Petrolink People is our staff interview series which aims to get inside the minds of some of the brightest people at the company. We aim to uncover what makes them tick, exciting projects they are working on and their ambitions for the future. In this edition, we sat down with Rony Anand – Senior UI/UX designer based in Kochi and the man not only behind the PetroVue™ Real-time system design but also an extremely talented artist.
What is your background?
I have an Engineering Degree in Applied Electronics & Instrumentation with over ten years of experience. I’ve been privileged to work on projects in a variety of domains and platforms.
So, you were new to the oil and gas industry,
how did you go about getting up to speed?
I was completely new to oil and gas, and it took me some time to understand the domain, the user base and their behaviors. Thankfully, I am surrounded by knowledgeable colleagues who were more than happy to pass on their experience or point me in the direction of useful resources. One of our challenges was to revamp the legacy applications structure and move from a partly desktop to a full web platform. I’ve shone a light and hopefully helped people understand the possibilities of the web and how to apply UI/UX best practices.
How do you go about developing a design culture?
Implementing a design culture in any company is a huge challenge. Over the last two decades, you can see that there has been a massive change in almost all sectors in terms of design, but I would say, the energy sector has been overly traditional and put function ahead of form.
As a designer, my role is to educate and advocate, to show evidence that there is a new way to go about doing things. So, what I learned from my experience, be patient and build a rapport with people and focus on a small thing rather than trying to make a big impact straight away.
Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.
Vincent Van Gogh.
Where do you get inspiration from?
I create a mood board for each project which is a crucial resource throughout the design process. They are also an excellent way to refine a project’s style before diving into the actual design process. On this project it was difficult to create a mood board, PetroVue™ is feature-rich, but our vision was to create a product that is easy to use. Creating mood boards allowed our team to collect thoughts, ideas and styles in one place, for that we conducted extensive research and took inspiration from different domains like fintech and aerospace.
Are you using any add-on techniques to do your process make it easier?
Collaborate and talk with your team as much as possible. Try to make sure all are on the same page who is involving in that project and be a good listener. From day one itself, we have been sharing sketches and prototypes throughout the team.
What is your design philosophy?
There is no perfect solution for all the users in terms of design. There is always room for improvement. Try to keep things simple. Design is successful when the users accomplish their goals without any effort.
You are also a talented artist. How long does it take to create your works?
There is no specific time or rules at all. It depends on technique, subject matter, size, speed, or mood. It may be a few hours to several months. Decisions must be made, and they aren’t always simple or easy. Once I start a work, I become submerged.
Any final thoughts?
Designing the way users interact with our technology requires knowledge of not just design and color but of human behavior. It’s a fascinating area that is continually evolving and the impact our team makes and the positive feedback we receive gives me an immense amount of satisfaction.
If you want to learn more about Rony or ask him any questions about what it’s like to work at Petrolink, connect with his LinkedIn’s profile.
