Meet our New Web Designer, Chan Suet Ying

Meet our New Web Designer, Chan Suet Ying.

Suet Ying joined XiMnet two months ago as a Web Designer. Currently, she is working under the guidance of seniors and she assists our project teams in delivering solutions to our customers.

Our intern interviewed the new team member in conjunction with the #VoicesFromXiMnet project. Find out more from the brief interview below:

How do you feel so far about being one of the newest team member of XiMnet?

I feel very lucky to be in this team. It is better than what I have expected!


Is this your expected career plan from where you first started off?

Yes. I have always wanted to be in the digital industry. In XiMnet, I am given the opportunity to adopt new skillsets and this helps me to grow to be a better person every day.


Crucial skills you have learned in a digital marketing agency so far.

I am learning the rationale of web designing and all the details required to produce a good website for our clients. I also discovered how useful (and simple) is our Content Management System – XTOPIA in making managing complex websites. Other than that, working in a fast-paced environment has definitely improved my time management.


What's your biggest challenge at work and what did you do to overcome it?

Achieving the maximum with the least resources (and time!). I was unfamiliar with the tasks given when I first joined but now, I find myself to be more productive and efficient. The magic is none other than good time management. Time is really gold in the digital industry so always plan ahead to reduce frustration and stress at work.


Do you have a hero? Share with us. 

Yes. When I am at the downside of life, feeling afraid, lonely and confused, I will always go back to my heroes for guidance, inspiration, or just simply a place for warmth.
They are known as my parents; who will always be by my side and chases all the gloomy clouds away.


If you were given a chance to go back in time to meet the old you in uni/college, what would you advise him/her?

I would tell her to understand this quote which is very dear to my heart: “Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use.” – Earl Nightingale


Read more about #VoicesFromXiMnet here.

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How To Create A Good Landing Page

People make snap judgements. It takes only 1/10th of a second to form a first impression about a person, and websites are no different. Studies found that the simpler the design, the better.

The human brain chooses to think about things that are easy to digest and understand. That is why you prefer visiting sites where you instinctively know where everything is and you know what actions you’re supposed to take.

So, how can we achieve that?

Build Strong Visual Hierarchy. Always rank elements on your website based on your business objective. Set specific goals to help you prioritize what is important. Here is how it can be done:



Keep it clear.
In order to ensure your objective is achieved, these are the design elements you typically want to have on your landing page:

• 1 benefit-oriented headline
• Sub-headline or intro paragraph that lays out the specifics of the offer
• 1-2 paragraphs of body copy
• Bullet list with 3 items
• 1 large image or video
• 1 email capture form with a single call to action button

Utilize your own colors and typeface to communicate clearly.
Do not add copy and/or images unless it communicates something your visitor actually cares about.

Always keep mobile devices in mind.
Tablets and smartphones are taking on a large share of web traffic, and it just keeps growing. Make sure your design is mobile responsive.

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TIME Changed

TIME Magazine has finally launched a new website on 6 March 2014.

The new interface is now responsive, catering its website towards the growing number of mobile users which is reported to be 50% of the website traffic. Although TIME has got its own native app, a mobile-friendly website is seemed to be a better approach to centralize content population into a single platform.

The new TIME website.

The new 3-column layout has nicely categorized the content type. "The Brief" which is at the center of the website features the latest 12 most important stories. Other columns such as "Interactive" and "Columnists" are grouped on the right column. This is a neater approach because users can still consume high volume of content without having trouble to find the articles.

If you notice, the left column of the website has a scroll bar. Featuring its latest articles and external sources with a standardized format, this is definitely a very good improvement from the previous website.

Due to the humongous amount of content TIME populates on its website, the new design approach has definitely make the reading experience a lot more pleasant.

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5 Questions Asked: Junior Art Director

Sim is our family member since Year 2008 and counting. Recently taken up the role of Junior Art Director, we managed to grab 10 mins from her back-to-back datelines to share with us how life has been working as a creative one.


What do you like most about design? Any area(s) particularly like? Why?

That there’s no one solution to every design problem. Website design & painting because these are the most familiar to me. I would like to try designing spaces & objects in the future :)

Describe us a bit about your creative process while creating a digital design.

1. Find related and unrelated references.
2. Marinating the ideas.
3. Trying the ideas (if short timeline, skip this step).
4. Choose idea & execute.
5. If doesn’t work, go back to step 3.

What's would you consider the best moment day-to-day and what would be the worst one?

Best: Eating lunch
Worst: Long meetings out of the office on a busy day / Food coma after lunch

What's your favourite media to work with and why?

Pixels and acrylic. Pixels because they’re precise and controllable. Acrylic cos they smell good.

Tell us three websites that you like to visit.

