September meeting: a design workshop

We’re kicking off a new season of events with an exciting design workshop!

For this workshop we’ll break up into groups to solve a specific design problem, which we’ll reveal at the start of the session, in a fixed amount of time. We’ll then take a look at the results, examine the merits of various approaches, and even watch a related film.

It’s an opportunity to collaborate with your fellow uxWaterloo attendees and learn how we all approach design. Maybe we’ll all learn something new!

Time/location details:

August 2010 meeting: paths to a UX career

For our August meeting, deep in the dog days of summer, we’re convening again at a local bar for an evening of  food, drink, and fine conversation. As a way of getting the conversational ball rolling, we’ll explore how each of us made our way into a UX-related position. For those of you not in such a position, we can look at ways in which a UX-oriented  viewpoint and techniques can be introduced into your current position.

Come on out and enjoy a night of camaraderie and UX chatter.

August meeting
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Barley Works, Huether Hotel, 59 King Street North, Waterloo, ON N2J 2X2

Please register for this UX Group event. Thanks! Hope to see you there

July 2010 Meeting: European Conference Highlights

Thursday, July 22, 2010
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Accelerator Centre
Meeting Room #2
295 Hagey Blvd., Waterloo
[Map]

This month’s meeting focuses on highlights from the 2010 UPA and UX Lx conferences. James Stewart and Ryan DeGorter, two of our group members, recently attended these conferences in Europe. They will each present highlights of what they learned, with an opportunity for questions and discussion too. We’ve had some great discussions in recent meetings, and this month is certain to be no exception.

Topics under discussion will include:

• Do-it yourself usability testing, by Steve Krug
• Influencing Strategy by Design, by Luke Wroblewski
• Rapid Iterative Testing and Evaluation (RITE), by Richard Douglass and Carol Smith

Please click here to register for this UX Group event. Thanks! Hope to see you there.

(June 2010) Current Think Aloud Practices

Thursday, June 24, 2010
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Accelerator Centre
Meeting Room #2
295 Hagey Blvd., Waterloo
[Map]

Many of us have used think aloud sessions as a way of understanding how users interact with a software product. In tonight’s meeting, we’ll run some actual sessions to see how a think aloud session works in practice.

RSVP

NUIs in your living room, in a pub

Well, our plans for May have changed due to scheduling challenges. For this month’s event on Monday May 17 we’ll be enjoying an evening of fine conversation in the informal atmosphere of a pub. While everyone is, of course, free to follow whatever path the conversation goes in, we’ll at least set out to answer this question:

What are the UX implications of NUIs in the living room?

We fully acknowledge that the question is inspired by the impending arrival of the Apple iPad in Canada this month, with its gestural interface and lightweight form. There are other devices, though, that are here already (Nintendo Wii, anybody?), and there are certainly more on the horizon.

Finally, we may well have an iPad for those of you who would like to see and feel one up close. If anyone has any devices that they’d like to share, please do bring them along! Otherwise, bring your ideas and contribute generously to what we hope will be  friendly and illuminating discussion.

May meeting (Updated with new date and location)
Monday, May 17, 2010
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Back room at Barley Works, Huether Hotel, 59 King Street North, Waterloo, ON N2J 2X2

Please register here.

Is there a UX war going on?

The February UX Group meeting was a great success. Blair Nonnecke led a guerrilla usability workshop. The resulting discussions and explorations were rich enough that we didn’t actually get through the entire workshop!

Blair’s focus on building community and on sharing experiences helped us to understand that we all have similar challenges. Moreover, the discussion around the suitability of a martial metaphor made it clear that there are a wide range of experiences amongst our group members. It’s not at all clear that there’s any kind of metaphorical war going on here!

For the 40+ folks that attended, thanks for making the evening such a rewarding one. For those of you who missed it, come out to a future event and get connected. For everyone, let us know what kind of activities and presentations you’d like the UX Group to organize. Add your thoughts to the comments for this post.

Guerrilla Usability Workshop

Usability doesn’t have to be a big investment of time and resources. Guerrilla usability techniques can be applied to just about any project and deliver valuable insights. Join us for a guerrilla usability workshop led by Blair Nonnecke, a user experience researcher and practitioner who is an Associate Professor at the University of Guelph. You’ll get hands-on experience in valuable techniques that you can use on your own projects.

Please bring your own favorite guerrilla technique for show and tell!

RSVPs requested

If you’re hoping to attend, please help us make an appropriate reservation by RSVP’ing to Wanda Eby at Communitech. Thanks! Everyone’s invited, so spread the word.

Thursday February 18, 2010
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Accelerator Centre
Meeting Room #2
295 Hagey Blvd., Waterloo
[Map]

Beer and design conversation go together quite well

Well, the weather last Tuesday was frightful, with freezing rain turning area roads into sheets of ice. Even so, 6 brave souls found their way to McMullan’s on King for our second annual product potluck, and the resulting evening was delightful.

The products (either actual artifacts or printed representations) included a label maker, a musical shaker (much like a güiro), a beautiful field camera with a wooden body and brass fittings, a Graflex Grafmatic film holder, a magnetic strip interface used in hospitals, MP3 player ear buds, and a compact musical instrument tuner.

The range of products, and the curious and interested folks around the table, led to some wide-ranging discussions. In addition to the merits of the various product designs, we also had a great discussion about eye/face tracking systems for use in user research.

There’s a great user experience community in Waterloo Region, and an event like this really showcases the design thinking that is available to share. News about our January event will appear soon.

Lot’s of talk around big impact ideas

Things that will have an impact on UX

Yesterday’s UX Group meeting was a wonderful session talking about things that will have an impact on UX. Everybody was asked to write three items down on index cards, which were then placed on the wall one at a time and talked about by the group. Location-based media, aging population, super-sized displays, and mobile health apps were just some of the cards that ended up on the wall during the session, and the ideas led to much lively discussion. It was also great to see some new faces at the meeting.

(November 2009) What will have a big impact on user experience?

This month we want to explore the factors and issues that will have an impact on user experience design in the near future. As the world goes mobile, what does it mean for users? If everything is accessible, how can it all be managed? What does the move from point-and-click to tap-and-pinch mean? Bring your own issues and questions, and share them in a group discussion with our inquisitive and curious UX community. If you have online videos or other resources to share, let’s have a look at them.

If you hope to attend, please help us anticipate numbers by RSVP’ing to Wanda Eby at Communitech. Thanks, and hope to see you! Oh, and please let people know about this group and this event.

Thursday November 19, 2009
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Accelerator Centre
Meeting Room #2
295 Hagey Blvd., Waterloo
[Map]