It’s no longer a surprise that one of the ways to show our company’s credibility to our customers is by getting our company a website. People nowadays are searching for information on the internet, it has become the most convenient and time-saving way. Without having to worry about the closing time, we can visit a website whenever and wherever we wanted to. Some companies are even willing to splurge a lot on a website just so their audience would have a pleasant experience visiting their websites.

Having a unique website design could really increase the trustworthiness of your brand, and add a value to your business. So, in order to create the one that meets your expectation, we do need a clear brief on how you wanted it to be. However, we know that sometimes it would be a struggle to create a brief that is easy to understand, especially when you are a new subscriber.  Hence, we are going to tell you the 4 Things You Shouldn’t Ignore When Creating A Website User Interface Brief that will be a win-win solution for both you, and us. Keep on reading!

1. Tell Us About Your Business

Tell us everything we need to know about your business! 

What kind of business are you running? Who’s the target market? What do you want to accomplish? Do not ignore the instructions to explain your business, as it could help our designers visualize the most suitable user interface design for your website.  Furthermore, we also would like to know about your goals. Do you want your customers to be updated on your latest innovation of products? For a great employer branding, do you want to show your customers how fun your work environment is? Or maybe if your company is a non-governmental organization, do you want to transparently show the number of collected funds for the natural disasters together with the countdown? Tell us everything you wanted us to know! This might as well help us to ‘grasp’ which part needs to be emphasized.  

2. The Content

You may add some interesting graphics to spice things up! 

The most important part… of course, enclose all of the content that you wanted to be on the website. That includes the text, images, videos, or anything that could promote your products really well. We suggest you put something that really ‘speaks’ to your customers, so make sure to do the research about your target audience to find the most suitable type of content.

3. The Visual Inspiration

Any interesting website that you like? Let us know! 

Passing through a really cool website? Feeling every single element in it?  Do not hesitate to show us! In fact, you’re helping us a lot by doing so. If you are clueless, also try to visit your competitors’ websites. Find out how did they manage to fit the comprehensive information about how it all began in one single scroll, and what color palette they pick to represent their philosophy of the brand. Let’s find some inspirations together 🌟

4. The Wireframe

Yeah, it might seem so… long. But at least now you got an idea what it is 

The wireframe is referred to as the blueprint in architecture. It’s an early stage of creating a website design. The purpose of the wireframe is to convey a layout, navigation, and organize all the content you want to put on the website. And speaking about this, well, don’t worry, because our designers will provide the most suitable wireframe for your website! Just sit back and relax 😎

Easy, right? You could also tell us what do you want to know more about the user interface brief in the comment section below or simply shoot us an e-mail to info@manypixels.co 🚀

 

 

 

We find that it’s necessary to show the process behind how a great design is made, so we are going to share the behind the scene of our exciting projects. This time, we are with Wisangga Pranata, our senior illustrator whom will reveal his process of doing the isometric illustration of the User Interface design process.

• The Purpose of Illustration

The main purpose of this illustration is to depict what it takes to design a great user interface; a synergy. It is illustrated here by 3 people taking their charges based on their expertise as it needs great visual, precise size of every element, and an accord spot of buttons to give the users best journey on an app.

• The Process

The brief of the task was to create an isometric illustration of the User Interface Design process,  “I imagined what does it take to create an enjoyable journey for users on an app. To me, a great user interface consists of not only a great visual but also a clear navigation so the users won’t get lost. And yes, the keyword ‘collaboration’ itself was what inspired me the most to create the illustration. So I started off by illustrating a group of people working together to create a user interface design. Each person has an important role in doing that.”  Wisangga said. 

A moment before he decided to pour out his idea on his MacBook, he did a rough sketch on his notebook:

Manual Illustration on A Notebook

Right after he spilled his idea on his notebook, he went straight to his Macbook to create the illustration digitally; with Adobe Illustrator, and a mouse. As for some work, he didn’t find it necessary to use Wacom, and neither did this. He felt more comfortable to use the mouse alone.  

• Colors Used & Interpretation

Which one do you prefer?

The illustrations came in two different hues, purple and orange. In psychology, purple is often associated with wealth, creativity, and pride. By using this domination of purple, Wisangga wanted to illustrate his perception of a User Interface as an integral part of gadget, as it is something that needs to be crafted with creativity, yet it also has to be simple and elegant.

