Growing pains

While I come from a rojak or mixed career background centered in Graphic Design and have anticipated that UI/UX isn’t exactly the same thing, I did not prepare for the knots and curves in the process. If for a moment you think “Then be prepared next time,” well, let’s just say you never know what it is until it hits you. There’s only so much you can prepare for a certain amount of control. Old ways don’t work with new ways, and what happens then? You try something different. A new approach at tackling your thoughts or a new set of tools to design an outcome. To unlearn is like shedding years of skin and it comes with challenges that mimic pain but in a good way. This signifies growth and to be able to still experience growth, that should be celebrated.

Shifting & moving

Remember the bit about old ways not working with new ways? Well that depends on old ways that simply don’t work anymore vs old ways that are still applicable. The moment I realised that I had exactly zero experience in this new industry, I could have just sunk in the deep end but I chose to approach it from a different perspective. I began to wonder, what existing processes that I know of can still be applied here? What new skills have I not yet possessed and should be working on? Once I had the answers, I moved onwards. So let’s not sink until we acknowledge that our muscles remember how to swim.

One example of this being applied, I would say happened in my first few months. My experience isn’t exactly conventional. I had most of my hours dedicated to planning and learning things on my own. Some call it freedom, I call it responsibility for my own growth and that could have either dragged me down or kept me afloat. I did not have much involvement in projects early on and then came the Designer Maker Programme (DMP). Equipped with my previous ideation process, I mind-mapped and sketched. Armed with newfound UI and UX design knowledge, I turned sketches into wireframes, applied UI design principles, set a goal for the outcome and considered the user’s experience.

So what does it mean to be a work in progress?

If you’re highly critical of yourself and battle with inner thoughts of doubt, I feel you. Everyone faces challenges and tackles them differently while for me, it’s acknowledging that I’m still learning and it’s OKAY. Accepting that I’m a work in progress has helped me regulate throughout the apprenticeship. It’s a byproduct of the mentorship and guidance, an outcome of embracing failure and having the courage to experience it. Although I’m not immune to the critical moments of failure, now I have a way to regulate the state as it appears and that’s something I can always carry with me, no matter the stage of growth I am in.

Learnings & aspirations

There’s more than hard skills. You’re continually developing a new interest within the field, an exciting new tool or method, sharing and collaborating. It’s overall the foundation for one’s growth in design. Have your Dunning-Kreuger moments and fall into the valley of despair but work on getting out of it to reach the next peak. There are a lot of resources but if there’s something I can offer, it’s a book called “Just Enough Research” by Erika Hall, introduced to me by one of my mentors. It’s a great starter for me as someone who’s completely new to User Research and I often fall back into it from time to time. While it isn’t really a manual, I do flip the pages when I need clarity about research methods especially when it comes to either lesson exercises or projects like the case study.

The apprenticeship journey is not one size fits all and not every apprentice goes through the same outline. That’s where you come in and shape it. Have side quests to achieve like learning a new facet of design or thinking method, have boss fights like the DMP and case study where you blunder and tackle end to end. It is a malleable experience so go on and truly make it your own.

All in all, I’m excited about what the future holds for me. I’d like to focus on strengthening my core while exploring other avenues and will remember this apprenticeship as one of the pivotal moments in my career. Thank you Stampede for the experience and I hope to continue being a design explorer and learner wherever my path may be. If you’d like to know more about my journey or have any questions, do reach out to me on LinkedIn. I’m happy to have a chat.

Here’s to the unknown! 👏

Disclaimer: All the beautiful illustrations featured in this content are sourced from streamlinehq.com.

The post I’m a Work in Progress (& That’s Okay): An Apprentice’s Reflection appeared first on Stampede: the strategic design & technology company.

Me (on the left) with my eventual supervisor, Zo-Ee.

A story on how attending a conference, some serendipity, and writing articles led to me interning remotely for Stampede

Hi there, I’m Brian Tan, a 4th year student from Manila here in the Philippines.

It’s been 4 days of me working as a UI/UX apprentice for Stampede, and it still feels surreal. How did a young student like me get to intern remotely for an awesome foreign company like Stampede?

Let me tell you about the crazy story of how I got this internship.

It starts with some Googling

It all started when I was randomly searching for design conferences online. I had never been to a big design conference abroad yet, so I just went searching on Google.

I eventually found the website to the UXSEA Summit, a 3-day design conference in Singapore held in November 2018.

I got excited. I wanted to see if I could land a UI/UX design job in Singapore to work in after I graduate, mainly because of the higher pay and better quality of life. The design and tech industry is also much more mature there than in Manila.

Getting a Student Discount

I saw too that the price of the conference was quite affordable compared to other international design conferences. But I thought to myself — what if they’re willing to give a discount to students?

So I went ahead and messaged the UXSEA Summit Facebook page, asking if I could be given a student discount. To my surprise, the organizers were willing to give me a 50% discount.

It gave me even more reason to go, and I told my parents about it. They were supportive of me going, with my mom offering to pay for the flight ticket using her miles. I also asked my cousin, who works in Singapore, if I could stay over at her place in the few days I’d be there, and she said I could.

Amazing, I thought. I had my flights and accommodation covered, and I got a huge discount for the conference! I didn’t care anymore about the fact that I had to miss a couple days of classes. I knew this conference could be the key to networking my way into a job there after I graduate.

