Turn your friends into games

Weekness is a fun mobile game that encourages two players to guess each other's most commonly texted word (or weakness) in the past week.

The game relies on Nokoscope which is an end-to-end system for data collection, storage, retrieval, and sharing. Once the players make a guess and enter a word, Nokoscope parses through a week's worth of sms data taken from both the player's mobile devices and returns the ranking of the most used words by each player. The game lasts three rounds and after round three the winner is determined by the higheraveraged rank.

My role in the development process included the initial game concept, contributing to the game design, translating the game play to work for Nokia's E71 mobile device as well as the official Weekness website. Several prototypes from paper to digital were created and tested at every iterative stage. Specific to working with the Nokia E71, I was responsible for architecture, wireframes, and front end development, as well as researching best practices and approaches for using mobile technology.

My team consisted of Yumi Endo and Drew Cogbill. We won the 2009 Forum Nokia Mobile Game Design Contest and presented Weekness at the 2009 Game Developers Conference.

The very first Mobile Entertainment Series.

To earn an MFA in Design+Technology at Parsons, students must spend a painful/exciting/sleepless year single-handedly concepting, researching and implementing a big thesis project. The thesis project must combine aspects of design, technology, and the human condition together to create something unique and important for society. So, I decided to make people laugh while educating them about the fals stereotypes of the South Asian culture.

PrettyAwesome is made using Call XML (automated phone service) and a story about two Phone operators named Pritti and Aussim Daoud (also know as PrettyAwesome Dude in the American accent).

From start to finish, I spent the year in deep research, going through several prototypes/iterations of the script and refining it through user testing and analysis. The skills required to make this thesis a reality included, scripting, coding, interface design, information design, front and back end development (Call XML, HTML, Blogging), Product Design.

I also did a alot gorilla advertising in order to promote this project as well as a Talk at the very first 2009 Parsons Thesis Symposium

Watch The Presentation video and download the Entire Presentation

Little Big Planet game level design competition

In Little Big Planet characters have the power to move anything in this glued and stitched-together 3D landscape; they have the power to design, shape and build both objects and entire locations for others to view and play. There's no complicated level editor; all of these skills can be learned by simply playing the game. Creativity is part of the gameplay experience and playing is part of the creative experience. Players can make their world as open or as secretive to explore as they like. When it's ready, they can invite anyone within the LittleBigPlanet community to come and explore their patch or can go and explore everybody else's. I was responsible for the design sketches and Implementation.

Watch a quick video of what the level looks like

Astor Place Cube gets a new friend.

Check out the timelapse video from construction to promotion.

"The Culture Blender

Please check out all the features that I created in the web design of this site. More details coming soon

How Awesome are you?

Check out the video of various people enjoying this installation.

Design+Technology 2009

Traditionally, Parsons' MFADT program has shown thesis work in the form of a gallery exhibition. But we broke the mold in 2009 to address the cross-disciplinary work that is coming out of our ever-growing program. We wanted people to not only see the work but to also touch it, play with it, and experience it in ways that allow them to learn more about how design and technology are playing an important role in society and academics.

As a student, I was deeply involved in projects and events happening in our department. I saw the need for a new format to show thesis work and took initiative to plan and host a weekend symposium. After gathering a group of committed students to help out, I co-chaired the committee that organized what ended up being a very successful weekend and a new tradition that will continue for each graduating class of thesis students.

Design+Technology 2009 Thesis Symposium consisted of panel discussions, project presentations, hands-on demonstrations, art installations, film/video screenings, high-profile keynote speakers, and an opening party featuring DJ's/VJ's from the graduating class. It was truly a well-attended weekend of discussion, exploration, learning, playing, and all things beautiful and cool. It was an extremely rewarding event to help organize and be a part of.

Visit Design+Technology 2009 official website

Flickr Photo Stream

Promo Video.

Photos directed by Conway Liao and Rabia Malik. Video by Rabia Malik. Poster design by Conway Liao. Catalog design by Leanne Wagner and Michael Thibodeau.

Advertising

I started out my career in Broadcast Journalism and video editing. I enjoy editing commercials, news video and documentaries. If the thumbnails dont work check out the Comedy Central video Here and the Graphic Design video Here

Photography, Paint, and Composite Art.

All my life I have been involved in the arts one way or another. I took oil painting lessons in elementary school and continued painting in various art classes as I grew older. I have also taken several graphic design classes as well as photography courses. Shown here is just a small sample of this sort of work.

Most painting and drawing work tends to be rather literal - depicting actual figures and still life images in acrylic, oil, pencil, or charcoal. With photography, however, I love to create abstractions - playing with shutter speed, and light to capture a certain tone. And with graphic design and compositing, anything goes.