On the other hands, the color orange represents fun and enjoyment. As we all know, technology is known commonly used amongst young people, so it takes no surprise that they are usually referred to as digital natives. They tend to spend their leisure time on screen-based activities, like scrolling through their social media accounts or surfing on their favorite e-commerce websites for instance. So based on that, Wisangga also wanted to portray that technology is often associated with something fun and youthful. 

So what do you think of the illustration? Is it a Yay, or a Nay?

Check out our dribbble account to see our latest projects!

 

Now that September has arrived,  you know what time it is for… Yup, August Highlight! Just like the previous month, we are going to share with you what are the highlights of August, including the expansion of our team, what are working on, and the results! Curious much? Let’s go! 

• New Pixelians Alert!

On August, we hired new junior illustrators, Alex and Hana! And yes, these two are fans of animated shows. Alex is a huge fan of The Simpsons, “I love how the show constantly pumping out the great jokes.” He said.  He also admitted that The Simpsons has influenced his animated work.  As for Hana, she’s always been a fan of Tom & Jerry, “I think it’s kinda cool how Tom & Jerry almost never speak to each other yet the animated series is still super entertaining” Hana said. So, is anyone here a fan of those two legendary animated shows? 😆Anyways, glad to have you on board, guys!  Can’t hardly wait to see those masterpieces! 

• What Are We Working On

💻 New Platform

As a startup, every single step we take is a step that will hopefully improve our services. We are always open to any suggestions, and up for any necessary changes. So, to deliver the more pleasant experience of unlimited design services, we decided to re-create the user interface of our platform! This will help you identify your design needs more specific to avoid misunderstanding between the two parties (us, and you, of course ) so that we can have a clear understanding of how you want the work to be. You can choose the service that you desire, the style of interface, and more! We will let you know as soon as possible when are we going to operate with the new platform. Stay tuned! 😉

🎨 Projects

Wisangga Pranata, our senior product illustrator, has recently worked on several exciting projects. There was actually a lot of amazing works that we wanted to talk about, but then we had to choose the one that we really love, and that’s this piece of illustration shown below:  

The main idea of this illustration was so simple: to depict how a team consisted of different divisions working to strive their objectives & goals. And a moment before we decided to blast it on dribbble, a thought of making it more fun popped up; why don’t we create the illustration in a different hue and make the GIF version out of it? So here it is: 

How do you like the GIF version? Don’t hesitate to let us know! Also, don’t miss our other exciting projects by following our dribbble since we upload all of our works on a daily basis there 😉

• The Results

Yes, we are finally coming to this point (which we know that maybe some of you might not be able to wait to actually get here 😋). As we ran a 2 for 1 campaign, where you only need to pay for 1 month of our subscription and get the 2 months of it, we have succeeded increase the number of subscribers from 133 to 177 subscribers.  So, thank you to everyone who has participated in our pay 1 for 2 campaign! 😊

In the end, to summarize everything up, right now we are having 177 subscribers and US$40662 in monthly recurring revenue.  And as always, feel free to shoot us an e-mail!  Let us know how much you enjoy our services, and what needs to be improved. Any feedbacks and comments are more than welcome 😆

Welcome back to the member highlight blog! This time, we are having an interview with Nidya, our senior graphic designer. And just like other Pixelians that we’ve done the highlight on before, she’s been lucky enough to be able to figure out her passion since she was young; drawing! 🎨 

Back then in school, she would often find herself bored listening to the teacher that she would get sleepy during class. So instead of listening to the lecture, she would doodle on a piece of paper, “It was how I overcome the boredom. Doodling was a daily dose of caffeine to me at that time. So whenever I got sleepy, I would doodle. It helped.” she said.

Curious about her career journey as a graphic designer? Before she became a Pixelian, She was a former graphic designer at Esquire Magazine. She has also worked for digital agency, startup, and retail company. If that sounds ordinary to you, let us tell you something a little bit different; her parents used to want her to be a doctor! “My parents really wanted one of their children to become a doctor.  But I got accepted into a design program well before I graduated highschool. The class had already started before my highschool final exam even begun. I enrolled for a couple weeks and found myself having go to back home just to take the exam. So my parents sort of had no choice but to give in at that point” she added. 

