Goals of the group
uxWaterloo is a professional interest community for anyone concerned about improving the “user experience” of products and services. User experience (or UX) is a somewhat vague term, but we’ve chosen it deliberately because it speaks to the broad range of people and professions who are involved. In a nutshell, UX is the practice of designing products that delight the people who will ultimately use them. Delighting customers is good business, so companies around the world are taking a serious look at how this kind of thinking contributes to their success.
uxWaterloo has two main goals:
- To provide a support community for practicing designers, whether they identify themselves as interaction designers, industrial designers, web designers, etc. We’re casting a wide net here, as we believe there’s a lot of value to be had in bringing together a variety of design disciplines.
- To promote the value that Design (note the capital D) and “design thinking” brings to business. This means we’ll strive to have active members from disciplines other than design, such as business strategy, marketing, product management, and so on.
Everyone who is interested in either of these goals is welcome and encouraged to join us, regardless of race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, age, company, role, or preferred design tool. Please reach out if you need anything to make our events more accessible for you.
When do we meet?
We typically meet on the third Thursday of each month, often virtually. Make sure to check back here for the link or location for each month’s event.
About our affiliations
We’re affiliated with two organizations:
- The Interaction Design Association (IxDA). We’re recognized as a local “face-to-face” group of the IxDA. IxDA is a non-profit professional organization whose focus is promoting both the field of interaction design and the interests of an international community of practitioners, managers, educators, and students of interaction design. Our affiliation with IxDA plugs us into a valuable network of peers and experts while allowing us to build and operate our local group as we see fit. IxDA hosts a very active discussion list that’s well worth checking out.
- Communitech. We’re sponsored by Communitech as a “Peer2Peer” group. Communitech is an industry-led organization driving the growth and success of Waterloo Region’s technology sector through leadership, connections and promotion. Its 450+ members include big names such as Research In Motion, Open Text and Google, but equally important are the myriad of local start-up enterprises and growing firms. As a Peer2Peer group, we benefit from Communitech’s help in organizing events and plugging us into Waterloo’s active business and technology community.
Contacts
Please direct questions or suggestions to the group’s coordinators, Mark Connolly and Megan Pollock.
Click here to contact us by email.