Featured ScrnShots’ User: Imran Ali
We have another Featured User on ScrnShots: Imran Ali.
Imran is a founding partner of Carbon Imagineering, a UK-based emerging technologies think-tank, incubating a number of startup projects and providing strategies on emerging technology issues for clients.
Imran has also written two very flattering reviews of ScrnShots, which have appeared on Web Worker Daily. I had the opportunity to talk to Imran last week about what he does, and how ScrnShots is CHANGING HIS LIFE!
Derek: What does a day at work look like for you?
Imran: Um, generally a lotta reading (papers, journals & around 200 RSS posts every day!), some writing, doodling with design concepts for new ideas and invariably board meetings with clients and our partners. Sometimes I work from home, sometimes from my office in Leeds, UK.
Derek: What are some things that you are working on right now?
Imran: We helped to launch a coworking space - the Old Broadcasting House last year and are working on some mechanisms to help grow a technology ecosphere across the five major cities of the North of England…the area that was the Silicon Valley of the Victorian era! We have a couple pet startup projects of our own involving social TV and Islamic web services. I’m also a board director of two startups - ensembli and bmedi@ as well as the advisory board of a number of startups and conferences - including Emerging Communications and Going Solo. I’m also a regular contributor to Mobile Messaging 2.0, O’Reilly Media and Web Worker Daily.
Derek: How does ScrnShots fit into your workflow?
Imran: As I spot designs that I like, online and the in real world, I keep a folder of these inspirations on my MacBook’s desktop. I dip into this resource when I need to kickstart a new idea or design concept. Scrnshots is gradually replacing that folder largely by helping me to organise those resources for longevity and discoverability, but also helping me to discover designs that’re inspiring others. It’s also satisfying to get a thumbs up for the designs I’ve shared, from other users!
Derek: What do you use ScrnShots for?
Imran: A large part of my job is to synthesise the hundreds of technologies and innovations I read about each day into design concepts that make sense for clients. For example, what’s the user experience of data portability? As a designer at heart, producing these concepts is also a chance to experiement with new styles and metaphors...to do that I need tools for inspiration and Scrnshots is helping me to mechanise my inspiration much better!
Derek: This is your time to shine, what else would you like to say?
Imran: I Heart Vancouver! It’s given me Flickr, Snrnshots and Battlestar Galactica
