April 2012 event: UX at the movies

It’s been three years to the month since our last movie night, and that just feels far too long!

For our April gathering we’re turning down the lights, popping the corn, and firing up the projector. Join us for an informal screening of a variety of movies about our relationship with the tools and technologies that surround us — either as designers, or as end users. We’ll view clips from commercial films as well as a good variety of online videos from sources such as YouTube and Vimeo.

Suggest a movie

Of course, making an event like this successful requires participation and input from all of the attendees! Have you seen something that inspired you professionally? That got you thinking about your approach to user experience? That made you smile? Bring your suggestions and we’ll get them on the movie playlist. And, as always, be prepared for plenty of discussion, both serious and playful.

Details

Thursday April 19, 2012
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Communitech Hub
151 Charles Street West, Suite 100, Kitchener

Sign up now, as space is limited!

(March 2012) REAP project demos and design feedback

Wednesday March 7, 2012
5:30 to 7:00 pm
FELT Lab at Quarry Integrated Communications
1440 King Street North, St. Jacobs, Ontario
[Map]
Sign up now, as space is limited!

We like to mix up the kinds of events we do at uxWaterloo. It keeps things interesting, provides exposure to a wider range of ideas, and enables us to share our expertise with the community.

Some of you will recall our visit to the Felt lab back in November. That event was a chance to try out some of the interesting interactive display technologies at Felt. Well, we’re going back, but this time we’re on a mission to help students in the Research Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program (REAP) at the University of Waterloo by providing them with feedback on the projects that they are working on.

Come out and share your insights and design expertise with the next generation of UX practitioners and researchers, while learning more about exciting new technologies. The discussions are sure to be enlightening all around.

(November 2011) An Evening of Serious Play at the New FELT Lab

Our November event is an exciting opportunity to get some hands-on play time with a variety of interactive technologies in the recently launched FELT lab, located in St. Jacobs. uxWaterloo is one of the very first groups to make use of this terrific new facility!

A digital sandbox for serious play

Founded by the University of Waterloo’s Research Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program (REAP), the FELT lab is designed to spark “research entrepreneurship” between UW students, faculty and industry experts. It focuses particularly on interactivity and responsiveness in digital display environments, and has numerous corporate partners who’ve brought some terrific toys to the table.

The lab is located in the offices of Quarry Integrated Communications, but has a separate entrance off King Street in St. Jacobs. Inside the lab, you’ll find a range of emerging technologies such as Christie Canada’s MicroTiles, GestureTek’s Cube and Kiosk, Float4’s interactive FX, and Kommerz’s Mixed Reality Interface (MRI).

And we’re going to have some serious fun!

uxWaterloo’s event will feature some hands-on creative, integrative thinking, and building. Guided by students from the REAP program, we’ll work in groups to brainstorm (and bodystorm!) unique combinations and innovative applications of the lab’s technologies. We’ll pitch our best ideas to each other while learning about all the lab’s capabilities and technologies in the process. And, we’ll be documenting the process and ideas on video, ensuring that our creative energy is captured for posterity.

Play! Create! Share! Learn! It’s going to be an awesome event!

Thursday November 24, 2011
5:30 to 7:00 pm
FELT Lab at Quarry Integrated Communications
1440 King Street North, St. Jacobs, Ontario
[Map]
Sign up now, as space is limited!

October 2011: Design workshop with REEP

Thursday October 20, 2010
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Accelerator Centre
295 Hagey Blvd., Waterloo

Sign up now, as space is limited!

The October edition of uxWaterloo features a hands-on design workshop for the Residential Energy Efficiency Program (REEP). We’ll work in groups to generate ideas for improving the user experience of REEP’s Green Home Planner, a web-based tool used by home owners to plan upgrades based on REEP’s audit of their home’s environmental performance. Bring your creativity and your curiosity!

About REEP

REEP is an environmental, charitable organization that has provided home energy evaluations in Waterloo Region since 1999. Over the past twelve years, REEP’s Certified Energy Advisors have shown 13,235 homeowners how to save 18,142 tonnes in greenhouse gas emissions and $4,531,000 annually on their energy bills. Participants have reduced their heat loss by an average of 25% through home retrofits based on REEP’s recommendations.