Our pixelians find music as a cure for everything, and so does Nidya. In fact, Panic! At The Disco cd sleeve was her inspiration to become a graphic designer, “If you love panic at the disco, you must have known this Panic! At The Disco special box set. It contains all these really cool knick knacks with really beautiful graphics. The marvelous user experience really drew me in. I really loved looking at them. It was the moment when i thought to myself that day, I think I can do these too, maybe not yet, but I know I will. ”  She explained. Yes, and here you are, girl! 😆

Remember when she said drawing was a coffee to her? Well… here’s the fun fact, unlike any other workers who needs caffeine to kickstart their day, she’s a non-coffee drinker! “Without coffee, I’m still able to manage my brain and energy. If there’s an urgency to do something, I can stimulate my brain to do so.”

Yes, the ability to survive a day without coffee right there. We envy you, Nidya…

Who doesn’t want to have a full control of everything while you had the chance? That’s also what one of our Pixelians said about his passion in drawing and illustration:

“Being an illustrator allow me to be the director of my own, like i’m the master of my fate. You know in life, you may not be able to change the reality, but you can always have a 100% control of how you want the story to be in your illustration. The ending is yours to decide”

Yes…

Let us introduce you to our senior illustrator, Wisangga Pranata!

Before he joined manypixels, he used to work at advertising agency, “People said that advertising agency is a terrible place. Well, i’m not saying that this is the case, cause i also learned so much from there. But, i prefer it to be here it’s very flexible. No doubt” he said.

How did his passion towards drawing and illustration grow? Believe it or not, the moment where he laid his eyes on a huge box with a brand new television inside of it arrived at his house, was also where it all started, “I’ve always thought of television as a magic box, where all the fascination happens, because i remembered that was where i first saw the legendary characters of cartoon such as doraemon, dragon ball, and so on. They were inspiration to me” said Wisangga. Anyone curious of what was his medium to draw? On a soil, with his point finger! “Yeah, i drew those cartoon characters on a soil. It was really fun though” he added. Well, isn’t that super cool? 😆

And nope, we’re not done yet. Wisangga is also one of our most multitalented designers. Ever imagined someone who can draw really well, sing, write a song, act, and dance? Speaking of dance, here’s the fun fact: He admitted that he was the coordinator of dance extracurricular in his highschool, and was able to perform headspin! (okay we all get dizzy just to think about it…😵)

Last but not least, did we mention that he’s the most melancholic pixelian amongst of all?

Well, let his pick of favorite song do the justice…..

As July has ended (well… didn’t it feel like it just passed in a blink of an eye?) we would like to share some updates about what happened in Manypixels within these past few weeks, included:

• The expansion of our team
• What we do to strengthen the relationships within team members
• New product launch
• What we’ve achieved so far
• and the list goes on…

So yup, this kind of blog post would be updated every first week of the month to let you know how was the previous month going. We want to be as transparent and as honest as we can be by showing every single thing we do and what lessons did we take from doing such things. Alright,  let’s get started!

1. Team Expansion

Can’t deny that July has been the most significant month amongst of all in terms of employees growth. We’ve hired product manager, human resources executives, social media marketing executive, project managers, and numerous of designers. With the total of 25 people on board (plus remote designers) we are ready to serve you the best experience of future design services! And now that we’ve received more than 1350 requests in our platform, we realized how we still need to expand our team. So yes, to be able meet your expectation, and to speed everything up, we’re currently hiring more positions. If you’re interested to be one of us, simply click here!

2. Team ActivitiesAs our team expanded, we realized the importance of doing such activities that would tie up the team together. So, we started to hold 2 important meetings; the first one is conducted every Monday at 11 and we call it as ‘weekly stand up meeting’ and the second one is held every day at the same hour, with different purpose.

The weekly stand up meeting is more like a weekly update from each of the division; what are the highlights of last week and what’s the plan for current week. At the end of the meeting, we present one huge clap for everyone in the team to appreciate the great work that they have done last week, and to a hopeful week ahead.

The second meeting is the one that was firstly initiated by Daisy, our project manager. The sole purpose of this meeting is to share perspectives toward some issues (if present) or simply just to have a light chit-chat. Through this activity, she wants to let everyone know that nobody in the team is going to have to deal with the problems alone; as a team, we will always got each other’s back! (isn’t she the sweetest? ❤)

3. Product Launch! It’s gonna be really exciting! 

Did you know that we’re going to launch a new product this August? Well, add this to your list! The main idea of this product is to address one of your issues regarding to digital marketing content.

