Literature
HCI Focused
Xiang ‘Anthony’ Chen +3
Duet: Exploring Joint Interactions on a Smart Phone and a Smart Watch
Duet explores joint interactions between a smartphone and smartwatch, using their spatial, motion, and touch inputs to create new multi-device gestures and sensing techniques. It demonstrates how watches can act as input devices, extended displays, or sensors to enhance phone-based tasks, pointing toward a "symphony" of multi-device interaction.
1945 / Vannevar Bush
As we may think
A 1945 essay by Vannevar Bush which has been described as visionary and influential, anticipating many aspects of information society.
Books
Trevor Noah
Born a Crime
Trevor Noah’s memoir chronicles his childhood in apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa as a mixed-race kid whose very existence was illegal, blending sharp humor with stark reflections on race, poverty, and identity. Anchored by his indomitable mother, it’s a story of survival, mischief, and finding voice amid chaos.
Rick Rubin
The Creative Act of Being
A meditation on creativity as a universal human practice, not just an artistic pursuit. It distills wisdom on awareness, presence, and openness as the foundations of making and living creatively.
Articles + Other Stuff
George Mack
Essay: High Agency in 30 mins
George Mack’s “High Agency in 30 Minutes” argues that the most powerful edge in life is high agency—the mindset that you can shape outcomes rather than accept them—combining clear thinking, bias to action, and principled disagreeability. Through vivid tests, examples, and “mental software” (e.g., if it doesn’t defy physics, it’s solvable), he teaches how to spot and cultivate high agency, escape low-agency traps, and turn ideas into reality. Sources: highagency.com (High Agency in 30 Minutes).
Benji Taylor
Benji's Learnings Building Honk: A real-time messaging app
A reflective case study on Honk, a discontinued real-time messaging app, highlighting its “honkish” design philosophy—presence-first, playful, and experiment-driven. It catalogs the micro-interactions, live typing, customizable reactions, mini-games, sound and type design, and intentional frictions that made conversations feel co-present and toy-like, arguing that such delightful details can make software feel alive even if the product never finds product–market fit.
My Writings
2021 / Adil Shaik
Case Study: Equa, a browser with a purpose
My oldest case-study in which I explored inclusive design practices in browsers. Got featured in Medium's #1 UX publication (UX Collective)
2023 / Adil Shaik
Let’s talk about UX in Self Custodial Wallets
In this digital age, where cryptocurrencies and decentralized finance (DeFi) are gaining momentum, self-custodial wallets play a pivotal role in empowering individuals to have complete control over their digital assets.