Download REEP’s personas and a product brief

To provide some context for this month’s design workshop, REEP has drafted 2 documents that describe their target audience and the product we’ll be working on. Download the PDF files below:

	Download the REEP personas
	Download the REEP product brief

(September 2011) Tom Robinson on designing for novices, experts, and others

We’ve all seen the frustrations of novice users struggling with a piece of software not designed for them. Novices need features to help guide them through complex software. On the other hand, features designed to help novices may slowdown and frustrate expert users. Before we can design for novices and experts, we need to know how both groups interact with software. Knowing what novices and experts need from software, and which group we should design for, will help us decide what features to include and exclude.

During this session, we will look at who novices are, who experts are, and who’s in between. We will then have an extensive group discussion about which level of expertise people design for and how they approach design for that group.

Tom Robinson is a PhD student at the University of Waterloo. He is researching how people learn to use computer software, looking at the stages of knowledge that people pass through as they learn. Previously, he worked at Maplesoft and TD bank as a GUI developer. He has a bachelors and masters degree in Computer Science, also from the University of Waterloo.

Thursday September 15, 2010
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Accelerator Centre
295 Hagey Blvd., Waterloo

RSVP

Job: Senior User Experience Designer

Open Text™ (NASDAQ: OTEX; TSX: OTC) is the world’s largest independent provider of Enterprise Content Management software. The company’s solutions manage information for all types of business, compliance and industry requirements in the world’s largest companies, government agencies and professional service firms. Open Text supports approximately 46,000 customers and millions of users in 114 countries and 12 languages. For more information about Open Text, visit www.opentext.com.

User Experience (UX) Designers research, identify, and solve complex software design problems in an innovative, highly collaborative environment. UX Designers work directly with program managers, product managers, architects, and software developers to translate high level product requirements into designs that deliver compelling experiences that solve the business problem. They are responsible for designing the user experience architecture, interaction flow, and UI design of complex enterprise software applications.

Must be self-motivated with ability to work both independently and in conjunction with other UX team members and product groups. Enthusiasm and flexibility to work on a variety of projects are necessary, as well as the ability to rapidly acquire new domain knowledge. Must have the ability to balance business needs and usability / design ideals within a fast-paced, agile software development environment.

Responsibilities

• Support Program and Product Management by performing user research, developing ongoing relationships with customers to capture their stories and build a shared understanding of their problems and needs
• Work with Product Management in helping to create the product backlog and define the user experience vision for the product.
• Conceptualize, design and deliver intuitive and compelling designs for a complex product suite that clearly support business objectives
• Advocate user needs throughout the development lifecycle to inspire the engineering team to develop the right product
• Validate designs with customers and other stakeholders in order to drive iterative improvements throughout the development lifecycle
• Mentor peers, stakeholders, and teammates on customer-centered design principles and methodologies
• Maintain an awareness of current trends in interaction design and competitive software to identify opportunities to enhance the user experience
• Contribute to and help champion User Experience Design team initiatives, such as creation of design guidelines, process enhancements, toolkits, etc., fostering a customer-centered culture

Requirements

Education

Degree in Interaction Design, Psychology, Human Factors, Industrial Engineering or related HCI discipline, or demonstrated proficiency and experience in the field of software user experience / interaction design.

Skills

Minimum of 5 plus years of strong software interaction design experience reflected through portfolio / work samples demonstrating the following skills:

