make the visitors aware of Cognizant’s achievements and performance.

Airlines Network

ACTIONABLE DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR AIRLINE COMPANIES Flights

Airline Network

Point of Sale

Channels

In the aviation domain, a Country Manager is appointed by an Airline company to head the complete operations of an area of responsibility, including sales/marketing, airport operations and accounting functions.

This app is a handy tool for the Country Manager to monitor his Flights, Points of Sales and Sales Channels across the country and take decisions based on analysing the KPIs. The app enables the discovery of irregularities using BI Alerts and the comparison of KPIs with targets. The design goal was to make the information contextual and streamlined for the country managerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s consumption.

SCREEN-FLOWS

MIND MAP

The aim was to achieve a contextual flow of information through the app to facilitate rich information on every click.

The mind map helped us understand the various information chunks and how they were communicating with each other within the app.

CONCEPT WIREFRAMES

All the key use cases were covered and the user journey was explained with the help of wireframes.

Information Visualisation and Charts were proposed to facilitate easy consumption of data.

VISUAL DESIGN

The Visual Design was created for Retina Displays and adhering to iOS7 guidelines of Flat Design.

Virtual Labs

REMOTE ACCESS LABORATORY AND SIMULATION PORTAL

The Ministry of Human Resource Development in India started the The need was to generate concepts for improving the user Virtual Labs Project to enhance the quality of engineering education experience for products of the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Virtual Labsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; project. The products in the country by developing curriculum based virtual laboratories consist of The Web Portal, Institute Pages, Laboratory Pages and the and web courses. simulated Virtual Experiment Environment.

The laboratories contain equipment which can be accessed by students anywhere in the country through an online portal to simulate experiments as if in a real laboratory.

CURRENT STATE ANALYSIS Heuristic Inquiries were conducted to detect inaccuracies in Hierarchy, Structure and Order of the online content and irregularities in the interface of the web-pages. A brief report was submitted to elucidate these errors and investigate corrective measures to bring about improvement in the usability of the Virtual Labs.

TO-BE STATE IDEATION A new information hierarchy and task flow was proposed so that the user may swiftly be able to login, book his time slot and reach the experiement environment.

Virtual Labs Universal Login

Search

Feedback

Information Visualisation

Objectives

Subject Content

Introduction

Institute Pages Other Institutes

Conclusion

Aim Theory

IIT Bombay

Home

Register

Login

Login Page

Contact

Login Problems

Video/Animation

References

Assignment Procedure

Pre requisites Instructions

Pratham

SBHS

Experiment Page

Experiment Environment Equipment

Experiment Setup

Self Evaluation Feedback

Quiz

Questions

Simulation

2D Video/Animation 3D Video/Animation

Slot Booking

Remote Access

Coding Workspace Interfacing Application

Results Video/Animation

Information Visualisation

Simulation of an experiment which can be performed online. 3D animation or Flash animation is used to guide the user through the procedure to the conclusion.

Achievements: The Phase 1 of the portal is live at www.vlabs.co.in

Using web technology and remote access provided on the portal, the user may connect to devices kept in real labs. He can input values on the portal and get corresponding results from the device.

Game Design

‘Trade Raid’ is a new card game in which rapid exchange of cards takes place between all the players. The aim is to collect all the cards belonging to a set. There are 7 sets of 9 cards each and 3 bonus cards; totally 66 cards.

INCREASING INTERACTIVITY BETWEEN PEOPLE

The game involves enough shouting, snatching and grabbing to make it an exciting, highly sensorial and mood uplifting experience.

The game encourages active participation and rich interactivity by all players.

It is thrilling not only for the players but spectators enjoy watching it too. This game is very easy to learn, has great re-playability and offers the possibility of inventing new games with the same cards.

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VISUAL THEME The visual identity of the game had to be attractive, communicative and timeless.

The current theme of the game is for an Indian audience but the game-play can be adapted to universal themes also. All the parts of the game: cards, tokens, rule-book and the packaging follow the same visual language.

Mask s

Mask s

30 0

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NAMING & LOGO DESIGN The name ‘TraidRaid’ was chosen for it’s apt semantics to the energy and spirit of the game.

