ममत्व

जिंदगी यूँ एक स्पर्धा बन गयी है,

हम आज का सोचते, आज में ही जीते,

अपनी सफलताओं पे

गर्व करते, मुस्कुराते, इठलाते,

और हो भी क्यूँ न।

यही तो हमेशा सीखा है हमने,

जिंदगी एक दौड़ है,

जो जीता, वो सिकंदर,

बाकी सारे अंधकार के अंदर।

बस इस भागदौड़ में

अक्सर ज़ेहन से ये बात निकलती,

की किसने इस स्पर्धा के लिए

हमे तैयार किया,

हमे अपने स्नेह की सानिध्य में रखते

अपने आवरण से बाहर का दृश्य दिखाया

हाँ, वो माँ ही तो थी।

दयालु, प्यारी, मासूम

अगणित अलंकार हैं माँ के लिए।

लेकिन ज़रा गौर फरमाओ,

तो कही निडर, निर्भय, और निर्भीक है माँ,

जो कवि अपनी कविताओं में कहना भूल गए शायद।

आखिर कौन है ऐसा और

जो अपने हृदय के टुकड़े को

सालों के लिए खुद से दुर जाने दे

कौन है ऐसा और

जो अपना पूरा जीवन

सिर्फ इसी ख्वाब में व्यतीत करे

की उसके बच्चे दुनिया मे

अपना परचम लहराए।

ये माँ ही तो है।

और कौन भला।

तभी शायद कहते हैं

माँ को ईश्वर के

ऊपर का दर्जा प्राप्त है

वर्ना इतना निस्वार्थ प्यार

इन्सानी चरित्र के परे है।

माँ है तो

अस्तित्व है

माँ नही

तो सब विलीन

Book Report: 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People

Source: dailydesignnews.com

Summary

“People seek out and pay attention to information and cues that confirm their beliefs. They don’t seek out—in fact, they ignore or even discount—information that doesn’t support what they already believe.” – Susan Weinschenk

100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People is a book by the renowned behavioral psychologist Susan Weinschenk that explains the various aspects of everyday design that is important to come out with a practical solution; something that is quite crucial for every designer to ensure that they meet the expectations of their clients with complete satisfaction.

Weinschenk has written this book, keeping in mind how the designers work for creating great user experience. It is for all kinds of designers – a website designer, a car model designer, or an engineering device model maker. The book put a lot of emphasis on the fact that the right kind of design for people is something that is greatly influenced by a designer’s experience of what she/he knows and understands about those people, for whom she/he is working on a design.

The book gives a detailed elaboration of differentiating between the good and bad types of design, based on the user's requirements and interests.

Why I picked this book

As an artist and writer, I have always been fascinated by finding out what kind of content people like and why they like it. Besides, I am also a student of Interactive Media Management and the core objective of this program is to learn about the best user design experience and how to implement it. The title of the book really intrigues me. So, I went through a few of the reviews online and decided to give it a go. 

My expectations from the book and what I got out of it

Before opting for this book, I went through several reviews by my professors, batchmates, and websites like Goodreads to get a glimpse of what it has to offer. I had been looking forward to honing my skills of observing the users in a better manner and design for them that serves the objective. Once I began reading the book, I found it meets all my expectations.

I found this book quite helpful in getting a clear understanding of how the design aesthetics work and what I should take care of while working on any design element for the users.

Key Takeaways

The book categorically divides people's perspective of art based on their emotions, interests, and decisions. it elaborates on the following aspects:

1.      What people read

2.      What people remember

3.      What people think

4.      Where people focus

5.      Motivations

6.      People as social animals

7.      What people feel

8.      Mistakes

9.      What people decide

Out of these 9 categories, the ones that I found quite crucial for any interactive media professional are what people remember, what motivates people, and what people feel.

What people remember

Every single minute, an individual goes through hundreds of visual elements in his life – posters, flyers, banners, online ads, television commercials, and many more. Hence, the attention span of every individual is significantly lesser than what it used to be a decade ago. As Agile coach and group fitness coach Geoff Mazeroff has stated, people remember only 4 things at once.  Therefore, a designer needs to observe what a user remembers amid the hoard of all the visual elements and plan his design strategy accordingly.

 

What motivates people

People tend to be motivated when they know that they are getting closer to their goals. They like it when they know that they have control over something that they own or want to own. As a designer, coming out with elements that give the user a more interactive control is something that will always satisfy them.

