Hey

It is 2015. The human race is deep in a new epoch where they can't survive without technology. The aliens are close to success for their millennial-long mission - to introduce new problems to the humans, so that they can take over planet Earth, starting from developed countries, because the aliens like our infrastructure too. Whether or not you'd like to abstain from technology, all efforts are futile. We make plans, grab taxis, order takeout, learn, keep track of our friends all on our phones. We use technology in almost every aspect of our lives now, and technology is not exclusive for just the young and hip. But we can defeat the aliens. We can use technology to enrich our lives - we can entertain, we can problem solve. And this is what makes CS3216 so relevant, and so important. 

My blog for the course is titled Yivolving, because I like bad stories and bad puns. It is with reference to the course name (software development on evolving platforms/digital markets), but also a personal reminder that this is what I hope to learn and what I hope to do with the knowledge gained from CS3216. Of course, as a designer in the course, I hope to have the most takeaways in the department of design. I'm still fairly new to the world of professional design and in actuality I've only started to learn and use Adobe Illustrator (which I love) a month ago. I don't find aesthetics a huge problem - in fact, I do think that that would be one of my strengths in this course - but I think it will be important to learn how to aestheticize while providing the most efficient and useful experience for the user. I know a lot of people, myself included, who happily download new software/applications because of the great new idea they're presenting us, only to be disappointed by the non- user-friendly interface.

The course offers much more than just lessons on design - I plan to learn technical skills about software development and real life skills about marketing and business planning. I'm looking forward to learn not only from the teachers, but also from my peers, especially from working with teams that will be incredibly diverse. I also bring with me many ideas I would like to introduce to the world, and I hope that with this course I can learn to shape these ideas into proper creations (or at least just one, let's not be too ambitious for now).

I know that the course is not going to be easy, but I'm excited for the lessons in store for us. Failure and unforeseen changes are going to keep coming, but I'm sure that once we've been through everything, we'll only be better people, so cheers to the exciting semester!