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Vijani Bulumulla is CitySwift's Senior UX/UI Designer.
Vijani moved to Ireland three years ago, with an ambition to expand her knowledge and experience in the field of UI/UX design. She completed her bachelor’s degree in design at the University of Moratuwa in Sri Lanka, and her master’s degree in interactive media (Master of Science) in Ireland at the University of Limerick. She achieved both with First-Class Honours.
Before joining Cityswift, Vijani had six years’ experience as a graphic designer in the advertising and tourism industries, while also engaged in academia as an university instructor.
"At CitySwift our goal is to deliver intuitive products that empower our users to deliver best in class bus networks. Our ideal UX designer will be self-motivated, empathetic and able to drive the ideation, prototyping and testing of new product ideas."
What made you choose Cityswift?
When I joined Cityswift, it was a small team of 12 people with lots of innovative ideas and a promise of growing success. My main reasons for joining the company were a curiosity to dive into the ICT industry and the chance to get involved with AI and big data projects – which have the highest potential to help me further my long-term career.
Other key reasons were work flexibility and the friendly, welcoming nature of the team. I soon discovered that working at Cityswift is fulfilling and de-stressing – mainly because of the immense support and appreciation I get from my colleagues everyday.
Tell us about your average day as a UI/UX designer
At Cityswift, we design products that deliver a pleasing and flawless user experience. To achieve that, we maintain the product range’s consistency through design principles and guidelines to deliver the data perceiving procedure more effectively for our users. I (along with my team) follow a human-centred design process (HCD) for better user experience practices – including user research methods, conducting user interviews, customer journeys and persona creation. The iterative design process results in revised designs which constantly evolve through user testing and feedback for different product needs.
What software or methods do you use as part of the job?
My core tool for developing a better UX is a sketchpad. I spend the majority of my time sketching low-fidelity prototypes, doing brainstorming sessions and mind mapping with the team to come-up with better UX solutions to user issues. For wireframing and prototyping (low fidelity and high fidelity), I mainly use Adobe XD, Miro and Balsamiq.
To support the prototypes and to develop other branding materials, I use the Adobe CC creative suite of software (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, LightRoom, Premier and Premier Rush)
What have been the three achievements that you are most proud of?
I joined Cityswift as they were in the process of rebranding the company. So I had a great opportunity to work with the team to develop the new brand identity, with fresh brand guidelines that can be applied across diverse platforms. As well as creating the ‘face’ of Cityswift, I also worked on building the design system for our products. This has streamlined the whole brand in terms of both marketing and product, which has made things a lot easier for my colleagues across the company.
The two main products that I’ve worked on from day one at CitySwift are SwiftMetrics and SwiftSchedule. The progress, new features and the advancements that we implemented to these products within the last 18 months have been outstanding and were highly appreciated by our clients. I’m looking forward to working on new features, products and the great ideas which we have planned for the coming year.
Another achievement that I’m immensely proud of is the rapid implementation of SwiftConnect, which we executed within a very short period of time in order to aid social distancing on bus networks at the height of the Covid pandemic. This project gave me immense contentment. The multiple awards that we won for the product proves it all.
What has been the biggest challenge you have faced as a UI/UX designer?
For me, everyday at work is challenging. We constantly get feedback from users and team members, which helps to enhance the user experience of the products to a higher level. I find this very interesting and challenging, and every day I get to identify and troubleshoot UX problems and deliver creative solutions through interactive design.
Any advice for potential job applicants?
A good candidate for a UX design role should be a problem solver who can design and enhance products by focusing on usability, functionality and user requirements. At CitySwift our goal is to deliver intuitive products that empower our users to deliver best in class bus networks.
Our ideal UX designer will be self-motivated, empathetic and able to drive the ideation, prototyping and testing of new product ideas. We want someone who can enhance our products and come up with novel ideas that have the potential to change the future of public transportation.
If you are interested in joining our team as a UX Designer, apply here.