Accomplishments TradeRaid will be available in the Indian markets by next year The game got featured in Kyoorius Design Magazine in 2011

© Ruchin Shah

Animals

0

Animals

30 0

Testing the game with children helped us understand the way children think, find the loop-holes and get their feedback on the game for future improvement.

Design Research

Parenting today does not involve the parents alone. Due to fastpaced and competitive lifestyles, working parents find it difficult to stay at home to look after their kids. They resort to hiring a maid, leave the kids with the grandparents or enlist their child in a crèche.

DESIGN INTERVENTION FOR CHILDREN IN CRECHES

The idea was to see if there was a need for Design in that particular Three major areas where intervention was possible were: area. Problem areas were identified after observing the ecosystem of Infrastructure, Child Behaviour and Administration. Among these, the creche by visiting a couple of creches, then using card-sorting, the interactivity between children of different ages, gender and brainstorming, bodystorming and mind mapping techniques. culture was selected to be put emphasis on.

NEED FINDING Brainstorming and Mind Mapping the eco-system of the Creche led to understanding the area of study in which we are entering. Opportunities for design intervention were found out by listing topics generated through this activity.

CONCEPT The idea was to come up with a device which enhances the interactivity between children in the controlled environment of a creche.

We came up with the concept of an interactive ball called ‘Globo’.

Globo emits 4 colours of light: red, green, blue, yellow. It also plays pre-fed music. We invented a new outdoor game/sport which utilises the features of Globo, keeping in mind our objective of enhancing the experience of playing with other children.

PRESENTATION

© Ruchin Shah

The concept was presented in a short illustrated story which showed the scenario of the creche and also the rules for the outdoor game.

Experience Design Memorable experiences are immersive, sensorial and they evoke emotional responses. This project was an experiment in Experience Design. The inspiration came from the temple town of Kumbakonam, which is populated with numerous visually rich temples. among

BOOK DESIGN AS A MEDIUM TO SHARE EXPERIENCES

which the Adi Kumbeshwara temple is the main city temple. The magnificence of the temple lies not only in its architecture, art and scale, but also in the zeal of the people visiting it; devotees, priests and tourists.

This book is a journey through the Adi-Kumbeshwara temple.

Through its colourful pages, the reader experiences the devout energy of the people there and the brilliance of the temple art and architecture.

PAGE SPREADS Each spread presents a different scenario within the premises of the temple and gives a visually rich experience of the environment. Motifs and graphics from the temples make the book informative and interesting. Further, text is added to give context to some of the activities taking place in the temple.

PRINTED BOOK

Note: The book was featured in Kyoorius Design Magazine in 2011 View the complete book at http://issuu.com/ruchin/docs/kumbakonam/1

Š Ruchin Shah

The book prototype was printed on high grade, thick, matte stock. Digital 4-colour printing process was used and it was bound in the Saddle Stitch pattern.

Typeface Design

Gujarati is an Indo-Aryan language which has evolved from Sanskrit. It is native to the Indian state of Gujarat and neighbouring union territories. Although the Gujarati script is closely related to the Devanagari script, there are major characteristic differences between them.

DISPLAY FONT FOR THE GUJARATI SCRIPT

The Gujarati Script is defined by the loss of the horizontal line running above the letters and by a small number of modifications in the remaining characters. The project involves understanding the structure of the Gujarati script, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s history and semantics and then delevoping a display typeface with a distinct style to it.

I chose to design a display typeface so that I could experiment with forms, terminals and proportions to generate a highly readable, slick and stylish font for use on large print surfaces.

EXPLORATION I began my journey by exploring calligraphy. I conceptualized the font with drawings and digitised them using the latest font design software, the final result is a clean, minimalist, mono-linear typeface.

The glyphs were constructed on graph paper to get the proportions right. Later they were optimised to fit a grid that I created so that the resulting glyphs will appear harmonious, unified and balanced when placed together. The final characters were developed in FontLab Studio 5.

