SHALIN AMIN design director
Where I'm Working- What I'm Designing
- Things I'm Saying
- Places I'm Visiting
- Photos I'm Taking
- Music I'm Enjoying
- Where I'm Traveling
- Things I'm Curating
- Contact
Born in Africa, raised in North Carolina, and of Indian decent, I am a cultural smorgasbord.
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Info
- SummaryI am curious about how to connect audiences with technology focused brands to drive business growth through research, product definition, user experience and visual design.
For over a decade, I have worked with San Francisco & New York agencies that have happily allowed me to work with clients such as
Gilt Groupe, Zinio, Warner Music Group, Atlantic Records, Palm, UbiSoft, Tesla Motors, Ford, Hearst Corporation, Time Inc, Wall Street Journal, SmartMoney, People, Dwell, Marie Claire, Seventeen, National Geographic, Car & Driver, TripIt, CISCO, 511.org, eBay, NEC, Johnson&Johnson, Symantec, Roku, TED and 826 Valencia.
My last stint was at Hot Studio as a hybrid designer in both the visual design and user experience group.Specialties: User experience (UX), Information Architecture (iA), Web/Mobile/Tablet UI design, eCommerce, iOS and web development consulting, outsourcing, SEO optimization techniques and best practicesExperience- Jun 2011 - PresentFounder / socialize.itA mobile, event creation service that helps event planners publish & manage and socialize their events on multiple platforms.
- Dec 2010 - Aug 2011Design Director / Hot Studio• Participate, oversee, and lead visual design efforts on projects
• Empower, inspire, and support the design team to think innovatively
• Participate and collaborate with project teams on research and strategic development
• Lead and work collaboratively with peers, clients, vendors, contractors and other team members
• Work with the design team to create concepts and ideas that are astute and elegant,
which serve human understanding and meet human needs
• Work with the front-end technology team to create technology-enabled design solutions and prototypes
• Support the development of a creative environment that inspires innovation
• Understand technical requirements and work with the user experience team and developers to translate schematics into fully designed experiences
• Create and deliver strong visual design solutions that are based on knowledge of development options.
• Serve as a spokesperson for Hot Studio, through networking, speaking at conferences within and outside the design community - Aug 2007 - Dec 2010Senior Visual Designer / Hot Studio• Solve design problems by producing high-quality work across a variety of media
• Communicate and work collaboratively with peers and clients
• Develop a strong understanding of the clients’ and users’ needs, dynamics, and behaviors
• Create multiple design comps and ideas within a set period of time
• Identify opportunities to secure additional project with existing clients
• Maintain the integrity of Hot’s process; ensure that deliverables adhere to Hot’s standards - Apr 2006 - Jul 2007Design Director / Creative B'stro
- May 2003 - Apr 2006Director of Interactive Projects / Noise 13Noise 13 Design is a strategic branding firm working with food & beverage, hospitality, and leisure companies to create visible, memorable, constant consumer brands.
Their design work has received press and awards from Communication Arts, San Francisco Magazine, 7x7 Magazine, Paper City, Metropolis, Interior Design and Architecture Magazines, TheBestDesign.com and the Davey Awards. - May 1998 - Jul 1999Cofounder / Volunteer Kenya / ICODEIA grassroots volunteer organization created to fight HIV/AIDS, provide primary school education, encourage microenterprise development for women and provide healthcare for the people of Western Kenya without regard to religion, politics, ethnicity or nationality.
Since 1998, we have been implementing community development programs in the rural villages of Western Kenya, where large international aid programs rarely venture.
• Co-created HIV/AIDS Primary School Education Program, Microenterprise Development for incoming volunteers
• Co-created volunteer recruitment program
• Co-created a program to make the orgnization autonomous
• Over 1000 volunteers from 24 countries have volunteered in Kenya
Education-
2001 - 2003Academy of Art UniversityBFA in New Media
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1996 - 2001North Carolina State University - College of ManagementBS in Marketing
Additional Information-
Websites:
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Honors:Webby Honoree, Dwell,com The Academy has recognized outstanding entries as Official Honorees alongside our Nominees and Winners. The Official Honoree distinction is awarded to the top 15% of all work entered that exhibits remarkable achievement. With nearly 10,000 entries received from all 50 states and over 60 countries
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Interests:Visual Design, Information Architecture, User Experience, New Technology, Architecture, Furniture Design, Architectural Materials, Music, Film...
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Projects
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Tweets
- @lorenbaxter great to meet you tonight. Thanks for all the feedback!
- @ericsnowden what would @ryanTgarner do?
- Hey @thedesignerfund next time you have an event you should @socializeitapp so that we can all connect before, during and after. Just saying
- NYC > SFO (@ John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) w/ 85 others) http://t.co/KVyhVLS5
- @reece Hence the pinned gmail window in google for composing new messages. Responding to email i just use sparrow. #assbackwards
- @reece I use @sparrowmailapp to manage multiple emails and have a tab pinned for gmail in chrome.
- The Saint Nick business plan: Fashionistas turned founders send me a box of stuff for $50 a month. #NotAllProblemsAreWorthSolving
- @mattlauzon lalalalalin!
- @Heather_R welcome! so glad to have you back! #USAUSAUSA
- Design with constraints, @happycog redesigns site in 10 days. Pleasure meeting you! @hoyboy @ccashdollar @@kevinmhoffman, @krianbalma
- @odannyboy did you just figure out the meaning of life?
- @dens Just marked future off the list!
- WFT @dens this foursquare list thing is awesome!
- Just posted a photo @ La Mar Cevicheria Peruana http://t.co/3Ny7U6e0
- @stormka i click on every link. Even the ones labeled NSFW at work.
- @reece damned if you do and damed if you don't
- @ignaziolaci What! Nice seats!
