Young Designers 2009

 
Gaurav Bhushan
Information and Digital Design | PGDPD
gaurav@schmizz.net
 
Designing the User Experience for Orkut Communities
 
Guide Vinai Kumar
Sponsonr Google India Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore
Keywords
> Social Networking
> Orkut
> Online communities
> Interaction Design
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.
Communication Design
AFD 9
ED 5
FVC 13
GD 18
Industrial Design
CGD 9
FID 11
PD 15
TGD 4
TrAD 8
Interdisciplinary Design
DRE 14
SDM 17
I.T. Integrated Design
DDE 7
Information and Digital Design 9
Gaurav Bhushan
Gautam Naidu
Harish Dubey
Harshvardhan
Sanket Bindle
Saurabh Srivastava
Shalini Dey
Uday Akkaraju
Vaidehi Vishwasrao
NMD 10
SUID 9
Textile Design
ADM 17
LAD 10
TD 37
Guide
Sponsor
Feedback | Credit | © Copyright | Contact Us © All Right Reserved to National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad (INDIA)