Finding The Lucky Seat

Fast forward to after flying from Manila to Singapore, I arrived at the first day of the conference a few minutes late. Most of the seats had been filled up already, but I found a vacant seat next to a table in front.

I sat down on that seat, and little did I know that I’d be sitting next to my future supervisor for my internship. Beside me was Zo-Ee Chee, UX Strategist at Stampede.

Me with Zo-Ee and my fellow Filipino tablemates.

She told me about how Stampede was a Malaysian UX design and software agency, and how their founder brought their whole design team there.

I ended up spending the rest of the day talking to Zo-Ee and my tablemates, who were also from Manila surprisingly, and doing the hands-on workshops. Zo-Ee and I even designed a wallet for each other as part of the Design-A-Wallet workshop there, and we got to know each other more through the stories and ideas related to what we wanted in a wallet.

I had a lot of fun getting to know Zo-Ee and my tablemates, and Zo-Ee introduced me to Shaza Hakim, the founder of Stampede. I had no idea that I would be interning for her, and I wasn’t even searching for an internship at the time.

I have classes this semester, and I was unsure if I wanted to juggle that with an internship. I didn’t even know that interning remotely for a foreign company was an option. I was just curious about their team, and I asked Shaza a few questions.

The Power of Writing Articles

After each day of the conference though, I made sure to compile my notes from each session/talk for the day. I knew that I could write articles doing a recap of the Summit, so that’s what I did. I ended up writing one article for each day of the UXSEA Summit, and posted them on Medium and LinkedIn.

My article on UX Collective.

Suddenly, I got a comment from Shaza on my LinkedIn post about the article:

I was so pleasantly surprised. Wow, she’s offering me an internship? But before deciding if I wanted to do this, I did my research first about Stampede.

I ended up being really impressed looking through their website and social media. Stampede has a long list of clients from all over the world, and they have numerous case studies of their work on their site. They’ve also already been around since 2006, and their team works fully remotely, which impressed me.

They also have a blog where they’re so open about their culture and team. I was also impressed reading about Shaza, who is a local leader for the Interaction Design Foundation, and her open posts about Stampede, such as this slideset about how she manages to make remote working great for Stampede.

Landing the Job

I thought to myself that this is a one-of-a-kind company, and I’d be stupid not to try interning for them. So I decided to message Shaza, telling her how I was really interested to intern for Stampede and sent them my UI/UX portfolio.

I also told her though that I could spend only 15 hours a week working remotely for them, since I still would have classes during the internship. Shaza was okay with this and she scheduled a call with me, where Zo-Ee joined, and it ended up becoming an informal job interview.

By the end of the call, Shaza and Zo-Ee were willing to hire me, and I was pleasantly surprised. They were so willing to trust me based on my portfolio and articles, and how I answered their questions in an audiocall.

I started to see there the generosity of Shaza, and the willingness she had to trust and mentor young designers like me.

Within a week, I got sent a paid internship contract, and I accepted and signed it. This was definitely a “Hell Yeah!” opportunity for me.

4 Days of Learning

Shaza sharing some books she recently got in our team-wide videocall.

Fast forward to today, and it’s only been 4 days, but my internship’s already been great so far. Compared to my previous internships, Stampede actually had a more structured and better onboarding process, even if I was being onboarded remotely.

Shaza and I even had a 2-hour videocall where she discussed to me about Stampede’s Why and their core values, and discussed to me about their design process. I’ve already learned a lot from just a few days of talking to my teammates and observing Stampede’s processes as a UX design agency, and I can’t wait to learn more.

Filled with Gratitude

All in all, I don’t expect this high I’m feeling of being able to intern for Stampede to last the whole way. I’m sure that the work Stampede will give me might be difficult to juggle alongside my schoolwork, since I’m still taking a full load of classes this semester.

But I know that if I ever find myself stressed, bored, or not as passionate about working for Stampede, I just have to take a step back and remind myself how grateful I am to have this opportunity.

I’m grateful that I got to attend the UXSEA Summit, that I got to meet Zo-Ee and Shaza, that I get to work with and learn from this whole team, and that I get to learn what it’s like to work at a remote company.

It’s only been 4 days, but I’m already so thankful to be here. And I hope I’ll continue to be until the end of my internship in April.

Connect Deeper

I’ll likely be writing a couple more articles for Stampede, so if you enjoyed this post, like our Facebook Page or follow us on Medium!

My teammates and I have interesting articles and insights to share for you. Until then, keep dreaming and hustling, and I hope this article was insightful or inspiring for you.

The post How I Got the Crazy Opportunity to be a UI/UX Apprentice for Stampede appeared first on Stampede: the strategic design & technology company.

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Tony the Developer

Before joining Stampede, I found that communicating with my ex-coworkers wasn’t so intense although we were all in the same office. If you weren’t the extroverted type, this sort of environment was pretty normal and I’m sure others could relate to this. When I joined Stampede however, a large shift occurred.

As you might already know, Stampede is a remote agency with team members working from different places across the globe, so one would think that communications would be much less than your standard office.

Boy, was I wrong.

What I learned was that Stampede had a very active style of communication and coordination with the team was very tight. Our daily stand-up ‘Blitz’ meetings is just like warlords preparing for a strategy to stampede the enemy’s line (Wait, maybe this is why this company called Stampede).