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Checkins
- Sightglass Coffee270 7th St
- San Francisco International Airport (SFO)McDonnell Rd.
- John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)Van Wyck Expy. & JFK Expy.
- Grind. Work Liquid.419 Park Ave. S
- Gasoline Alley Coffee331/325 Lafayette St
- Taqueria Lower East Side198 Orchard St
- Ninth Street Espresso700 E 9th St
- Peels325 Bowery
- The Wren344 Bowery
- Ninth Street Espresso700 E 9th St
- The Saint Austere613 Grand Street
- Top Hops Beer Shop94 Orchard St.
- New York Penn Station1 Penn Plaza
- Amtrak BOS-NYCSouth Station
- Gemvara HQ1 Financial Center
- Hungry Mother233 Cardinal Medeiros Ave
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Photos
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Recent Tracks
- U Make A Ninja Wanna Fuck by Die Antwoord
- DJ Hi-Tek Rulez by Die Antwoord
- Fok Julle Naaiers by Die Antwoord
- So What? by Die Antwoord
- Wat Kyk Jy? by Die Antwoord
- Born to Lose by Sleigh Bells
- True Shred Guitar by Sleigh Bells
- Breaking Down by Florence + the Machine
- Never Let Me Go by Florence + the Machine
- What The Water Gave Me by Florence + the Machine
M83AustraGotyeCultsMumford & SonsJohnny CashOvalLittle DragonThe Magnetic FieldsRadioheadEtta JamesNewVillagerMy Morning JacketNeroArcade FireChairliftShe & HimBon IverRelease The SunbirdRadical FaceDie AntwoordCrystal CastlesThe RootsVampire WeekendFitz & the TantrumsLana Del ReyAimee MannThe LimousinesWye OakFlorence + the MachineGiversBob Marley & The WailersM.I.A.FanfarloWild NothingHot ChipBest of Classical Music CollectiveSam CookeGruff RhysRihannaSquarepusherDeath Cab for CutieVince Guaraldi TrioWashed OutAtlas SoundPhoenixCut CopyAdeleGrizzly BearAir- 15 plays
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- Go Outside by Cults13 plays
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- Bad Things by Cults13 plays
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- Most Wanted by Cults12 plays
- The Future by Austra12 plays
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- Hate Crime by Austra9 plays
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- Midnight City by M839 plays
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Map
- San Francisco, CA, February 2012Feb 21, 12 - Feb 26, 12
- San Francisco, CA, March 2012Mar 13, 12 - Mar 18, 12
- Boston, MA, February 2012Feb 15, 12 - Feb 16, 12
- Boston, MA, February 2012Feb 02, 12 - Feb 02, 12
- Boston, MA, January 2012Jan 18, 12 - Jan 19, 12
- Boston, MA, January 2012Jan 05, 12 - Jan 07, 12
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Posts
- The top five regrets of the dying...
1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
2. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.
3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends. “
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
There’s usually a short spike associated with putting an app on sale and the charting effect can work in your favor in some cases, but in general, longer sales generally have a negligible (and sometimes a negative) effect on grossing. One thing that lower pricing is useful for, though, is building-up your customer base if you’re shooting for bigger raw sales numbers.
Repeating easy tasks again and again gets you not very far. Attacking only steep cliffs where no progress is made isn’t particularly effective either. No, the best path is an endless series of difficult (but achievable) hills.
It Never Gets Easier
In my career I’ve done 4(ish) startups, and each one has required from the get-go a huge leap of faith: A belief that we know what the future holds, and that our new idea will push it further and faster in that direction. In other words, a belief that we could truly change the world—an easy thing to say but a hell of a thing to do. But each time, that belief gets harder to sustain, because every time you start over you’re cursed with the knowledge of how hard it was previously: The absurd challenges you faced. The places where you got it wrong and had to reboot. The hurdles you had to jump. The diving saves. The constant rejection. And worse of all, the times when you didn’t quite pull it off. For all the talk about our culture of celebrating failure, the truth is that failure, when it’s yours and you own it, fucking sucks.Don’t have the cash flow right now to try any of the cool new restaurants you read about? Or simply can’t get into any of them on a busy night? Here are a few recommendations for inexpensive, accessible alternatives to five of the hottest new places in town.
The big question: How much does an iPhone app cost?
This is a very common question that I’m asked by a lot of my business-oriented friends and non-tech savvy clients. Without fail, every single time I gave my initial estimation before even locking down the specs, I received that shocked expression because of the unexpected (high) quotation.
Yet, none of my quotations has even came close to the range being discussed in this StackOverflow thread, in which the development cost of Twitterific app is discussed. Despite the fact that the original question was asked in 2008 and the best answer (by one of the Twitterific developers) was in 2010, it is still accurate today in Jan 2012 and I can foresee that it will still be true atleast until the end of 2012.
So, with the hype of businesses wanting to have an iOS app continues into 2012, I thought it would make a good post trying to explain why the cost is high by breaking down the steps and variables involved. I hope it will benefit both the non-iOS developers and business people who need to make decisions or just want to understand the process. The ideas in this post are not restricted to just iOS, they are also applicable to other mobile platforms (Android, Windows Mobile, maybe Blackberry) to a large extent.
If your service is digital, than every component of it is the product. It goes much deeper than the engineering and the visual design, even the text that the lawyers write has a place.
- Type]Media 2011
Amazing work from twelve graduates from Type]Media2011, with a nice website to go along. Ramiro Espinosa made a Flickr set with all the posters of the final exhibition. 
Roughly 2 years later, Typographica updates with their favorite fonts of 2011, with an excellent selection as usual. I have to mention the fact that two portuguese designers are among the chosen ones.Please Pick Up After Your Pets by Phil Jones, graphic designer/art director working and living in Minneapolis.