So, from the picture above, any guess of what it is going to be? 😏

4. Numbers… numbers… and numbers…

What could be better instrument to measure any kind of progress other than number? We’d say nothing! Quantitatively speaking, other than receiving more than 1350 design requests in our platform, we are making US$33.293 in  monthly recurring revenue with 135 subscribers, and 97% ETA expected!  But nope, we are not there yet. Not close enough to the destination. As a small startup, we realized that there is still a bunch of things we need to do to be your go-to design services.

Therefore, we appreciate any feedback! Feel free to drop some comments or shoot us an e-mail for any questions to info@manypixels.co

So, that’s it for the July review! And here’s to the more challenging journey ahead 🍻

See you on the next monthly highlight!

Have you met Daisy, the product manager of Manypixels? If you haven’t, well this is your chance to get to know her better 😋

Her interest towards graphic design world has grown since she was in high school. So it takes no surprise that long gone before she joined manypixels, she was a former graphic designer. Oh and moreover, she used to run a startup too!

She jumped at a chance to become a product manager at Manypixels when Robin asked her to post a job vacancy at Manypixels. Knowing that there’s a marketplace for design is something that really amused her. So, instead of being a job poster, she decided to be an applicant too 😆

And yes, as a new chapter enters, another challenge appears, “I have to continuously improve, oversee, and manage the product quality based on company’s vision. As we strive to be the future of design services, i will have to ensure that our products are able to ‘patch up’ the deficiency of other design services itself. But thankfully, i’m being well surrounded by great people; other #Pixelians i’m proud to call my team mates.” Daisy said when being asked about the challenge she faced as a product manager. She can’t deny that having a super fun working environment is one of the things that keep her feeling motivated.

If there’s something extra about her… (that is super extra to us, for sure) she loves motivating others! So, everyday, at 11 am, she conducts a daily sharing session with other #Pixelians, where we gather in circle to share our perspectives towards an issue. For example, this morning we talked about life’s biggest fear. Every single team member must share what are their biggest fears and how did they overcome them. The sole purpose of this sharing session is to let everyone knows what each of team member going through, so they wouldn’t feel alone. 

And speaking about fun fact… you wouldn’t believe that she could imitate chipmunk’s voice! So anyone wants to hear Only You by Alvin? 🐹

Hi! It’s me again, Andita! This time, in the middle of our deadlines (yes… 😜) i had a chance to have a fruitful discussion with our two designers. What did we talk about? Can you guess it? Well, in case you have no idea… we talked about how was their previous experience working in Uber and what are the key takeaways to take from there!

Undoubtedly, to be able to work in a pioneer of online transportation company was a great milestone to Dina and Zulfa. There are valueable lessons that they earned; from how to perform well in a fast paced working environment to a deep understanding about branding. Let’s find out!  

 

1. ✔️The Can-Do Attitude

Nowadays, having the can-do attitude is one of the most important thing. Zulfa said as she used to receive tons of design requests for different needs, from the social media to offline contents, she had to do it all! This is the attitude that she brought to Manypixels. With an infinite number of to do list, i managed to complete them all, and was able to complete her jobs within tight deadlines ✔️✔️✔️

 

2. 🕐 Time Management

The ability to juggle from a task to another is something that designers should master (undoubtedly😆). This is also what these two designers learned from their previous company. Both Dina and Zulfa said that to have an unexpected workload is a common thing for them. However, with the right time management, they will be able to set up and predict the time needed to do all the tasks!

Well, i personally agree with them. In fact, to me, having a really good time management not only will enable us to finish everything on time, but also allow to have fun!  🎉

 

3. 🎯 Consistent Branding

This is another key takeaway that Dina got from working in Uber. As she was introduced to all of the aspects that built the consistent branding of the brand itself, she also had the chance to learn how to localize the brand so that they can ‘fit’ into the society. For instance, as a multinational company, she needed to create something as an identity to show that “hey, this is Uber Indonesia!”  or something like that. So, in terms of company branding, she had to infuse the culture of Indonesia to the icons or illustrations with the company’s own style. This valuable lesson was also something that she applies here in Manypixels.