BlitzThis is how our Blitz meetings feel like

To be honest, I had some trouble keeping up with the pace at the beginning but soon learned how the herd ran. While minor chatting happens throughout the day, our daily ‘Blitz’ meetings and weekly sharing session, ‘Happy Things’ make up the majority of our tight communication. It took me around two months to get comfortable with this sort of tension. I survived.

Tony the Project Lead

Back in 2016, we lost our project manager. Despite transition and hiring efforts, we just couldn’t find a new project manager with the right fit, let alone remote. Turning a near-disaster into an opportunity, we decided to experiment.

We asked “Instead of having one project manager, can we distribute this role to many people? And instead of managers, can we become leaders?”. Being a project lead means that you have to manage the team associated with the project, and deliver the project to the client on time and make sure everything signs off. You would have to be the bridge which connects the client and the team.

The first project which I got to lead was a brand called Big Film. The client had worked with Stampede before and good relations were already established. This knowledge pressured me. I thought to myself, what if I messed this project up? I would end up disappointing the client and my team. Luckily however, the project scoped wasn’t that large and only had two people on board; me as the developer and Shaza our founder, as the lead designer. It was a weird feeling giving directions to my own boss.

It was a weird feeling giving directions to my own boss.

But everything new is a learning process. What I learned from this setup was to:

Talk to team. As I mentioned before, to lead a project well, you need to deliver the project on time. To do so, I needed to get in contact with the team about each task’s status every day. At first I felt like I was being annoying, but I gradually got used to it and understood that it was my job to do so.

Talk to client. As a project lead you are the bridge that connects the client to the team. This task was a bit daunting to me at the beginning as I had to compose messages to the client to request and update the project’s status. I was worried that tone used in the message was wrong. Luckily, Zana helped me out with this.

What I learned from this

During my transition from a full-time developer to a developer with project leading responsibilities, I realised that the challenges and problems that came with the project could be solved by communicating it with the team. In the past, I would only see it from a developer’s perspective but now that I front the client and also work with more team members, I have a bigger picture of how the project runs.

So now I have modified my workflow. When I sign into work, I will spare 30 minutes of my time to check the status of the projects under me. From there, I will create a to-do list based on my observation from before. I find that my workflow is a lot more organised this way. At least I know what needs to be done.

Check, check and check.

To my fellow developers out there. If you find yourself in charge of a project, know that communication is very important. If you work it out with the team, every problem can be resolved efficiently with no need for double-work. Trust me you will not regret it.

The post From Developer to Project Lead appeared first on Stampede: the strategic design & technology company.

Tell me about how you got to where you are now. I was born in Kajang, Selangor. My father was a lecturer at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). His career required him to be at different places for a length of time, and we moved a lot because of this.

Growing up, I lived around Malaysia in places such as Johor and Sabah, while also spending my youth at Leeds, in the United Kingdom. When I returned to Malaysia, I entered a local high school and also briefly attended Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP).

I found myself working as a programmer over the next few years. Initially I started out as a PHP developer but found myself liking front-end work over time. It was then I decided to just go with both front-end and back-end development under belt.

What do you think got you nominated as “Developer Hero” in the Rice Bowl Awards 2016? During my days as a programmer, I stumbled upon JomWeb; a community of like-minded developers located in Malaysia. Like any developer group, people were asking questions on how they could achieve certain things in regards to programming. I started out as a regular developer in the group but did my best to answer and help them as much as I could.

This pattern led me to create open-source libraries for both PHP and Laravel which helped out the others who needed a solution to their problems. CastMyCode, a pet project of mine was built for teaching others. When I teach others on coding, some of them have errors in their code because they’d have to type out the code by hand. What CastMyCode does is share the learning files on the server so that it is usable on the web. Those who I am teaching at that moment can just access it right away. Most people in my programming classes are beginners, so this helps them out a lot.

I believe that if you are good at something, you should contribute back to the community wherever possible. If you spend the time teaching others, it won’t lessen your knowledge or waste your time. Instead, it will help you more because if you are able to teach something, it means that you have a good grasp of that knowledge. I probably inherited the love of teaching from my father, who I have mentioned, was a lecturer. From there on, I was being blogged about and featured in a number of online articles. The recognition probably came from there. Me being awarded the title of “Developer Hero” also helps me validate myself and my efforts.

How do you find time with your family as a busy developer?This is made possible thanks to my wife who has been supportive of my career. In a word, she is a ‘superwoman’, being able to take care of the kids while progressing her own career as a teacher. My wife has been with me long before we got married so she understands my situation. At home, the kids are being taken care by her. Every work day, I spend around 1-2 hours with my family during dinner. Out of the work days, I spend even more time with the family.

I believe that some people are too focused on their work. I do my best to get home by 6 PM, so I can spend those precious hours with my family. Even if there is a crunch time, I would be at home coding anyway. This way I will know if anything happens because they can always reach out to me since I’m physically there.

What are your thoughts on AngularJS for those who are starting out in it? To those who are learning AngularJS for the first time, they would need more training to understand the framework. My advice would be to read up as much as possible on it and also get a mentor who can guide you what you need to cover and learn.It is best to go to someone who actually does it. Also, Angular’s GitHub is a source of information that is great for reference.

