Usability and Accessibility are still relatively new disciplines in India and despite its vast IT industry there is huge demand for professional skills in User Experience and Human Computer Interaction to meet the increasing urgency for growth in this area.

UX Utsav provides a golden opportunity to fill this knowledge gap. Attendees will be taught via practical, in-depth workshops and seminars, and will leave equipped with the full range of skills required to create compelling and positive user experiences.

For special discounts for the conference / workshops please write to us support@netbramha.com

UPDATE: Coupon Code for a FLAT 25% off – NB_UXUtsav

Look forward to see you there!
www.uxutsav.com

Bret Victor – Inventing on Principle from CUSEC on Vimeo.

Then what would be so different in India?

Indian technology and e-commerce space has just taken off. To create meaningful services and products in India we not only face the adoption & entry barrier challenges but high offline experience syndrome that the Indians are used to, comes to play. Indians love to bargain, Indians love to touch and feel things, Indians love to small talk with the shopkeepers.

Of course this is changing. Here is where smart designers who understand not only the way things work in India but also how are decisions are made.

• Adaptability of design to Indian context

The visuals that are used to make a decision simpler.
Eg: A family focussed matrimonial site will show a grandly dressed bride and groom helping the parent to relate to a homely experience.

 A matrimonial site focussed on say NRI’s would have a more cool, young folks holding hands in a very casual environment.

• Imitating offline experience:
• Can I have a bargain button next to the products I shop?
  ZopNow.com allows you to cut paste a grocery list and shop. How awesome is that!

  Redbus had this clever link on the homepage which said ‘Boss is watching? Look busy!’ and onlcick and excel sheet png would open up. What a brilliant Indian jugaad!

• Building Value & Trust
  By using simple effective ways of creating trust.
  Eg:  Smaller player like Jabong.com even mention the shipping partner setting some sort of expectation for the customer. Of course cash rich Flipkart using the TV ads to re-inforce how easy and hassle free it is to shop electronically is another example we have seen.

Another brilliant example is the Cleartrip mobile. No apps to download, no updates to worry about. It just works. Great experience of the brand transferred from web to the mobile. They did not believe in doing apps because the rest of the world was.

There are many more such tiny details that can make the online buying & consumer experience great. These are without any doubt implemented by smart product designers who knows what impact a good design can have on the business. With India on an e-commerce & tech startup boom user experience will play a very critical role.

Some of our upcoming favorites are : Shopo.in| Pepperfry.com | Jabong.com | Snapittoday.com | Via.com

Beginner:

What is User Experience

An introduction to the factors that affect and define user experience. A basic overview for beginners.

Design for User Experience

Tips and guidelines to follow while designing for good user experience along with screenshots as examples.

10 Most Common Misconceptions About User Experience Design

Common myths about user experience are disclosed and discussed here.

Designing Experience F08

Introduces the basic principles of user experience with suggestions for designing good online and offline experiences.

User Interface Design

Fundamentals of user interface design and a quick peek into the standard design principles.

Before all this we had a counter-strike gaming session to pump in some adrenalin. :D

I think the second year was even more important than the first. We faced many more challenges than we expected. We were able to work with couple of fortune 500 clients, started some work on e-learning, were able to expand our service offerings and of-course think of more product ideas.

Some interesting projects we took on this year

- A platform/mashup for UID project
- Research on SMS based accounting
- Reasearch & design for an Indian movie portal
- Interaction design for platfrom in the middle east
- Branding & Interaction design for a personal finance startup
- Research & design for couple of iphone apps
- UX/UI for a pilgrimage travel startup
- Couple of talks on design and user experience
- Usability for a commodity trading platform
- & lots more..

I would also like to thank all our clients who have reposed enough faith in our capabilities. A big thanks to the folks who work with Netbramha, you guys (and girls) make us happen.
There is loads in store for year 3. Looking forward with excitement.

Cheers!

I have known Karthik for more than 2 years now (he interned with us while doing his B.E), he is an awesome front end developer who also happens to design and do a bit of usability. He is also a footballer, gamer and a music addict (you will rarely see him without his headphones on).

Bhakti is an engineer also but is a brilliant illustrator with an eye for detail. She will be interning with us and hopefully we look forward to her dishing out beautiful designs soon.

This is what Bhakti has to say about herself –

“Apart from screwing up neat and conventional designs I am crazy about dancing and movies , to the extent that I went on to make short films of my own (that feature me dancing ;)). Someday you will see me on cover of Vogue, someday I will be cast opposite Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Carribean –part 22, someday I’ll be the first Brahmin girl to climb Everest and someday I’ll go for a drive with Messi in my brand new Porsche, but today I am glad to be the newbie at Netbramha on its 2nd anniversary!”

Welcome folks. Happy to have you!

Wonder why? Well they were all part of the International Business and were on a study tour to India. Luckily they visited SAP Lab (an MNC) and then us (a startup). They were here to study the emerging markets.. which better place than India.

Thanks to Eric (from Hub.in) who referred Netbramha to Carina (program co-ordinator) to have the “German Contigent” come over and see how really a startup works, what challenges we face etc.

So here there were at 4ish in the afternoon… We had them settle down on available chair / desks and the rest of them continued to stand. The students asked quite a lot of questions ranging from how we marketed to how being in a startup affected social life. I was impressed with the enthusiasm they had for starting up and learning the way business in India worked.

The professors were super cool and seemed part of the party. On a serious note they inquired if Indian Govt had special reforms/support systems for startups and entreprenuers. Honestly I never felt so. We still pay same taxes, lengthy registeration procedures.. blah blah..

I did speak about LetsOlla.com to them and they liked the funda of sharing and exchanging things.

Overall it was a really memorable experience.

I am humbled and extremely thankful to all the people who reposed faith in us. In good and bad times. Special thanks to Akash Mahajan, Vaishnavi Group, Gnanesh, Saneef, Kartik, Karthik Jn, Akash Solanki,  Rohini , Ashwini and Yogesh!

Things I say we learned
1. If you are unsure about 1 thing. Try 3 things & you will know which to chase.
2. Set clear expectations from clients, team members and even yourself. It helps to validate your capabilities and helps you raise your bar.
3. If you really are committed to a client’s success you may not require a marketing team! The client will refer you to ‘x’ more clients.
4. Stay clear on your pricing. Quality comes for a value. Never ever undervalue. Make it up either in cash or kind or even barter.
5. Barter is a big way to start-off and reduce overheads. We got software, business, development, ad spaces in barter. (Psst did we tell you about LetsOlla.com yet?? )
6. Actually the most important. Your team is everything. Be transparent and let them know the state of affairs – good, bad or ugly. They will stick together even in rough times only because they trust you.

Some numbers that we are proud of

12 people worked with/for us.
33 clients trusted us.
1 product prototype developed.

All this in 1 year. I am hopeful & sure of some exciting things we can create ahead.
Starting today we will focus & look forward as an user experience studio. Our commitment lies clearly to make users happy. Design and Technology will follow.

A big thank you to our clients, partners and associates.
Lets set the ball rolling for another adventurous year ahead!

Regards,
Aashish Solanki
Founder

PS: The new design is still not fully up. Please let us know of bugs/suggestions – support[at]netbramha.com

Update : Looking for kick a@@ designers immediately! Please refer!

Update2: We are looking to co-share our office space which can accommodate 4-5 more cubicle spaces for startup/consultants. Any body interested… please ping.