That’s all from them! Feel free to leave us some comments 😉

See you on the next blog post!

Warm Regards,

Andita.

Binsar joined Manypixels in June 2018. He was a part time UI/ UX researcher at Indonesia Government. Other than the flexible working time, super fun co workers are what he loves the most about being Pixelian; “Of course it’s so different from working at the government. You know, other than doing the thing i’m deeply passionate about here in Manypixels, i get to work with brilliant people with the same age as mine. We share a lot of common things, effortlessly.  Work becomes less heavy since then, it’s so exciting.” Binsar said.

What keeps him inspired to do his work? There’s only one answer to him: Music! 🎧 🎼 🎸Just like everyone else, he can’t live without music, and even feel more concentrated with his headphones on. Moreover, he practices music too! You would find him carrying the guitar everywhere, especially when he needs a break from work for a while. All of Banda Neira’s songs are his favorite to jam to.

When asked about the idea of great design, he said that it isn’t solely an aesthetically appealing piece of artwork, “It has to be useful, it has to be helpful. It has to be able to solve the problems, not adding the confusion” he added.

Fun fact about Binsar: While most designers or creative people are known to be a ‘night owl’, he can’t stay up late! And prefer to do his work early in the morning. Who’s with him?  ☝🏻

We Just Started A New Blog Post Serie!

🎧Song listened to while writing this post: Kings of Convenience – Rule My World 🎧

Well, looks like this blog is going to be a bit more active…

… I just joined Manypixels!

First of all, let me introduce myself. My name is Andita and I recently joined and will work primarily as a Content and Social Media Executive for Manypixels. Before joining Manypixels, i used to be an intern at two well known internet companies in Asia. And yes, i was a freelance content creator too. 

Now that i am a #Pixelian, i’m gonna manage this blog with Robin. Yet, we will make sure to allow everyone in our team to write on it. We want it to make it like a place where we can share our thoughts of building a company.

During my first week of work,  Robin explained me how he wants to honestly show how we do every single thing. One of the idea I had is to make a “Best Design Spotlight” where we show the idea behind a popular design we made, and why such services can add value to your business.

Let’s not wait, and here is the most viewed project of the week which is our take on an illustration for our upcoming product.  

Yup, this is it! 

The ideas behind this design

The idea was to show all benefits in six illustrations, so that we could make a landing page more attractive (and thus convert better).

Based on those, we have then created an illustration that portrays our values to every one of our clients.

Cue the drumroll 🥁

Ta-da!

The blue themed isometric illustration was made! If you are curious, here is the concept behind it:

• “We join your Slack team and Trello board”

Slack and Trello are well known as chat platform and project management applications for professionals. The first illustration implies how assigning tasks would be as easy as sending us a message through that application. Our project manager will then join your Slack and Trello team.

• “Faster turnaround”

To satisfy your needs, we offer 24 working hours turnaround per task! Not to brag, but, we are blazing fast. 😎

• “Daily output”

You will be able to receive the design updates to your mailbox or Slack daily.

• “Two tasks at the same time”

Our designers will work on two design tasks at the same time, no problemo.

• “Briefing consultation call”

We always want to improve and understand your business goals. We’ll touch base with you on a weekly basis for a consultation on your business objective goals (just so that we’re on the same page).

• “Weekly Consultation call”

Feel the need of strong leads to understand where the bigger picture of your project should go? Let’s have a weekly consultation call to understand your UX or other graphic needs with our in-house experts!

Why illustrations?

When we started making illustrations, we thought : What values are illustrations adding to our customer businesses?

Illustrations really help convey emotions but also add uniqueness to your brand. People are tired to see many landing pages or emails but if they see illustrations, they understand effort was put into conveying a particular message and it catches their attention as a result.

Some ways to use illustrations:

1. In your blog post: To convey a particular key point or as a header of that blog post.
2. In your landing page (as a “How it works” or “Benefits” illustration like this one)
3. In your newsletters
4. As social sharing image or Facebook ads (Facebook ads do not allow a lot of text, so you must convey it with pictures of illustrations)

P.S. – Don’t you know that we are on dribbble? Well, now that you do… follow us here. 😉 Our exciting projects would be uploaded regularly there! 

See you on the next post!

Warm Regards,

Andita.