When I was teaching the Stampede developers on AngularJS, I taught them Angular 1 instead of Angular 2. The reason for this is because, if you are a normal front-end developer, and suddenly make a jump to Angular 2, you will have a hard time. This is because Angular 2 is written in typescript, an enhanced version of JavaScript. You will need to get familiar with developer tools such as Gulp which takes in typescript and converts it into JavaScript so that websites can read it. Definitely not a straightforward process and a lot of preparation is needed beforehand. Also Angular 2 is currently still in beta, which means that a lot of Angular 1’s libraries have not been fully ported over to Angular 2. It will likely take around 1 to 2 years for the ecosystem surrounding Angular 2 to mature.

…to be truly good at something, you need to spend 20% of your time learning and 80% of the time doing it.

Do you have any advice for those who are interested in coding? If you are starting out fresh, you will definitely hit many brick walls – don’t be discouraged by it. If you have any questions on how to do things, reach out to the developer community. You will find plenty of folks who are willing to guide you. However, your best bet is to find a mentor who can set a learning path for you so that you don’t go astray.

My best piece of advice is, to be truly good at something, you need to spend 20% of your time learning and 80% of the time doing it. Coding is a skill, and like other skills, the more you do it, the better you will become.

The post Being a Developer Hero: An Interview with Zulfa Juniadi appeared first on Stampede: the strategic design & technology company.

Stampede beraya at Casa de Shaiful

At Stampede, during one of our Blitz (scrum) sessions, we threw a question that we can all relate to. It’s about each and everyone’s most favourite and memorable Hari Raya memory.

What is your best Hari Raya memory?

Here’s what the team had to say

Iwan

For me, the best Hari Raya memory was from last year (2015). Before this I would only go back to my hometown, but now that I’m married, I get to start celebrating with two families. It is a new experience for me because now I need to decide which kampung I need to visit first. This also means I get to eat twice as much and can get to savor both Negeri Sembilan and Ipoh cuisine. My wife’s family are ethnic Banjar people so the food they serve is very unique to me, while my side makes the best rendang. Last Raya was also very memorable because my wife was pregnant at the time so many people came to visit.

Shaiful

My best Hari Raya memory last year in 2015. My family organized an open house, because my grandparents are not around anymore so there’s no place to ‘balik kampung’. The turnout was huge, with about 12 families attending the invitation. The guests contributed to some of the food and brought their own specialties to be shared.

Then there were also some crazy scenes happening when the kids got together. One of them just strolled into my room and picked up my ukelele and started jamming.

I think the biggest highlight of that Raya was the barbecue setup, using a big burner and set up at the porch of my house. Having a barbecue pit is very unique during Hari Raya. Then there were also some crazy scenes happening when the kids got together. One of them just strolled into my room and picked up my ukelele and started jamming. After that they went on to the playground.

Shaza

In Malaysia, Hari Raya is often celebrated by traveling back to your hometown—this mass exodus is called “Balik Kampung” (translation: going back home to the village). My parents have called Ipoh town home for many years and yet when Raya beckons, we will always look forward fondly to Balik Kampung to my grandmother’s house, a small village in Batu Kikir, Negeri Sembilan. As Malaysia gets more urbanized, Balik Kampung could also mean going back home to wherever home is, cities, towns and villages alike.

When I was a child, my parents couldn’t afford to make the trip and celebrate Hari Raya with their family every year. At one time, I remember we didn’t go back for 3 years. So this made Balik Kampung something to look forward to. I remember us taking the rickshaw from our house in Kuala Terengganu to the bus terminal, followed by a bus ride to the Kuantan terminal by the river, an exchange to yet another bus onwards to Negeri Sembilan, disembarking at a small stop by the roadside and walking down the village road for another 2 kilometers (not easy with three children and massive luggage) before finally greeted by the excited shrieks of my aunties and uncles.

Raya food and popping zombies—that’s the dream.

My grandmother has gone for a few years now, but we still honour her memory and family tradition by celebrating Hari Raya together. One of the fondest memories I have of Hari Raya recently was playing Left 4 Dead in a LAN party with my siblings at the Raya table, surrounded by lemang, ketupat and laksa, with my dad checking in every so often to replenish his supplies of “Kuih Raya” (specialty raya cookies that truthfully, all tastes the same).

Raya food and popping zombies—that’s the dream. Anyone game this raya, look me up on Steam.

Zana

My father would occasionally join us in his sarong and fire ‘meriam’ (bamboo cannon) with the older cousins.

My fondest and best memory of Raya was when I was around 7 years old. During that time we would go back to my grandmother’s kampung. Once there all the cousins would get together to play with fireworks. It was cute because the smaller cousins would play with ‘Pop Pop’ (small firecrackers), while the older ones would play with larger fireworks. With such a variety, all sorts of sounds could be heard with everyone playing. My father would occasionally join us in sarong and fire ‘meriam’ (bamboo cannon) with the older cousins. Another thing about Raya is collecting ‘Duit Raya’ from the adults which we would soon spend on buying sweets.

Tony

For me, the best and most memorable Hari Raya was the time just after Nauly (my daughter) was born. She came into my life during the fasting period before Eid. That Raya was not like the other times because the neighbors would come over to visit and be excited over Nauly. It was a great combination of becoming a dad and getting together with friends and family.

