The internet has become an indispensable part of the research process today. MindCanvas is a game-like web application used by user and market researchers the world over. The MindCanvas approach is characterised by game-like interactions to engage remote users in tasks while eliciting information about their thinking and preferences. I was expected to play a lead role in taking MindCanvas to the next level. This meant both identifying and prototyping new MindCanvas methods and visualising and refining existing ones.

Working in a start up was tedious with frequent deadlines and design process being practised in an agile way. I really loved the Scrum process because of the discipline it installed in me, and also the steady progress it brought into the small modules assigned to me while working with the team. Attending the daily morning 2 minute meetings and writing the EODs (End of the Day reports) was a practice of self surveillance which really helped me keep pace with web development ideology.

My understanding of design and its practice unravelled with time. Internal organisational objectives and technological constraints played a huge role in most design decisions. But, innovativeness is not restricted to designers and comes from team work with the developers. I got an opportunity to work on a live application. I got to learn a lot on how to bring the conceptual visualisations into real life and how to enable the interactions the way we think on the web.