   

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Free Icon Set By Chris Behr

Thanks to Chris Behr, we have set of 128 original, beautiful icons to use for our design work.

Nice Things includes 128 carefully drawn illustrations of all kinds of pretty things around us — a bike, birthday cake, watch, traffic light, game console, doughnut, speaker, rollerskate, starship and much more. You may freely use it for both private and commercial projects, without any restrictions, including for software, online services, templates and themes.

They would work for Presentation Slides too!

Head over to Smashing Magazine Website or simply download the files via this link.

Happy Thursday.

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5 Questions Asked: Software Engineer

Tech geek? Nerd? Gadget Freak? Many assume working as a programmer is boring. But Yap, our Software Engineer, says otherwise. Let’s get to know what he has got to share with you today.

How was the beginning of your career in XiMnet malaysia?

I remember there are QBasic code snippets in my Form 4 Modern Mathematics text book. I was a lazy student, I tried to build application and let the computer solves my math homework. But that didn’t make me interested in programming. Sooner, my first personal webpage was built with Microsoft Frontpage (a WYSIWYG HTML editor).

I like the challenge like adding bulletin board, guest book to the webpage and also cloaking the URL to prevent hot-linking. While all those were accomplished with very little use of HTML & JavaScript programming but since then I have great interest in programming.

A decade has passed and things keep changing. As a programmer in XiMnet Malaysia, I always seek to better techniques for building web applications. Following best practices and building high performance web application is part of my work. Helping people to solve their day to day problem by using programming is my ultimate goal.

Beside your daily work, do you have any hobbies? Please share it with us.

I have great interest in collecting currencies, solving puzzles and watching movies.

Please share five golden lessons you learned to this point.

APPRECIATE WHAT YOU HAVE
Always initiate to spend more time with your family and don’t waste your food.

DON'T BE AFRAID OF CHANGE
Anything can happen so one must always prepare themselves for new challenges set ahead.

ALWAYS PUT YOURSELF IN OTHER'S SHOES
Think and analyse. Everything you do can impact someone else in your life. Always avoid hurting someone while you are trying to get things done your way.

CHANCES WAIT NO PEOPLE
Life is short, seize the moment.

DO NOT JUDGE TOO SOON
There are two sides to every question, always.

Do you have any heroes? What make them your heroes?

My hero is Sheriff Woody from Toy Story. He is a great leader who always gives support and motivation to other toys. For what he thinks is right, he will do it to the end.

Tell us in one picture how you're feeling about your life right now.

I will still going around to see what is behind the mountain even someone has already told me what it is.

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5 Minutes with The Markup Engineer

Does the designation sounds rather unusual? We manage to have a quick chat with Melvin, to understand more what he does and other interesting facts about this team member of ours. We hope his story will inspire you too!

How was it like for you the beginning of your career as a Markup Engineer?

Markup Engineer is a very exciting and challenging job as you are taking a design and making it into a functional website. At the same time you are also adding in motion, sound, and other elements to enrich the user experience when visiting a website.

The word Markup Engineer originated from HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language). It is not limited to writing HTML codes, it also includes CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), JavaScript, and also creating CMS (Content Management System) Templates. On top of that, as a Markup Engineer, have to be keen on Usability, Accessibility and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) of the site.

Tell us how your daily routine is like at work.

The Creative Department will normally design the website, and the Programmers will create the applications. My role will be taking the design and making it to a workable website and making the applications to have the same design as suggested by the Creative Department.

On top of that (here comes the fun part), I animate the website. By using CSS and jQuery, I have banner fade in and out changing to other images. Making cool menu drop down, information boxes appear when user clicks on a button, and improving user experience for users when they visit the website.

What do you like to spend time doing besides HTML 5, CCS 3 and jQuery?

Reading Manga, Watching Anime, and Playing Ingress (Resistance – Agent ID: wolfflow)

Tell us 5 key lessons you have encountered in your life and who it impacts you.

Dare to dream – dare to challenge daily routines in making thing better.

A dream without actions stays a dream – after having a dream, without extra effort you will still be normal.

Friend and family are important – friends and family can support you in your darkest time, always have them close by.

There’s always a way – there always a solution to everything.

Ask the right question – if you can’t find a solution to the solution, try rephrasing the question.

Never give up – if your solution can’t fix the problem, then you succeeded in finding a way that could not work, you only fail when you stop trying.

Do you have any heroes? Why them?

Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy. Source: www.listofimages.com

My hero will be Cloud Strife (From Final Fantasy VII). He has been fighting his own battle/ problem alone without involving his friends as he does not want to burden anyone. But he soon realizes that, he should learn how to trust his friends and their capabilities so that he could focus on his main problem/battle without distraction.