Hakim

I can’t recall a particular Raya that is the best. During that time I would visit family and friends, eat great food and getting some well needed rest after a month of fasting. Then at night, I’d hang out with my friends and watch football somewhere. One thing I do look forward to during this season is my grandmother’s cooking, as she makes the best Soto. Don’t just take it from me, my friends also love savoring her cooking.

What about you?

So what’s your favourite Hari Raya Memory? Share one of your best moments about this holiday with us below in the comment section. You’ll also be able to see what we’re up to this Raya on our Instagram and Facebook channels, so be sure to check that out too.

The team at Stampede wishes everyone a blessed Eid and Selamat Hari Raya, Maaf Zahir Batin. Enjoy your holidays and make even more great memories!

The post Our Best Hari Raya Memories! appeared first on Stampede: the strategic design & technology company.

My campus life

Back in September 2015, I enrolled for a post-graduate programme at a local public university. At the time, I had to apply for special leave to focus on getting married and did not want to miss classes. After that was over, I re-enrolled back a few months later (March 2016) to pursue a Masters of Science in Information Technology. Why a Masters degree so early you ask? Well, ever since the day of my degree’s convocation day, my dad had been pushing me to pursue one.

I had a rough time deciding whether to go with research or coursework for my evaluation.

Not being one to waste time, I decided to look for what I was truly passionate about, and after 2 years I had finally found it, User Experience (UX). I was looking for a course in Human-Centered Informatics (HCI) and found out that this university has a lot of specialists in the field. As a bonus, it also helped out with my financial situation as it was still in an affordable range. I had a rough time deciding whether to go with research or coursework for my evaluation. Eventually, I came to a decision with coursework because they had this HCI Track in the study plan.

Unfortunately, it came to my surprise that they did not open the HCI Track for the semester. The Head of Programme then advised me to opt for the Research Track instead, which only begins on the 4th semester. Being the determined person I am, I stayed with the coursework because there was a subject called Human-Centered Informatics (HCI) that semester and I thought that I should give a shot.

As it turns out that I still have much to learn…

And then came Stampede

Around the same time, I applied for a job at Stampede, did their trial run and several rounds of interviews before accepted into the team. I was then introduced to the world of remote working. At the beginning, I was given a lot of training to make sure by skills were on par. As of now, I have already completed all the courses and presentation of what I have learned over the past weeks (will get more courses soon). But there was one thing that I was still struggling with, and that was practical development training. As it turns out that I still have much to learn in order to keep up with the company’s standard of quality. I have never sliced a design to HTML, pixel-by-pixel, and my HTML structuring still needs much improvement. As of me writing this, I am currently on my 2nd month at Stampede and looking forward to constantly improve my skills, especially in front-end development.

They encourage you to share your experiences…

So how do I think my experience at Stampede has made me better prepared for my Master degree course? The first thing I can think of is pretty much summed in this phrase, “You are not what you think you are”. You may think you are at a certain level of skill but reality will bring your feet back down to the earth. Remote working is not easy, especially when you are so used with going to your place of work, and working shifts or fixed office hours. But the team here is very welcoming and it did not took so long for me to be comfortable with them.

They are also very structured—I can even say that it is more structured than most companies with physical offices. The team encourages you to share your experiences. Just imagine if in a day one person shares one thing, that’s 8 new things we learn everyday (we are currently a team of 8), that’s 40 new things per week, 160 per month! (Let the math sink in).

Positivity is what brings the team forward…

Everyday there will be a team scrum usually before lunch. During this session each member will be updating their tasks and given new ones, this is new for me and personally I feel that this is so much better than a 3 hours meeting because you have to absorb so much just for one meeting.

Positivity is what brings the team forward, every week there will be a session where everyone will share what have made them happy and grateful from the previous week. Also, everyone is given a chance to host something called, Happy Things. It is a team bonding activity, that makes us become closer with one another. It is excellent for a new hire like myself to improve my speaking and presentation skills. Yes, that is on top of the presentation I have to do for every course I have learned.

Putting it all into perspective

All I can say is that the months of working at Stampede is a huge paradigm shift for me. The courses assigned by Stampede to train my soft skills has been nothing but an improvement to how I view and manage things. For example, I learned about the sunk-cost effect, which is defined as a tendency for humans to continue investing in something that clearly isn’t working. This has led my decision to change my Masters mode from coursework to research. As I had mentioned previously, HCI is my focus for the semester, so with Stampede being a creative agency which practices User Experience, the HCI subject has helped a lot in teaching me the importance of designing for people. As this is still my first semester, I hope my application to do research will be accepted and my time with Stampede will continue.

Thanks all for reading!

The post From Campus to Stampede appeared first on Stampede: the strategic design & technology company.

• Shaiful with jazz and blues
• Sani with chiptune music
• Iwan with Hindi songs
• Shaza with EDM
• Dahlia with mainstream pop
• Zana with drum and bass
• Anis with Jason Mraz and mainstream pop

So we thought, “Hey let’s compile everyone’s favourite tunes together in one playlist,” so people can have an insight into what Stampede listens to while designing, coding, project managing and being up to tomfooleries.

Introducing Crescendo, our unofficial playlist.

