I'm a graphic design out by profession but whenever I'm introduced as an app
developer is what most people have in mind
it backs that pressure pressure
sorry to disappoint - I'm not there yet
my story is a story of failure
it is a story of gaining confidence and the story of achieving relative success
i was born in a small town in the Eastern Cape called battle with it was
an industrial town
my mother was the geography teacher growing up there are a lot of maps at
home
I learned how to read maps at an LDH there where topographic maps weather
maps solar system charts and diagrams
I lent about different time zones
I lent about different hemispheres and more but I was really interested in
settlement geography to me
geography was a living subject it taught me how human beings were influenced by
nature and how they adapted based on the social economic needs
I lent about different human settlements have been settlements and rural
settlements
I lent about how they were different
how there is similar and how they're organized
actually this was my first introduction to graphic communication using symbols
and iconography
to communicate concepts and items on a map
it was also my first introduction to information graphics presenting data
into a visual fall
actually this understanding made the world and really small place to me and
then more accessible place
it's but my imagination to visualize faraway places that I've never been to
even those in a small top
it also helped me to see similarities between different places
actually this influences me every day to create practical things that can be used
in the real world
I never studied art in high school
so when I went to start a graphic design I struggled with drawing in my first
year to about a hundred ten ten students in my first year and about 90 of them
wanted to start a graphic design for the second year the graphic design
department only took about twenty students a year in order for me to be a
graphic designer
I needed to be one of the 20 students and drawing was that recommended subject
during the first quarter of my first year I was the only student who failed
drawing i received for the four percent i went to my drawing lecturer
I asked him to give me a created to critique my work I asked him why was I
feeling and how could i be better
he gave me pointers told me what I was doing right
he told me what I was doing wrong he also gave me an advice
he advised me to keep a sketch
book to draw everyday objects
I took this advice to heart during the holidays
I drew a lot i drew even when I went back to technique on
I drew till I finish the sketch book
I finish the sketch book end up with a new one
I read books on drawing techniques and then my drawing improved by the end of
the second quarter
I jumped from for the four percent
- 75 percent this experience taught me three lessons
it taught me to learn the basics
it taught me to learn by doing
it also taught me to apply knowledge these three lessons are the same lessons
I used when I was teaching myself programming
I've always loved programming
there's something amazing about creating something that is intelligent something
that other people can use i decided to learn this craft despite my fears and
discouragements there are many challenges are along the road
the first challenge was access to tools the FD k which is the software
development kit file size was huge
sdk is just offensive word for toolbox which is just tools to develop
applications
there was a company that developed iphone apps impact on north west at the
time I went in I introduced myself and I requested the copy of the sdk since they
had already downloaded
well they are greeted fast but the leader
give me run around and in short he never gave me the sdk this experience made my
desire and determination want to learn how to do this even stronger
I add the front of mine more sitting there just saw me he you downloaded the
sdk for me
I i downloaded a lot of Apple documentation and I read through it all
I read the human interface guidelines to understand how to create interfaces
properly support myself a book on iphone programming and Objective C Objective C
is a programming language of choice for Apple devices
I think that around with the Apple source code and attracted to my
requirements
I realize that the graphic design creative process was similar to the
programming creative process both they teach you how to think they teach you to
ask the question why it is no secret that most of the influential tech
entrepreneurs university two parts
I wanted to do the opposite and be a drop in
just for a year or two
I wanted to learn the basics properly
i downloaded free online courses from MIT Stanford University and chemical
Mellon University the course contents included machine learning iphone
programming and introduction to computer science with this newfound knowledge
I wanted to create a product that will be used in the real world
I wanted to create something that other people would use
I was really obsessed
I wanted to create something for myself something that I would use every day I
decided to create a how to an application
how to train with the rapid rail system that connects to harness back
pretoria and watch some international airport in kempton park
I'm an everyday user of the heart and service is that similar applications
around the world and i found out that the user interface was similar I wanted
to create something unique something that would enhance the user experience
something that would simplify the user interface
I decided to create and drop a drag-and-drop functionality for the
application where by a user will just drag where they're from and then drop
where they're going and then get the training next term time will be
displayed
i also wanted the application to work well offline
as we all know Peter still expensive in this country
this is the actual application icon
it was launched in march this year
and this is the final product
the app was well received by the south african media and international media
the Financial Mail gave it four and a half stars out of five
within two weeks of its launch it was mentioned in stockholm sweden at a web
and mobile conference
the app is charted at number two in the South African app store in the ipad
Travel category for both the top paid and top grossing I believe that people
should exercise the idealism and make the ideas happen
of course execution is always the hardest part
when we learned something new we've got a tendency to jump to the cool part
a tendency to ignore the process but I think understanding the process means
means that you can create products that can have a lasting value
I think learning the basics means that you can break things apart and put them
back together again
I think that learning by doing means that you can discover new ways of doing
things you can use the basics with the imagination to create new products and I
think applying knowledge means that you can build a product with insights the
internet access has made the world and really really small place and I think
great ideas can come from anywhere around the globe where we are from a
small town with big city where you're from the URL on Evan settlement
I would like to close this castle coat
learn the rules like a pro so you can break them like an artist
thank you very much