I think that a person might be great alone, but with great friends, a person can overcome the anything, and share the joy together. Learn to TRUST.

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Digital & Web Trends 2011

Have you been to YTL's YES flagship store at Lot 10, Kuala Lumpur? Gadget lovers will enjoy spending time in the store with many gadgets to play with such as iPad, latest mobile phones, Mac and others. There is a huge digital wall at the store called the "Touchwall" displaying information such as the weather, news, sports, photographs from Flickr and more.

Image Credit: Yes @ YTL Communications Sdn Bhd

2011 marks the significant change on how we interact and consume information, communication and design.

How XiMnet is going to stay relevant as a digital marketing solution provider in the tide of change?

After months of research and brain-storming, we came out with a list of recipe that will serve our customers first-class gourmet solutions from our creative kitchen this year.

1. Large (Full Page) Background
A picture paints a thousand words. Nothing is more convincing and convenient to deliver a message visually and directly to your audience and captivate them within seconds. We have started using this style since the begining of 2010 and it has generated quite a bit of exciting results. Some of our clients in the Property Development sector find this extremely useful to attract home buyers and prospects.

2. CSS3, HTML5 & Jquery
As Flash does not play well with some of the new technologies around, we are looking into some of these tools to help create a platform for rich media information. We are always thinking ahead on how to represent and display information to our clients' audience effectively. Information does not have to be displayed page by page, they can be pulled out where and when needed, or even rearrange to the sequence you prefer. Moreover, they should work seemlessly on any gadget or platform.

3. Mobile Ready
More and more information are made accessible to mobile phone users these days. Hop onto a bus, ride in the LRT, have a meal at the restaurant and everyone is holding onto their mobile phone connecting to news updates, social networking sites, chat and others. In order to catch the huge percentage of these users, we are going to equip ourselves with mobile ready websites and solutions. This will be a huge challenge in exploring a wide range of mobile browsers, tablets and other gadgets.

I strongly believe that with the support from the ever evolving technology of high speed internet connection these days, it is only a matter of time before we create the next history; digitally.

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XIMNET & Digital Alchemy in 2011

2011 is going to be a special year for XIMNET. Yeah, I will explain, but before that, some backgrounders.

2011 is the 11th year XIMNET has been in the web development business. I will, from now onwards, no longer refer to XIMNET as a web development company but simply as a Digital Agency. I think a digital agency not only sounds a lot better, but also because the work we do at XIMNET are no longer limited by the web.

So XIMNET is a Digital Agency, and we are going forward riding the waves of exciting change brought about by constant technological and societal changes in the new millinieum.

Hi there, my name is Wiley Chin. I am the Chief Alchemist of XIMNET MALAYSIA, a digital agency that's focused on delivering quantifiable, exciting results to our clients in Malaysia and across the region.

Looking back, what a journey it has been for my team and I over the past 10 years. XIMNET was founded in San Jose, USA on 2000. I remember sitting in our little office putting ideas together and reviewing them with Patrick K, and Esmond G, who is always running too far ahead and changing his mind about what is needed for this client and that.

And yes, I remember one winter morning in 2000, I made a remark about how bad the "Columbian Coffee" was in the pantry, and Luisa B, who is incidentally from Venezuela, thought I was mad. Apparently Columbian Coffee is gourmet coffee. I didn't know that, and to me, Aik Cheong Coffee from Malacca is 10 times better.

But all those heady dotcom dayscame crashing down after September 11, 2001.

When it became clear that we were headed for closure, I made up my mind to take the company to a different direction. With some funding from a friend, I bought out the company from my VC friend, Esmond G. And so around September 2002, XIMNET MALAYSIA with its focus on web development got started.

And we've been operating in Malaysia for 8 years going to 9, not counting the founding years when I was an employee. In my mind, however, XIMNET is 10 years old.

2011 is our new decade to take XIMNET, the digital agency and run the distance in creative digital exploration, developing a powerful suite of apps that will form an exciting e-commerce platform , results-based digital engagement consultancy, and most of all, "digital alchemy".

2011 is our year to paint bold strokes against this vast canvass of possibilities called the digital space!

DIGITAL ALCHEMY @ WORK will feature all of my team-members with their respective roles and insights in our business.

1. Florence Wan will be focusing on digital Sales & Marketing consultancy.
2. Lydia Lai & Hui Sheng will be talking about XTOPIA and our software exploits
3.Deborah Sze and Team will be creating innovative designs and user interface ideas.

NOTE: I used to maintain a blog called THE ALCHEMIST'S LAB . It's been a little dormant after more than 6 years of being a place where I collect my thoughts. You can go there to take a look at where I come from, but going forward, this is the new home for my ideas and thoughts.

Till then,

ENJOY!

Wiley Chin a.k.a. Chief Alchemist

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