The word crescendo couldn’t be any more apt. At Stampede, we start with building up momentum, having a progressive increase in intensity till the most intense point reached -as we churn ideas at miles per hour day per day. There is never a dull day here.

Generally defined as the gradual increase in loudness in a piece of music, Crescendo – both word and playlist, where it lists music ranging from laidback to feel-good times to epic launch themes, is just perfect to describe how we go through about our days at Stampede.

Enjoy Crescendo!

(Note: While you are reading this, we are also in the midst of creating another version of Crescendo, with more heightened experience covering the sickest sound bytes to listen to while working, music news, reviews and many more. Stay tuned!)

The post Introducing Crescendo appeared first on Stampede: the strategic design & technology company.

Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it’s really how it works.
– Steve Jobs

The requirements

These are the requirements given by Shaza, my Creative Lead in order to build the app:

• The note-taking app will have two options, a blank note or a to-do list.
• It will have titles and content but no text formatting except URLs will be automatically converted to links by the app.
• Every note will be clearly separated and can be archived or deleted.
• There will be a search function and user will be able to email the note to anyone.

She would assume the role of the client who is going to determine and evaluate whether this project is a success (or not, hopefully that will not happen).

Stage 1: Brainstorming

The next step was to merge all these bits and pieces of requirements and put them together into one concept of a user interface.

I started out by doing a research on the existing note-taking apps in my phone and in the Apple App Store. Since I am using iPhone 4S at the moment, I am using the native note-taking app as a benchmark, combining it with the functions of other note-taking apps which work well in my experience – for example, Evernote.

Once I have figured out which features might work well in my app, I started sketching up wireframes and flows by hand. I found that it actually eases my mind a lot, this whole sketching with hand thing. There are no lags on the computer, or to worry about how the weight of the stroke after using a digital pen is not clear, light or heavy enough. Sketching gives me more control of my creative process.

At the same time, I have had many discussions about the contents and the progress of the app design with Shaza.

Through flowchart and wireframes, I finally was able to get a clearer picture on how to start designing it.

Stage 2: Design

It’s good to come up with a brand to be able to decide the concept for the app. With this in mind, I started to look for a name for the app. I wanted something catchy but yet simple and easy to remember – something like Basecamp or  Teux Deux.

So I came out with “Goat Note”, which rhymes with “got note?”.

Satisfied with my app name, it is easier for me to decide on the colour scheme and app design.

Once all of these important decisions were made, it was time to detail everything visually. I spent hours in Photoshop drawing out all the necessary elements for the app.

When opening the app, the logo will appear on its own first with greyish brown blurred image as background.

After loading for about 3 seconds, the login page will appear. New users will be able to sign in via Facebook account, Twitter account or sign up using email. This gives them users the flexibility to sign using any of these accounts of their choice.

• The app dashboard will have separated list on notes and to-do list. Setting icon and search bar are placed at the top, followed by “Create a new note” option.
• Notes and to-do list will be displayed up to 3 latest list and if the user wants to view more they can do by clicking on the “View all 10 notes”. The number will change depends on how many list the users have.
• To view option for “Edit, Email, Unlock and Delete” function, users will have to swipe to the left on the desired list.

A modal will appear for unlocking/locking function.

Users can also delete, email and create new note or to-do list here.

A modal will appear in case a user wants to create new note.

Learning Experience

In the final process of the design, I was also required to present the app to the whole team.

As a designer, nothing is ever complete to me. Although I have worked so hard in making sure the app is in its best shape, the app is still imperfect and requires a number of improvements. Hence, pre-presentation jitters. Thank goodness the team is always ever supportive of me – giving a stream of ideas after ideas for my Goat Note app.

The processes of putting together the entire requirements, and at the same time making it beautiful, desirable, up-to-date and engaging were all new to me and very exciting. I learned that to be able to design an app that really work for and resonates with users, you will need to place yourself in the users’ shoes instead of your own (as a designer) and be a technological enthusiast.

Result? I was soon revealed that this assignment’s goal was not to measure whether I succeed or not, but rather, for me and for the rest of the team to understand the processes it take to design an app, or design anything for that matter – from research to brainstorming to sketching through a number of reiterations. It is always a fun process in the end.

Will I want to design another app? Yes why not!

The post Building a Mobile Note-Taking App appeared first on Stampede: the strategic design & technology company.

For me, it was about 4 months ago. New to the team, the least experienced but with spirits aflame to absorb as many things as possible, I was assigned to create my own responsive website.

I was free to choose my own theme. Being an inline skater, I decided to design and develop a responsive website for my skating club, SKROLS. The website will revolve around skater’s profiles, skating news, events and products. The goal is for me, as a new front-end developer, to learn and understand the process and challenges of designing and developing a website from scratch. At the same time, the project is also intended to assess my problem-solving skills.

Challenge accepted.

Designing the website

I was a naive one, yes I was. I used to think web designing was easy. You fire up Photoshop, adjust your layers here and there, make sure the colours are nice – you are ready to go. Boy, I was wrong.

Designing is more of a philosophy – it is a process where everything needs justifications. For every element you put in the design, for example size of containers, colours, height, button interaction, etc. they all come with good reasons. That is a lesson learned for me. So if you ever felt like designing is easy-peasy, it is not. Go hug your designers today.