• Demonstrated results-oriented work ethic and consistent record of meeting deadlines
• Excellent listener, facilitator, communicator, and team player
• Self-reliant, used to taking initiative, and great at follow-up
• Creative, with solid understanding of interaction design best practices / principles
• Requirements gathering and analysis
• Creation of user personas
• Task and workflow analysis
• Light prototyping (paper and click-through interactive)
• Heuristic evaluation and expert walk-throughs
• Usability testing and analysis of results and/or working with user researchers/usability engineers to convert test recommendations to design decisions
• Good analytical and organizational skills including the ability to organize and prioritize tasks
• Ability to work both independently and in a highly collaborate environment as part of a global User Experience Design team
• Ability to shift among multiple projects as needed in rapid, agile software development environment
• Goal driven; plans and manages toward achieving goals, anticipates problems and issues and proactively drives their resolution
• Prior experience doing UX within an Agile environment would be an asset
• Experience with a variety of UI design and prototyping tools, e.g. Visio, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Axure, Balsamiq, Flash, etc.
• Web Development (HTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript) and Flash experience a plus
• Knowledge of GUI accessibility standards (Section 508, WCAG, etc.) a plus
• Knowledge of Enterprise Content Management (ECM) products would be an asset

Apply Now

June 2011: Bob Rushby explains why pixels will soon be everywhere

Bob Rushby thinks that pixels are about to escape the bounds of their current display devices. As the recently-retired CTO of Christie Digital, he knows something about throwing pixels around, and in this month’s uxWaterloo session he’ll discuss the convergence of lighting and information display and the major effects it will have on architecture, graphic design, communications and how we live and work.

Electric lighting is used everywhere around us. It’s so ubiquitous that we are almost unaware of it. Yet the way we think about lighting is about to fundamentally change. No longer will lighting merely illuminate our desks, our walls and our buildings. Whether at home, in our workplace, or in public spaces, lighting is about to be transformed — it will communicate with us, interact with us, and help us see the world with new eyes. Pixels will be everywhere and this will have profound implications on our lives.

Bob retired from Christie Digital Systems Canada Inc. in February 2011 after an exciting career leading talented teams in the creation of ground-breaking high technology products. Christie is a global leader in projection and electronic display products and has the world’s largest installed base of digital cinema projection systems. Bob is currently involved with several exciting university entrepreneurship initiatives — in particular, the University of Waterloo REAP program and the Ryerson University Digital Media Zone. He is also writing a book on the theme of Digital Light… pixels everywhere.

Thursday June 16, 2010
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Google Waterloo
151 Charles Street West, Suite 200
Kitchener, ONT
[Map]

RSVP

(May 2011) Designing for iOS devices at Monolith Interactive

iOS devices like the Apple iPad and iPhone represent a new paradigm for interacting with powerful computers. Designing for them presents a set of exciting challenges that we’re only starting to explore.

Simon Woodside and his company, Monolith Interactive, have been building iOS products for some time now. He believes that a “single screen” approach is a the way to build successful iOS products, and he’ll share his thinking through real-world examples and a hands-on workshop. This is a chance to see and understand how Simon approaches the challenges and to learn about designing for a truly engaging mobile platform.

Thursday May 19, 2010
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Accelerator Centre
295 Hagey Blvd., Waterloo

RSVP

Job: User Experience Designer, Harris Broadcast Communications Division

Company: Harris Broadcast Communications Division

Location: Waterloo, Ontario

Description

We are looking for a User Experience Designer who is ready to move into a junior designer/information architect role. You will be involved in many projects spanning from iOS apps for the iPad to Windows based productivity applications and web based solutions. You will drive the usability of our products, by producing the visual tools that serve as blue prints for the overall information architecture and user experience. Some of the main responsibilities are to help define user requirements, interactively design, prototype and build user interfaces. This includes the definition of software components and behaviours for immediate use in our leading edge broadcast computer graphics product line. The candidate will also be responsible for maintaining the consistency of the user’s experience across the entire product line both from a branding and interaction perspective.

Responsibilities

• Lead the effort with product managers and development staff to understand and define project requirements.

• Conduct usability studies, focus groups and user observations with customer and end users.
• Collaborate in the creation of Personas, Use Cases, and Task Flows that help teams focus on the user needs.
• Collaborate in the development of prototypes to demonstrate interactive concepts and/or facilitate usability research.
• Conceptualize and wireframe user interfaces.
• Produce killer visual design and assist with the production of user interfaces across multiple platforms.
• Work closely with other members of the project team to negotiate implementation issues and support the development effort.
• Maintain, improve and audit UI specifications and guidelines against existing products and competitor products.
• Research into design and usability best practices to maintain best of breed.
• Performs other tasks as may be required by the Company (demos, icons, broadcast graphics, etc.).