FONT CRAFTING

Š Ruchin Shah

APPLICATIONS

Retail Graphics

SIGNAGE DESIGN CONCEPT FOR RETAIL STORES

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Down to Earth is a retail chain which promotes and sells organic vegetables, fruits and grains. Their aim is to promote the use of healthy and indigeneous crops and hence they work across the complete food value chain, i.e. right from the land & cultivation to processing to kitchens and homes of the consumers.

Taking the model of their store in Tardeo, Mumbai, we developed a system of signs which will consist of a informative and on-location signs. These signs were made of polished wood and their holders with Bamboo. The three colours which represent the brand’s identity will reflect on the signboards too.

2x 0.3x x

DIMENSIONS The dimensions of the signage boards was based on the existing furniture in the store. 2 kinds of boards were required: desk/table mounted and wall/ceiling mounted.

1.25x

x

1.7x

CEILING/WALL MOUNTED SIGN CONCEPT

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l u c i t r ce o H du o r P

DE Green C: 100 M: 50 Y: 90 K: 20

DE Green RGB R: 0 G: 93 B: 64

DE Brown C: 40 M: 70 Y: 100 K: 50

DE Brown RGB R:96 G:57 B:19

DE Yellow C: 0 M: 25 Y: 100 K: 0

DE Yellow RGB R: 255 G: 194 B: 14

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789 abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz(),./?:’ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789 abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz(),./?:’

Milk and Milk Products

FONT AND COLOUR Verdana is a highly readable font which makes it suited for digital media as well as signage systems.

The colours picked were coplementary to the logo’s existing green. The yellow and brown add some contrast as well as harmony to the visual style.

Fresh Fruits

Fenugreek Leaves - Methi

Musk Melon Watermelon Sweet Lime Orange Pineapple Banana

Spinach - Palak Mint Leaf - Pudina

TABLE MOUNTED SIGN CONCEPT

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1.6 in

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20 0.0 0

2.8 in

2.8 in

3.6 in

SHELF TAGS The items stacked on the shelf will be identified using this tag holder.

2 in

Outcome: The signage was used at Down to Earth’s stall at an international agriculture exhibition in Muscat.

© Ruchin Shah

4.25 in

Wooden hook to place on the shelf

Advertising Campaign

An advertising strategy was formulated after conducting market research and consumer studies. The message was aimed at health and quality concious upwardly mobile consumers. The copy platform, visual language and media were chosen accordingly.

MEDIA An array of advertisements for traditional print media like Newspapers and Magazines were created. Along with them, many new media were also explored: a vending centre, calendars, SMS ads, Radio Jingle, Table mat and Table tents, etc.

Š Ruchin Shah

Parag Milk and Milk Products is a company which is in the business of milk procurement and processing. They have massive production capacity with which they make dairy products like cheese, ghee, butter, curd etc. These are branded, marketed and sold under the brandname Gowardhan.

Other Projects

MAGAZINE REDESIGN http://issuu.com/ruchin/docs/nl_27th_revised_v1_lo-res The redesign gave readers a fresh look, interesting content chunks and something to look forward to every quarter.

CONFERENCE BOOK DESIGN The Book was distributed to all the conference speakers and visitors who came in from around the world.

STORYBOOK ILLUSTRATION http://issuu.com/ruchin/docs/therumour An illustrated storybook for children using a flat style.

IIT BROCHURE 2011 http://issuu.com/ruchin/docs/iit_brochure The brochure was printed and distributed to around 2000 companies, organisations and universities worldwide.

HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS NETWORK Design for a collaborative platform for medical practitioners.

ILLUSTRATION

Š Ruchin Shah

Communication through illustrations.

ForFor more more examples examples of my of my work, work, please please visitvisit http://www.behance.net/ruchin www.ruch.in | www.be.net/ruchin

Imagination is a talent.

It is the power to imagine, to describe beauty and attributes, to describe form and colour, to describe action and rules and give it life...

RUCHIN SHAH

+91 97665 20001 recallruch@gmail.com

CONFIDENTIAL & COPYRIGHTED: All the work in this portfolio belong to the designer and the respective clients and is for viewing purposes only. No part of this portfolio may be copied or shared in any medium without the explicit consent of the designer.