Thanks to Shaza and Dahlia who had been hovering over me while teaching some Photoshop techniques while I was working on my website design, as shared above. Not bad for a first-timer, eh?

Developing the website

I chose to develop this SKROLS website using Bootstrap 3 as the framework. The reason being is because it has CSS media queries to support responsiveness in websites along with some wonderful features in CSS components and jQuery plugins.

In developing responsive websites, it has to be mobile first – start from small devices to larger devices e.g. mobile devices to desktops. I learned that developing websites becomes much easier when you are understand and had been thoroughly involved in the design from the start. This process is even easier for me, especially when I have designed it from the start.

Thanks to Iwan for providing the tips, overseeing and reviewing my SKROLS website from start till finish.

Conclusion

Thanks to this assignment, I learned that in order to do front-end, it is good to understand the depth of work it takes to design a website – the navigation, the interactivity – in short, fully understand the requirement. It was also both challenging and fun trying to come up with my own website design and developing it from scratch.

In the meantime, I will keep experimenting and creating my own side projects in order to sharpen my skills. Never stop creating, just keep making.

(Just Keep Making print is from Holstee.)

The post The Making of SKROLS appeared first on Stampede: the strategic design & technology company.

For the second part of the series, I interviewed Shaiful Borhan, Web Analyst & Developer for Stampede Design. During the interview — which now feels more like a “bro chat” really — I learned a thing or two, especially that it is OK to take a break once in a while.

• 

  Hello Shaiful! Could you tell us about yourself and how did you first get into the Web, particularly programming?

• 

  Hello! As you know, I am Shaiful the web analyst & developer for Stampede.

  I had been into programming since after I finished my Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) eventually till much higher education which is all throughout Masters. It was during SPM break somewhere in 2000 or 2001 that I kept tinkering with programming stuff over at our family computer, so my dad bought me a book on an introduction to Visual Basic programming language.

  I was so happy, although I gave up learning the language soon after.

  But one thing leads to another. I decided to pick up BASIC soon after that, which used to come shipped with home computers. This was where I coincidentally played around with MS-DOS together with Windows booting processes along with its programming elements.

  Figuring out things by yourself is a majestic feeling.

  Moving on to more formal education, I took up diploma in University Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) around 2002-2005. The university taught us the proper way to learn programming — from introduction to programming to learning major languages such as C++ and eventually finishing the whole syllabus for web programming. Later on I took up Degree in Software Engineering. At this phase I learned more of Java & JSP. For my final project, I thought it was a good idea to feature a project employing PHP. That was how I first learned PHP.

  For my Masters in IT — we learned advanced programming & database systems, network systems, et cetera, mostly theoretical stuff. I took up my Masters while working for Stampede at the same time, so I had the good experience of learning and being able to share my industrial experience with my fellow classmates and professors. Programming is having to know a lot of things, strategising, structuring and at the same time being experimental. That works out great for me.

• 

  You are one of the programmers who have gone through a lot of formal education in order to become a programmer. There are opinions going around that formal education is no longer necessary to become a programmer these days as online resources are abundant to help you become one.

  What are your thoughts on that?

• 

  Heavy stuff there, man.

  I have something to add here — while formal education is important, they would only teach you a bit of this and that in small doses. It will not prepare you completely for the real world. If you are into programming, it would help greatly if you spend some time learning by yourself as well, to complement the syllabus they’re teaching you at school.

  However, if you do have the tenacity and the right attitude to learn programming by scratch, by all means go ahead. There is no right or wrong way, as long as it will all work out in the end.

• 

  That’s a good one. Because this is A Day In The Life series, tell us about your typical working day — from waking up to going to bed?

• 

  Where do we start?

  (Zana: At this point he whispers, “Try not to make my life sounds boring, Zana” of which I reaffirms I won’t)

  Because we all work EST while living in GMT+8 timezone, I sign in to work every day at about 11 am EST, which is about 11 pm Malaysian time. I go to sleep at 6 pm EST, which is about 6 am in the morning in Malaysia. The latest I would wake up is around noon. I will check work emails in case if there are urgent tasks for me — and if there are any, I’d tackle them first thing after waking up.

  Out of work, I don’t read books much, but I have to say my online reading list is pretty extensive. I read everything from music, automotive, historical stuff, music reviews, technology, news and general science. The channels I frequent often on my Pulse app are: Best of Technology, Best of Science, Car and Driver, Smashing Magazine, Al-Jazeera, Reuters, Readwrite, Film School Rejects and Lifehacker.

  I also play games, but non too heavy. These are games like Grand Theft Auto, the good ol’ Transport Tycoon Deluxe or Tropico. My kind of favourite games are slow paced, strategy games. I like to chill and take things slow.

  In the evening I’d go for a jog or a futsal game with friends. I also used to play squash. I love a lot of outdoor sports and activities. Otherwise, I’d just hang out with my friends, go play snooker (I am a big fan of Ronnie O’Sullivan, and will stay glued to the screens when it’s the snooker tournament season), go see movies or eat out – nothing fancy just anything I’m in the mood for at that moment in time. Ayam penyet is my favourite.

  

• 

  Actually, you have a pretty packed and interesting day! How about work? How does your routine at work looks like?

