Jayan Narayanan, Sr. Creative Director at 9.9 Media who believes in powerfully and creatively combining traditional and interactive platforms to build and communicate brands. He currently oversees 14 Publications and 12+ websites and has successfully redesigned and launched 10 brands for 9.9 Media. In total, he has 15+ years of professional experience in conceptualizing and executing interface/interaction design across media – Print, Web, Video, and Mobile Apps for national and international brands. He has also worked in senior creative and design roles at IDG Media, Jasubhai Digital Media amongst other organizations.

Jayan plans an interactive session that conveys UX & concepts, platforms & tools and that busts UI myths, and crafts brand persona.

“UI & UX: Injecting Personality Into Brand” shed light on two oft heard but little understood acronyms and its impact on user acquisition.

Key Takeaways –

1. UX/UI was well explained through the example of an Indian meal served on a banana leaf – presentation and set position of items (UI) ensure ease of flow, moments of joy – aiming ultimately to heighten user pleasure/experience (UX)

2. Several myths shattered – “UI = UX”, “You = User”, “User knows what they want”, “UX ends on page unload”, “Best practices will always work”, “Trust the UX/UI guru” and “Only the landing page is important”

3. Find designers keyed into tech, design and lifestyle trends

4. SEO could conflict with UX/UI, requiring a healthy balance

5. Mobile First should be a key focus of Startups – this pushes Startups to prioritize and strive for clearer communication

6. “Responsive” design, validation using usability metrics, managing color, typography and content strategies are very important

7. Good UX/UI is an intuitive, visual and experiential representation of the brand personality as defined by the founders. Details matter.