A sample of works demonstrating my understanding of the design process. User Experience and Architecture included.

1. ARJUN MAHESH
WORK SAMPLES

3. “Everything in the world is exactly the same.”
-Kanye West

5. NAME
EDUCATION
EXPERIENCE
HOBBIES
TOOLS
Arjun Mahesh
Bachelor’s of Architecture, USC
Minor in Computer Science, USC
UX Design Immersive, General Assembly
September 2015 - November 2015
I learned core design principles and methodology as applied to the UX design field. Skills gained
include Research Interviewing, Research Analysis, Sketching, Wireframing, Mock-Ups, and
Proto-typing. I also worked in and led teams of client-driven projects to meet deadlines and
establish proejct deliverables.
Consultant, Gehry Technologies
May 2014 - September 2015
In addition to developing script-based solutions for the comples forms of Frank Gehry’s
designs, I was in charge of creating presentations and interacting in client meetings. Much lile
in UX, I had to communicate with different parties involded in the design process, such as the
architects, clients, structural engineers, HVAC, etc.
Audio
My non-professional life is occupied by music production and break-dancing. I've been producing
since high school under the stage name Creative License (Check my Soundcloud, bruhhhhh).
Visual
Over the years I've adopted Creative License as the umbrella for my other personal Graphic
Design, Animation, and other various creative endeavors. When I'm not working or in my studio,
catch me at a Soulection show, rocking a circle, or running the magazine I co-founded:
No Greater Good.
User Experience + Computer Science
Sketch, Adobe CS, Hype, Principle, InVision, Marvel, POP
C++, Java, HTML, CSS, Javascript, SQL, VBA
Architecture + 3-D Modelling
Rhino, AutoCAD, Grasshopper, CATIA, Revit, Dynamo, Processing
Project Miller, ZBrush, MeshLab

7. PROJECTS
Soundcloud Curate (Tablet)
MOCA Shanghai (Installation)
Pratt Institute Re-Design (Desktop)
Curate NYC (Mobile)

8. SOUNDCLOUD CURATE
How do we define the act of live,
collaborative, DJing?
In a team with fellow UX Designers Amelia Ruslim, Stacey
Zhou, we were asked to design an online, collaborative, DJ-ing
feature for Soundcloud. Before delving into the specifics of what
an online, collaborative DJ-ing feature could encompass, it was
important for us to define the ever-evolving definition of a DJ.
Amelia, Myself, and Stacey
Conducting User Interviews
Background Research
LIKE COMMENT SHARE ORGANIZE UPLOAD ANALYZE
“DJ-ing is telling a story, creating a narrative through a specific
sequencing of tracks…”
“…but playing out a good transition fluently is a lot more interesting,
and able to keep that flow going as well.”
“A DJ should be responsive to a crowd… and be able to take the mix
up or down depending on the energy.”
6 Interviews Ages 19-34 DJs and Fans Soundcloud Users

9. From our user research, we determined a DJ needs to perform
two primary tasks: respond to a crowd, and cleanly transition
from song to song with no breaks. Given these criteria, how can
we help Soundcloud build a platform that allows sound curators
to perform these tasks within a digital realm?
ESTABLISHING A MINIMUM VIABLE PRODUCT
DESIGN STUDIO & TESTING ITERATIONS
Hand-Sketched First Iteration Digital Wireframe First Mock-Up Iterated Mock-Up
This first iteration was the primary hand-
sketch we developed. Our primary focus was
designing for an intuitive interface that
provided the necessary features that
Soundcloud DJs needed.
The digital wireframe begins to locate
detailed components of each module
contained in the Curate interface, including
stats, queue, currently playing, and
transition tools.
Our mock-up begins to capture the look &
feel of this feature. We studied and
incorporated Soundcloud’s visual and
branding style - including their fonts and
color schemes into the sketch.
After conducting some user tests, we re-
organized the design to present users with
more critical data first, as well as use color
to introduce more hierarchy to the modules
of the interface.

10. Soundcloud Curate Prototype

11. The listener interface for Soundcloud Curate would allow
for listeners to not only see what songs the DJ has played
through the entire set, but favorite and add them to their
playlists directly from the interface. Also would be provided
a feedback module for leaving comments and showing the
DJ some love during any transitions or tracks the DJ plays.
Both DJ and the listener can see the crowd response and
number of people tuned in.
The DJ interface for Soundcloud Curate would provide a
brand new method of not only queue-ing songs but mixing
them together as well. Incorporating basic transition
techniques such as fade, frequency, BPM manipulation, and
reverb, a DJ can set cusom transitions directly from the
Soundcloud Transition module. The DJ may also closely
monitor their audience response to gauge the success of any
new tracks they would like to test.
THE LISTENER INTERFACE
THE DJ INTERFACE

12. MINIMAL RELAXATION: MOCA SHANGHAI
In the summer of 2013, I was chosen to be part of a team from
USC to build an outdoor installation on the outdoor rooftop cafe
of the MOCA in Shanghai. Due to exreme weather conditions, the
space was highly under-utilized except at night when it cooled
down, and the owner was looking for an art installation to help re-
invigorate the space at night. In a team of 7, we designed, iterated,
and constructed an installation over the span of 10 weeks.
Frei Otto & Netting Structures Shanghai Freeways
The work and research of Frei Otto was highly influential in our design inspiration. Frei Otto was a highly experimental and pivotal
architect whose work with tensile structures in the early 1900’s informed much of parametric design today. He studied naturally occurring
formologies that occurred when netting structures are pulled and pushed. The resulting curvatures are not only beautiful but structurally
brilliant. Using netting structure was especially in our interest because of its high availability and ease of production in Shanghai.
Sourcing local resources not only made it affordable and workable with our budget, but it made the transporation of materials a
considerably easier task as well. Geographically, it would be relatively easy to bring the materials on site, and would also satisfy the
constraints of the existing roof access without a crane or other construction vehicles.
One relevant cultural technique we also looked to
incorporate in our design was the bright neon LED
lighting that was so popular in Shanghai.
Specifically, the freeways in Shanghai were all
vibrantly lit at night time to give the otherwise drab
city structures an exciting feel.
How do we incorporate Shanghai’s culture & the MOCA’s
location to develop an experiential design that meets the
owner’s needs?

