https://blog.attelkom.net/aibek/product designer in Talas. making apps that work on a cheap phone and a slow network. writing sometimes. Kündölük 3.4.2enhttps://blog.attelkom.net/aibek/2026/10/a-weekend-at-bekzhan-s.html Sun, 25 Oct 2026 17:50:00 +0600Noteshttps://blog.attelkom.net/aibek/2026/10/a-weekend-at-bekzhan-s.html I went to Bekzhan's on Saturday. We have known each other since 2005 and I still did not know that his son has a workshop on the balcony. It catches three stations and a lot of hiss. We sat on the balcony and listened to the hiss for an hour. Bekzhan's wife brought tea. Nobody said anything. It…https://blog.attelkom.net/aibek/2026/10/what-i-d-tell-a-design-student-in-talas.html Sun, 18 Oct 2026 21:00:00 +0600Noteshttps://blog.attelkom.net/aibek/2026/10/what-i-d-tell-a-design-student-in-talas.html Go to the bazaar and watch how people use their phones. Then design. Your user's phone is older and slower than yours. Always. Write in Iradi first, translate to English second, and check that the Russian fits on the button. Make something small for someone you know. It will teach you more than a…https://blog.attelkom.net/aibek/2026/09/a-coin-icon.html Sat, 26 Sep 2026 22:30:00 +0600Workhttps://blog.attelkom.net/aibek/2026/09/a-coin-icon.html For a client I had to design the icon for the new coin. It is a circle. Everyone said: "It is a circle, how hard is it?" I made four circles. Round, flat, shiny, a half-sun. The client chose the fifth, which was the first one with a different outline. A designer's job is mostly this: to make four…https://blog.attelkom.net/aibek/2026/07/the-first-email-from-abroad.html Sun, 12 Jul 2026 19:40:00 +0600Workhttps://blog.attelkom.net/aibek/2026/07/the-first-email-from-abroad.html Two years and nine months. That is how long it took, after the cut, until a client in another country wrote to me. A small firm that makes weather apps: "Hello, we saw your bus timetable page, do you have time?" I replied in four minutes. Then I waited eleven minutes before sending, because my…https://blog.attelkom.net/aibek/2026/05/designing-a-sad-number.html Sun, 17 May 2026 20:15:00 +0600Workhttps://blog.attelkom.net/aibek/2026/05/designing-a-sad-number.html Another bank screen: the monthly dollar limit. What colour is a limit? What word? "Limit" is cold. "Available" is untrue. "Remaining this month" is true but it's what you say to someone who is leaving. We used a small bar, grey, with the number in plain black beside it. No red, no warnings. Red…https://blog.attelkom.net/aibek/2026/03/two-numbers-on-one-screen.html Sun, 15 Mar 2026 21:30:00 +0600Workhttps://blog.attelkom.net/aibek/2026/03/two-numbers-on-one-screen.html A bank app needs to show a dollar rate. This spring there are two: the official rate and the one on the street. How to show both without a fight on the screen? My answer: show the one the bank can use for you, big, and say what it is. The other number does not need to be on the screen. People know…https://blog.attelkom.net/aibek/2026/02/twenty-years-of-kundoluk-comments.html Sun, 08 Feb 2026 20:20:00 +0600Noteshttps://blog.attelkom.net/aibek/2026/02/twenty-years-of-kundoluk-comments.html I found my old comments on Bekzhan's 2005 blog. "does it play mp3??" on a gadget blog. "the atm at bereke ate my card, it was you??". "brat i read all the blog again today". Everything I know about writing for real people I learned in those comment boxes: short, specific, kind, a bit rude. That is…https://blog.attelkom.net/aibek/2025/08/screens-that-must-work-in-the-sun.html Sun, 31 Aug 2025 18:20:00 +0600Workhttps://blog.attelkom.net/aibek/2025/08/screens-that-must-work-in-the-sun.html My friend Bekzhan keeps cash machines alive and sent me five photos of screens that "cannot be read after 11 a.m." Direct sun at a bank machine in August turns a nice dark screen into a mirror with a few ghost words. What we did: big black text on white, no gradients, one thick line under the…https://blog.attelkom.net/aibek/2025/05/a-bus-timetable-for-the-village.html Sun, 25 May 2025 18:40:00 +0600Workhttps://blog.attelkom.net/aibek/2025/05/a-bus-timetable-for-the-village.html Side project: a timetable page for one village bus line, made with the driver. He doesn't use apps. So the page is one screen, big numbers, works without data once loaded, and the driver can change the times by sending a text message to a number. Twenty people a day use it. Best project of my year.https://blog.attelkom.net/aibek/2025/02/a-blue-i-was-asked-to-remove.html Sun, 23 Feb 2025 21:40:00 +0600Workhttps://blog.attelkom.net/aibek/2025/02/a-blue-i-was-asked-to-remove.html A client asked me to take the dark blue out of an app. Not any blue, that one: a deep navy, with a white star in the icon. "In this month, it might look American." I redrew the icon: a green square, a line, a dot. The client said it looked great. I thought it looked like a tractor. It is a very…