“Our conversation with the Head of UI Design at Yellow Slice, Urdhva Deshmukh inspired us as she shared her journey and the way DMA shaped her professional life.”

With a deep inclination towards the field of design right from high school, Urdhva had always been passionate about pursuing a career in design. Being a design enthusiast, Urdhva’s world revolved around illustrations and graphics all the time. She completed her Bachelor’s in Communication Design and Graphic Design from Symbiosis International University in 2012. Further, her certification at DMA proved to be a game-changer. Some of her remarkable design works include Olive Bar and Restaurant, Gypsy Zodiacs, Monkey Bar Graphics, Logofolia, and Scoop Interactive. 

Let’s dive into the conversation to know about her impressive journey. Right from being a Junior Graphic Designer to the UI Head of Yellow Slice.  

Passion for Designs: 

Art and craft have fascinated Urdhva since childhood. She points it out by sharing instances of her high school. She used to take every craft project with a lot of enthusiasm. As she pursued her Bachelor’s in Communication and Graphic Design she figured out more about her interests in design. She also talks about the unpopularity of the design industry during her time. But her love for art exactly knew what she wanted. 

Yellow Slice: Urdhva’s First Job:

Urdhva’s started as a Junior Designer at Yellow Slice which was her first job after graduation. She explains how Yellow Slice had been a productive workplace for her. It helped her learn a lot about her industry. As a junior designer, she worked for designing illustrations for calendars, posters, and print branding. She also shares her experiences of creating websites. Urdhva says, 

  “We had designed a couple of websites then. But since the field of UI/UX wasn’t developed much, we used to treat websites just like graphic projects. It was more about how the website looked.”

 As she got familiar with the concept of UI in designing her interests shifted from designing posters/graphics to designing websites along with considering its UI. She talks about it as a notable transition in her career.

The key to the transition from Graphics to UI:

Urdhva’s explains that graphics are just a part of UI. Based on her experiences, she understands what it takes to enter into the stream of UI. It is important for an individual to look at the bigger picture while entering to UI from graphics. Apart from looks and appearance, one has to consider how it works. She frames,

“Obviously! Looks are something that the user is going to see. But if it doesn’t work, then it’s of no use. So the key factor here is FUNCTIONALITY. That’s the main difference between both.”   

Challenges while solving design problems:

Urdhva believes every project comes with different types of problems and challenges. As a graphic designer, the work is mostly individual. Also, the target there is well defined. But when it comes to UI, a whole team has to work together to reach the goal. For instance, while creating a website the graphic designer has to collaborate with the UX team. It is necessary in order to translate the designs into a functional way.  So, collaborating with the team comes with every UI project. 

NeuroGen: A successful project  

Urdhva shares about the hurdles faced while working on a project called NeuroGen. 

NeuroGen, is a stem cell therapy hospital in Navi Mumbai. It gives treatment to autistic or kids with mental issues. She explains that though this was a UI heavy project, they also wanted the research part. Thus, Urdhva herself went on the field to take interviews with the patients. This helped her collect a lot of information about the responsiveness and requirements of the patients. But the work doesn’t end here. The interviews had to be transcripted and the important information had to be picked out. The research part helped her make the UI of the website more user-centric. She also mentions that while researching for a project the type of industry significantly matters.  She states, 

“Most of the patients that we interviewed were not Indians. Some were from Africa and some from Mauritius. Preparing the questionnaire, asking the right questions, and understanding the medical information was all a sort of a challenge.”

She also shares that when a client talks about his requirements, it’s mostly from their perspective. But when it comes to UI, a lot of thinking and visualizing goes in. This eventually supports to translate the design into a functional manner. 

Design Mortals Academy: A major contributor to Urdhva’s success

After her first job at Yellow Slice as a graphic designer, she decided to have a few years of experience at freelancing design. Her roots brought her back to Yellow Slice and she joined it again. Until then, she was mostly into UI and design. But she realized that along with UI, UX also plays a significant role. So she joined Design Mortals Academy, a renowned UI/UX institute.

DMA played a crucial role in familiarizing her with the foundations of UX. She says,

“There was a drastic difference in my work before and after DMA. After DMA I understood what goes in UI. The in-depth teaching at DMA made me understand UX basics i.e Wireframe Stage. The Wireframe defines what should go where on the page after clicking a button. This helped me design in a more systematic manner, considering the experience of my design.”

The fear of losing functionality made it difficult to make any changes in design. But DMA became a medium to recreate her designs as her clients wanted. Now that she understands the flow process, she can take independent decisions.

DMA has clearly laid her UX foundation. It became easier for her to collaborate with the development team as she knows what a UX designer does. 

“DMA has made my work so much easier. I can easily understand the UX processes which have cleared all the barriers. I can now find the perfect design which is functional and user-friendly. Indeed, learning at DMA has proved to be quite useful.”

Optimizing online communication during the pandemic:

Urdhva agrees that online learning has made an impact on the quality of communication. In an office, one could talk face to face which was the best way to communicate. But communicating digitally has brought a lot of cons with it. Since meetings are on Zoom/Skype/Meet, it has somewhat made things dull. Besides, it has caused a loss of focus on both sides. There is an absence of eye-contact and a lot of distractions around us. This has become a problem for qualitative learning for students. The solution over this she suggests is, 

“I suggest one should learn to TALK. Due to online learning, students don’t ask questions. They are not as curious about asking questions as they were in a real classroom. This spoils the whole aim of learning. Thus, students should ask right away or either note down questions to ask their teachers. It will help them stay curious to know more and maintain interest in the topic”

What is the one thing you think would make DMA a better place to learn?

She says,

“To be honest, I think DMA is working at its best right now. I am equally pleased by its way of teaching currently as I was when I joined DMA. The design assignments help students to train themselves, the staff is experienced and the atmosphere out there is just amazing. It’s the place to learn and grow in and around designs.”

Rapid Fire Round:

We indulged in a fun round with Urdhava and did a spontaneous quiz.

1.     Which is your favourite tool to use in the first stage of designing?

·         Tool Sketching (Pencil and Paper)

2.     Which is your go-to software for designing?

·         Sketch

3.     Which blog or influencer that you follow?

·         Dribble, UX Collective 

4.     Which books would you recommend on UI/UX?

·         ‘Don’t Make Me Think?’ and ‘Design of Everyday Things’

What is your favourite memory during your days at DMA?

Urdhva frames,

“The brainstorming sessions at DMA is the best memory I have during my days at DMA. So basically, DMA urged us to think and come out with really creative ideas about designs. This led to a healthy learning environment since everyone came up with something new. Every individual’s idea was appreciated and feedback was given. Undeniably, those were the most thriving days at DMA.”

DMA does not fail to evoke the inner child:

They had fun activities where they drew lots. These had technical terms like ‘Log-in, Submit, Register’ written on it. The students had to explain it to everyone non-verbally. Just like Dumb charades! Can you imagine the fun? Let’s know it from her!

“It was damn fun when people were trying to do it! Just imagine how would you explain the word ‘register’ non-verbally? People came up with wacky stuff which half the people didn’t understand!”

(We couldn’t control laughing!) 

This was indeed a mind-blowing interview with Urdhva. It was fascinating to know the way DMA directed her towards success. And also become the Head of UI Design, Yellow Slice.

It is an honour for us to have our academy ex-students progress to remarkable positions in their professional lives.

Her story will indeed be an inspiration for our budding designers and readers. We look forward to interviewing one of you about your success story in the future. 

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