13. DESIGN STUDIO & TESTING ITERATIONS
Digital Modelling & Tensile Structure Analysis Low Fidelity Visualization
High Fidelity RenderingsSmall Scale Mock-Ups & Detailing
On-Site Construction Final Installation

14. Minimal Relaxation: Final Installation

16. PRATT INSTITUTE : WEB RE-DESIGN
What are some of the existing pain points of the Pratt
website, & how can we improve the site more intuitive?
In this exercise, we were given the hefty task of re-designing a
college website of our choosing. In order to do so , I had to first
understand the pain points of the existing website, and then
propose a design that mitigates those pain points. Since the visual
identity and organization of Pratt’s website were already quite
strong, I chose to use the existing design elements and re-organize
them to improve the navigation and interface of the site.
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
Existing Information Architecture Re-organized Information Architecture
The existing Information Architecture had three different tiers of
navigations, of which the secondary was entirely repetitive and
contained within the first.
In order to increase the navigation efficiency, I experimented with simplifying the Inofrmation
Architecture down to only two tiers of navigation, and experimenting accordingly. The primary
navigation is focused on prospective students, while the secondary is for existing students.

17. DESIGN STUDIO & TESTING ITERATIONS
Picking Apart the UI
Home Page Academics Page Schedule Page
Shuffling the Elements
As a design exercise, I chose to isolate the existing graphic, navigation,
and informational elements on the existing home page.
The re-designed page now only consists of a header and sticky
footer.
The Academics page contains general information about the
programs offered.
The Schedule page allows users to quickly find the dates in
which courses and seminars occur.
Once I isolated the elements of the home page, I experimented with creating different possible layouts. This
allowed me to quickly visualize the pages, and move forward with more formal wireframes as well.

18. HIGH FIDELITY PROTOTYPE
After creating high fidelity mock-ups, I utilized InVision and Marvel to build different iterations of
prototypes for testing and performance analysis. The final re-design did not incoporate any new features or
visual elements, but rather re-structured the existing the content for a simpler and clearer design. When
performance of the prototype was tested against the original site, the re-design proved to be far superior in
terms of ease of navigation, thanks to the new Information Architecture of the site. See the following page
on specific testing methods and data.

19. PROVING IMPROVEMENT: TESTING RESULTS
Task 1: Task 2: Task 3:
You’re interested in taking a look at the upcoming
courses for the semster. Find the course catalog.
As a graduate student, you’re interest in
Continuing Education for your career. Find
some Professional Studies offered at Pratt.
Find out what other seminars, courses, and
activities are upcoming at Pratt.
To test the measure of success acheived with the design, I had six users perform the same three tasks on
both the existing website and my prototype (three users each), and recorded the time it took for each.

20. CURATE NYC: APP DESIGN
Curate NYC is a startup led by Kenneth Kuo which aims to
help men dress better and cut down on time getting ready on the
morning. Using propietary algorithms that allow users to
rapidly build their closet in the app, the app recommends outfits
to wear based on weather, local styles, and pairing techniques.
Kenneth asked us in team of 3 to not only re-design the app, but
specifically asked for a stylish and cohesive on-boarding process
with a brand identity.
What motivates men to dress well, and what are
there key behaviors when getting dressed? How
can this inform the functionality offered by Curate
NYC?
“The right balance would be something I'd totally go for. But haven't
found it yet.” - A.K.
“My biggest pain point is finding clothes that fit my existing
wardrobe. I'm not gonna buy a whole new wardrobe at once.” - B.C.
“The stylist experience can be insightful, because you discover how
people might be able to see a different side of you merely by a change
in the way you present yourself.” - N.R.
12 Interviews Ages 21-37 Finance/Design Fashion Conscious

21. DESIGN STUDIO & TESTING ITERATIONS
Existing On-Boarding
Existing Curate Page
Weight Input Sketch
Curate Page Sketch
First Iteration
First Iteration
Low-Fidelity
Low-Fidelity
High Fidelity Mock-Up
High Fidelity Mock-Up
The existing on-boarding lacked character, usability, or any unifying graphic elements. Additionally, the button sizing did not take into account the user’s ahnd, and was not easy to set. Our
re-design introduced separate screens for each input, and the idea of the “measuring ticker” as a graphic element to input data.
The current page for outfit curation is extremely hard to read and poorly proportioned. Too many categories of clothes are inserted into a single screen. For our re-design, we took a look at
nNetflix’s presentaiton strategy, and introduced a much more versatile and proportioned interface for the user to set their outfit.

22. HIGH FIDELITY PROTOTYPE
High Fidelity On-Boarding
High Fidelity Curate Pages

23. Request for a short Interaction Design Gif!