Platform: Android

Tools: Sketch, Photoshop, AfterEffects

Role: Lead UX Designer

Auto Valet is a Telenav research project that enables a vehicle to autonomously park itself in a parking garage. An Android app triggers the self-parking or retrieval of the vehicle, and communicates status through a series of seamless animations.

I began by understanding the technology behind the feature, along with its limitations. Safety was a primary concern, so a press-and-hold action was designed to avoid accidental triggering. A live video allows the user to track the vehicle, and a quick swipe gesture allows for emergency stopping.

I also helped write the script for the demo video, which was created for CES 2018 to showcase Telenav's research activities in the field of autonomous driving. As a bonus, I served as lead actor when asked by the marketing team.

Platform: Windows 10, iOS, Android

Tools: Omnigraffle, Photoshop, Pixate, Keynote

Role: Design Lead

HP Connected Hub turns your desktop PC into a personal cloud, allowing users to sync and backup their photos, music and documents from all their iOS and Android mobile devices. 

I was brought onto the project when it was progressing too slowly and in danger of missing key deadlines. I immediately rallied the team, made up of 2 remote visual designers and 1 local hybrid UX/UI designer, communicated the visual style, and crafted detailed wireframes and flows. I printed out and pinned all mockups to a board to ensure consistency among the various screens and to communicate the flow to stakeholders.

The final designs had an inviting and whimsical feel to them, a stark contrast to HP's usual corporate-looking apps.
 

Platform: Windows 8.1 Modern

Tools: InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop

Role: Design Lead

This project involved adapting our existing HP Music app to work in an ultra widescreen touch-only mode on an HP Envy x2 PC running in half-cover configuration. The schedule was extremely aggressive, which required hiring and directing a pair of contractors to work on visual design and interaction design. What resulted was an elegant interface that really let the beauty of the album artwork shine through.

Platform: Responsive Web, Email Templates

Role: UX Consultant, Front End Developer, Product Photographer

Genee helps you organize your calendar by making it easy to schedule appointments with your friends and contacts. It utilizes natural language processing to parse email messages for dates, times, locations and subjects, and automatically sends calendar invitations to everyone in the distribution list.

When my buddy approached me to help him with his startup idea, I gladly contributed with UX/UI design, responsive web coding using the Foundation framework, html animations, email template coding and even product photography.

One of the challenges faced was communicating how to use the system in a simple manner. My solution was to show an animation of an email being composed, along with step by step instructions on what to include in the email. I designed and coded the final animation in html/css.

Genee was eventually acquired by Microsoft as a way of improving the intelligence of Office 365 calendar planning.

Platform: Web Application

Tools: InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop

Role: UI Designer

SMB IT Solutions is a web application for resellers to manage customers and help them place and track orders. As UI designer, my role was to design the layout of each page while ensuring that the site conformed to corporate branding. Designs had to be translated into detailed specifications and style guides for developers to implement. Agile methodology was employed to develop this service, with design being involved in all phases of planning, scoping, tasking and delivery.

Product: Fine Art Gallery Catalog

Role: Ink Formulation, Color Management, Print Making

Photographer Joel Meyerowitz is widely known for his pioneering use of color at a time when only black and white was considered fine art. In 2006, as he was putting together an exhibit titled "Modern Color, Vintage Prints" for the Edwynn Houk Gallery in New York, he contacted HP Labs to see if we could assist in producing a limited production run of a high quality gallery catalog. Because of my expertise in formulating light cyan, light magenta and gray inks for photo-specialty applications on the HP Indigo digital press, I was naturally assigned to this project and worked directly with Joel to bring this catalog to reality. 

Digital files and matching proofs were sent to me, and I proceeded to create custom color profiles and tone curves for the HP Indigo 5000 digital press using a 7-ink CMYKcm plus spot gray process. While color measurement devices go a long way in ensuring color consistency, the final judge is still the human eye, and final tweaks are usually what turn average prints into standouts. The final production catalogs were gorgeous and received high praise from Joel himself.

Product: Giclée Prints

Role: Color Management, Print Making

In 2003, I was approached by my department manager to work with a photographer who needed large format fine art Giclée prints made for an exhibit he was doing in Poland. Apparently, they had previously used an external print agency to produce the prints, but the results were disappointing. It turned out to be an opportunity of a lifetime as the photographer was none other than Hollywood legend Douglas Kirkland, and the task involved printing up to 60" wide posters of Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Sophia Lauren, Jack Nicholson, John Lennon and many others.

I created custom ICC color profiles for the HP DesignJet 5500ps, color managed the source digital files to the output printer profile, then carefully printed each file using the highest quality print settings and checked them under D50 daylight illuminant to ensure proper color reproduction. The prints were used at an exhibit to commemorate the opening of the National Film School in Lodz, Poland in October 2003.

Douglas ended up liking my prints so much that he specifically requested for me to produce all subsequent prints for future events. In following years, I printed more sets of his photographs for HP marketing events in Kos, Greece, Tenerife, Spain and Paris, France.

Platform: iOS

Roles: Algorithm development, chart design & production, iPhone app design, iOS programming

ColorConnect is an HP Labs research project that turns a smartphone camera into an inexpensive color measurement device. Working as part of a small 3-person team, I was responsible for developing the void-filling algorithm (patent pending) that enabled us to miniaturize the color chart into the size of a business card. As the lab expert in specialty printing, I was also responsible for chart production on our Indigo digital offset press, using a 7-color Indichrome (CMYKOVG) printing process. For the mobile component, I designed the color difference iPhone app for matching a print to a proof. Finally, I also dabbled in iOS programming and contributed the module that generated a custom PDF file based on the captured image. Overall, it was a very rewarding experience that allowed me to contribute in many different aspects.