• 

  I mentioned before that I often sign in at 11 in the evening Malaysian time, so I would make sure that I would get some dinner and if possible, at least an hour nap before work. Just to recharge, you know.

  I don’t have a specific routine per say, however I’d like to start my working hours with a cup of tea. My favourites are green tea or honey lemon tea. Just to help build the mood.

  Signing in, I would usually divide my work hours into four phases:

  Light: In the first half of the working hours, I would check the emails again and proceed to do some light tasks. These tasks include making a to-do list of the day, replying to the emails about requirements, or solutions to some issues and also some software updates. These things normally do not take much brainpower, so I would tackle them first while building my momentum towards the second phase.

  Extra heavy: Time to dive into projects! I usually dedicate three to four hours working on big projects every day. During this phase, I am very focused and will only attend to non-urgent requests in the next phase of the day. The team knows this and they would usually leave me alone until a few hours later, although sometimes I collaborate with Iwan on issues that would need his HTML/CSS and styling help.

  Medium light: After toiling on the most heavy duty part of the day, I return to work on lighter tasks, but not as light as the ones in the first phase of the day. These are usually maintenance tasks which would take less than an hour to finish.

  Heavy: After about an hour break, I would dive myself into projects again before signing off.

  

• 

  So much for not having a standard routine. That is actually pretty elaborate. Well done!

  You have a notorious reputation, in a good way, for your programming skills with panache. Was there a standard learning process or system you adopted in the past to master programming?

• 

  I started out the formal way. I began through learning about flowcharts, the algorithms, the logic before coding, which for me works very effectively. I was quite lost trying to learn Visual Basic by myself, so I guess I am the kind who needs to learn things through the proper channels. Different things work for different people.

  After I gave up Visual Basic during my SPM break, I later discovered Basic which then led me to learn MS-DOS, formatting PCs, fine-tuning Windows booting and et cetera. That was where I gained some basic understanding of programming concepts. It was like a serendipitous chance.

  Entering university, I learned further on how program runs and how to structure codes. My hands-on experience started after I learned C++ and I could never turn back. I was already hooked on programming.

  A couple of tips: if possible, try to sharpen your logic by learning pseudocodes and flowcharts before diving into programming right away. After gaining a good grasp of this understanding, only then you can try to write the code in human language before diving into syntax. However, for those with good logic, you may try to go straight into coding.

  

• 

  An article I read once described that programmers like to remain uninterrupted while coding until they reach a kind of trancelike ‘coder’ high. What do you do when you are stuck, after multiple tries to solve the problem?

• 

  Take a break.

  If the task is not urgent, take a break. Do absolutely nothing work-related. Try to get away from the computer, listen to some music, or do a solo jam on the ukulele. That’s what I would do, but the gist is — take a break.

  You could also take a look at smaller projects in the meantime. Sometimes solutions to your original problem are reflected by these smaller tasks, or in some ways, the solutions would somehow emerge on its own like an epiphany or a strike of luck.

  However, if the project is urgent, I would consult the team or the higher power (Zana: In this case, he means Dov).

  

• 

  Name a few tips or hacks you did to improve productivity that helps a lot while programming.

• 

  I am going to recite this in the way of Baz Luhrmann’s Everybody’s Free to Wear Sunscreen.

  Get enough rest.

  Dual monitors. It helps especially if you are busy with Skype, emailing, programming for more than one projects and having to open many tabs in your browsers at one time.

  Listen to music. Depending on my mood, I would listen to every kind of music – from trance to hiphop to rap to country. Have more than one playlist for this purpose.

  Tea and snacks. Right now on my table I have these delicious Danish butter cookies, and of course, my favourite honey lemon tea.

  Reward yourself with little things. I love food and personally, when I eat something and feel rewarded by what I ate, I felt good about it.

  

• 

  You are also pretty smooth with guitars. What are your favourite tunes to play to?

• 

  I have a lot!

  However, this also changes overtime. Generally, genre-wise I am into slow ballad and blues. My favourite all-time tunes to play are Jimi Hendrix’s Little Wing and David Bowie’s Life on Mars.

  I am currently learning how to play country songs, mainly from Kris Kristofferson. You guys will be the first to hear once I have mastered them.

  

• 

  Yay! That sounds good.

  Final question: You could inspire a throng of young programmers who wish to be as good as with you. Do you have some advice for these padawans?

• 

  I’m a bit old school when you come to this, so might be a bit lengthy.

  To those who aspire to become programmers, keep practising so you don’t lose your touch. These days there are an abundance of resource like Codecademy, Gibbon and many more, so you can basically learn anything at your own pace. Take the time to understand before coding hands-on.

  Industry-wise, I would say that please do not give up and also not to be intimidated by the experts. They were at some point started out timid yet hungry like you do. Keep asking and be resilient in pursuit of learning. In the meantime, before asking, please also make an effort that you have learned or tried your best to understand things. Find the right group of people to ask and learn the skills to ask the right questions.

  A bit of an experience sharing – I have come across a group of new programmers who seem to exude the vibe of knowing-it-all. Don’t do this. However smart you are, never give out any sort of attitude. So coming back to the old school bit, just be nice. Help each other.

  We are in this industry to grow together. Eventually we will encounter the same group of people, so be generous with your knowledge.

  

We concluded the interview over Skype with a virtual fist bump, as how every end of the interview should be.

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