Essential Skills & Requirements

• 4+ years combined educational experience with a Degree in Graphic Design, HCI, Information Design and/or industry experience.
• Proven interactive design experience and knowledge
• Solid experience of working across a range of design projects from websites to new media.
• Excellent understanding of user centered design principles and methods.
• Must be detail-oriented, deadline driven, and able to multi-task with solid organizational, time management, and follow through.
• Able to collaborate with members of a multidisciplinary team.
• Detail oriented with the ability to learn quickly in a constantly changing environment.
• Proficient knowledge of Photoshop and Illustrator.

Value Add

• Experience and understanding of XAML, Silverlight and WPF platforms (including Expression Blend, Visual Studio)
• Experience with designing user interfaces for iOS (iPad, iPhone)
• HTML5/CSS3 experience

Send your resume with a cover letter to Matt Campbell at MCAMPB07@harris.com

Job: Usability Specialist, Desire2Learn

Bright minds creating bright futures! Desire2Learn is a leading provider of enterprise eLearning software solutions to academic clients and other organizations around the world. We have been recognized by the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 program as one of the fastest growing companies in Canada for the last 4 years! This prestigious award recognizes our strength and success as we continue to grow. We have also been named one of Canada’s Top 50 Small & Medium Employers, as well as one of Waterloo Region’s Top 15 Employers for 2011. Within our unique and thriving culture, our talented team is encouraged to drive innovation and excellence in an environment that promotes collaboration, continuous improvement and effective communication; not to mention having fun while doing it! We are looking for superstars who share our commitment to improving teaching and learning world-wide. Our challenging projects, company perks and overall passion for the eLearning industry are the Desire2Learn Difference! Learn more at www.Desire2Learn.com.

General Description

The Usability Specialist will work across product teams to define and implement user experience standards and best practices. They will provide research support at all phases of the design process. To drive integration of research findings, the Usability Specialist will develop written summaries and concept designs.

The usability specialist will promote inclusive design by researching, specifying, designing and advocating for accessibility-oriented features and functionality.

Additionally, they will act as an ambassador for Desire2Learn accessibility and user experience both internally and within the larger user community.

Main Duties

• Conducts research into ergonomics and human-computer interaction (HCI)
• Ensures consistency and ease of use of the product
• Conducts design reviews
• Responsible for accessibility reviews and evangelism
• Conducts remote and in-person user research
• Facilitates user-centered design practices throughout the Product Design function
• Creates and maintains all necessary patterns and design guides

Work Experience Recommendations

• 3-5+ years experience working in a professional environment on user experience design and research
• Ability to dialogue with cross-functional teams (from product management to development)
• Experience planning and facilitating usability testing, focus groups, and customer interviews
• Knowledge of eLearning and/or Learning Management Systems is an asset
• Familiar with web technologies and Software Development Life Cycle
• An exceptional understanding of fundamental design principles and graphical design fundamentals
• A proven ability to articulate design concepts
• Superior technical writing skills
• Strong analytical, communication, and interpersonal skills

Technical Expertise (Strongly encouraged)

• 3+ years of experience with C#, .NET and Microsoft tools and technologies
• Fluent in CSS, HTML and JavaScript with understanding of cross-browser design issues and clean work-arounds
• Experience working with Web Standards and Accessibility Standards
• Experience with enterprise web applications
• Experience with web-based security is considered an asset

Education Recommendations

Post-secondary degree in human factors or interaction design (or equivalent professional experience)

This is your opportunity to make a big impact in the area of next-generation eLearning applications! Candidates that have the combination of skills and abilities as outlined are invited to submit their qualifications in confidence today through our website at www.desire2learn.com/careers. We thank all applicants in advance for their interest. Only those applicants whose profiles closely match our requirements will be contacted directly.