What people feel

Human beings are emotional animals. They are attached to certain people, places or objects such as specific food or sports. Therefore, by analyzing a user’s psychology and by focusing on their various interests and choices, a designer can come out with a product to which the user will feel attached, something that will comfort them and give them a feeling that it is all theirs.

 

My professional and personal insight

I found these key points quite crucial, both personally and professionally. Not only they are important to understand the user’s psychology in the best manner possible, but also to deliver the end product that meets the expectations with utmost satisfaction. As mentioned on Goodreads, this book combines real science and research with practical examples to deliver a guide every designer needs.

Besides, this book has changed my perspective of seeing everyday things to a significant extent. I observe my surrounding elements with a keener interest; doors, tables, chairs, staircases. This book has opened the doors in my thinking process that were closed and I didn’t even know they existed in the first place!

Half Life: Alyx – Will Coronavirus Pandemic Take a Toll on The Sales?

Half Life: Alyx is less than a week away and the hype it has built is chaotic. Though this shouldn't come as a surprise as Half Life games have a history of making the video game fandom crazy with each new installment.

With the Half Life franchise, Valve has always been eagle-eyed precise and careful since the very first game hit the shelves. Hence the reason why almost every Half Life game has set revolutionary milestones for the video games to follow, in whichever decade they were released.

With Half Life: Alyx, Valve is again set to cross the usual norms and venture into an untouched realm – Virtual Reality.

Virtual Reality is not exactly a new term. The technology has been around for almost a decade now and since recent years, it has been prolifically used in several applications related to medical science, engineering, and yes, video games too.

However, it remains an 'element of wonder' rather than something that is regularly used as an integral function of most of the system. Since Valve has always been known for daringly experimental with implementing the technology of the future in Half Life games, they decided to go for Virtual Reality this time.

Half Life: Alyx is completely VR based and will require a VR headset to play the game. Besides the trailer showcasing it, a few in-game footages were made available by the Valve that show the gameplay and how it would be to play with the VR.

 

Fans are on a frenzy. Though ensuring the Half Life games are the pinnacle of video games, Valve is also notorious for delaying the franchise for an unbelievingly long duration of time – The game, Half Life 2: Episode Three, was supposed to be out by 2010 but after numerous hints by Valve employees and the Big Man (Gabe Newell) himself, it hasn't seen the light of the day till date and is considered by many a vaporware now.

Therefore, the hype is real, very real.

This time, things are a bit different than ever before; the Coronavirus pandemic has engulfed the world and organizations across the globe are shutting down to prevent its spread. In a time like this, it won't come as a surprise if the overall sale of the game is also affected, though the presales have already been great and Valve is quite satisfied with it. 

Through the years, the fandom of Half Life has crossed the boundaries and has included people from several countries outside the US. The games have been extremely popular in countries like India, Pakistan, Costa Rica, Brazil, and many more. The love for the franchise has been such that the fan-created Counter Strike, which was based on the original Half Life engine, has become a full-fledged video game franchise itself.

It goes without saying that fans are eagerly waiting to see their favorite franchise return. However, there have been concerns related to it being completely playable in VR. Valve has announced that the Valve Index headset owners will get the game for free. The thing is, Valve Index is not really cheap. On Steam, the price is listed as $999. That is not the kind of amount a lot of people can afford to pay for a video game accessory in several countries.

In India, 1 USD equals to approx. 74 rupees. In Pakistan, it's equivalent to almost 160 rupees. Comparing the average income per person, that price is ridiculously high. Hence the reason why a lot of fans have objected Alyx being VR only and not having an option to play it as a conventional first-person shooter.

Half Life: Alyx will be completely Virtual Reality based. 

So, will a lot of fans in the third world countries are going to be disappointed and left without the game? Or will they have to wait till they can save enough money to play it?

Maybe.

Or maybe, they can go for much cheaper alternatives. Headsets like Valve Index, Occulus Quest, and PlayStation VR are at the upper ends. But if you really want to play the game and are looking for an affordable headset, you can try Dell Visor or HP Windows Mixed Reality Headset.

Half Life: Alyx is definitely one of the most anticipated video games of 2020 and as a video game fan myself, I can understand how disheartening it can be to not get your hands on your favorite game when it comes out. But if you are someone who doesn't care about the spoilers much and just enjoy the overall gameplay experience, whenever you get to, you might wait for a couple of months, save enough, and buy yourself a nice VR headset before entering into the realm of City 17.

 

As the G Man said, “The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world.”

The abovementioned quote has no relevance to the topic of this article. I just wrote that so that you can get into the vibe of Half Life.

The Resistance lives!