December 2014: Designing for Disruptive Innovation

Our very own Robert Barlow-Busch, co-champion of uxWaterloo, spoke last month by invitation of Jared Spool at UX Thursday in Toronto. If you missed that event, here’s your chance to catch Bob’s talk, which people described as informative, inspiring, and entertaining. Join us and find out if it’s true!

Sometimes we get so focused on winning the small victories of the present — like sign-off on UX or design support — that we fail to plan for a project’s bigger challenges.

Robert Barlow-Busch journeyed with a team who faced the possibility of failure after ignoring something big: the future. In this talk, Robert will share how:

• Having higher-ups support design and research can impact a project
• Bringing colleagues along for a design journey will turn them into evangelists
• Destroying a team’s assumptions might be a designer’s most important contribution

About the speaker

Robert has spent over 20 years as an interaction designer with one foot in the marketing world. He’s now leading the charge in both worlds as Chief Experience Officer of MetaMarketplace. He’s busy building Ontario’s design community as co-chair of the Fluxible conference and co-champion of uxWaterloo.

You can find Robert’s ideas in books such as User-Centered Design Stories and The Persona Lifecycle.

Please register at Meetup.com for this free event

Remember, we’re now using Meetup.com to manage our monthly sessions. Join us there!

Monday December 15, 2014
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Boltmade Inc.
187 King St North
2nd Floor
Waterloo, ON
N2J 1R1

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November 2014: Intellectual property for designers

What is your most valuable idea? Why is it valuable to you? How do you know it is actually yours?

Ideas are intangible, and, yet, can be highly valuable. Creativity and innovation have a significant impact on many aspects of our lives, from the global economy and international trade, to individual, personal expression. Governments create laws to protect intellectual property. Technology companies rely on new inventions for commercial success. Our personal identities may rely on originality and expression. We all live and thrive in a world of ideas, each in our own way.

But, to what extent to you actually own your ideas? How can this ownership be enforced? How does our intellectual property law system simultaneously account for inventions as assets for a corporation, the aesthetics of a unique design, or the individual expression of a person? Please join Kuyler Neable in exploring the concepts, principles, and laws that contribute to patent, trade-mark,copyright, and industrial design protection.

Kuyler is an intellectual property lawyer with the firm of Bereskin & Parr LLP. He spends his days helping his clients realize the value of their high-tech inventions by protecting their intellectual property with patents, and is also an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Engineering at Western University, where he lectures on copyright and trade marks.

Finally, from now on we’re using Meetup.com to manage our monthly sessions. Join us there now!

Please register at Meetup.com for this free event

Thursday November 20, 2014
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Kitchener Studio Project
44 Gaukel Street
Kitchener, ON N2G 4P3

October 2014: Wireframing Like a Boss

Can’t draw? Haven’t picked up a pen since 1998? Not sure what the difference is between a wireframe and a prototype? Just looking to pick up some quick and easy tips for creating full, annotated wireframes for clients. Perfect, this session is just for you!

Caryn Humphreys, of software design and development shop Vehikl, will introduce you to the different types of wireframes (both internal and deliverable), the terminology related to wireframing, and current available software.

She’ll also lead a hands-on workshop that will teach you how to create effective wireframes. Choose from one of the provided web or mobile app ideas and we’ll run through the basics of how to draw your wireframes.

Whether you’re delivering to developers on your team, planning out your design sprint on your UX team, or showing a proof-of-concept to clients/shareholders, you’ll walk away knowing how to wireframe… like a boss. (Or like someone who makes wireframes, at least.)

Thursday October 16, 2014
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Boltmade Inc.
2nd Floor, 187 King St S
Waterloo, ON

September 2014 – A Simple and Usable UX Book Club

After a great summer, we’re back! We hope your batteries have been recharged and you’re ready to trade in your beach novels for UX lit.

Join us on Thursday September 11th at 7pm to discuss Simple and Usable web, mobile, and interaction design by Giles Colborne (@gilescolborne). You can grab the book directly from Amazon.ca and other places, including WordsWorthBooks in Uptown. And if you’re just looking to borrow a copy instead, we’d be happy to lend you ours.

As a special treat this month, we’ll be joined by Giles himself! We’re honoured to have him on hand to help further the discussion and give us a chance to pick his brain. (As there may be some jetlag involved, let’s not go too hard on him though.)

Giles’ book is an easy to read page flipper on how we can approach the surprisingly difficult activity of simplifying designs. It outlines interesting and real-life examples, and talks about how we can apply them to our own work.

This time around, we’ll be hosting the event in Waterloo’s own Seven Shores Urban Market and Cafe, the wonderfully delicious cafe in Uptown Waterloo. We’ve booked the private back room – a great space for intimate and lively conversation! As space is limited, registration will be capped at 20. Be sure to register soon to avoid disappointment.

If you can’t make it to UX Book Club on the 11th (and even if you can!) you can also catch Giles at the Fluxible 2014 conference, September 13-14. He’ll be giving a workshop on “Rediscovering Efficiency” which will teach techniques for designing highly efficient user interfaces.

We’re looking forward to seeing you there.

Thursday September 11, 2014
7:00-8:30 pm
Seven Shores Urban Market and Cafe
10 Regina St. N Unit 4
Waterloo, Ontario

August 2014: Another informal pub meetup

Our July uxWaterloo session featured informal talk and drinks. It was so much fun that we’re doing it again for August! As is always the case, the laid-back atmosphere and conversations are a welcome addition to any summer schedule. Join us!

We’ll be back to a program of speakers and workshops starting in September, but now’s the time for conversation and relaxation…

Please register for this free event

Thursday August 21, 2014
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Patio at The Barley Works
(upstairs in the Huether Hotel)
59 King St. North
Waterloo, Ontario

July 2014: Informal Pub Meetup

It’s time to chase away those summertime blues with a July uxWaterloo session that features informal talk and drinks! We’ve done this before — even using this very same announcement — and the laid-back atmosphere and conversations are a welcome addition to any summer schedule. Join us!

As an added bonus, there’s a very good chance that Bob and Mark will provide an update on Fluxible 2014. There are some exciting things brewing! Really!

Please register for this free event

Thursday July 24, 2014
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Patio at The Barley Works
(upstairs in the Huether Hotel)
59 King St. North
Waterloo, Ontario

June 2014: Intellectual property for designers

Update: Pub UX!!!

Unfortunately, our speaker Kuyler Neable for Thursday’s session has had to postpone on short notice. We’ll reschedule him for the fall, but our June event will now be a pub meet-up. Join us for a uxWaterloo session that features informal talk and drinks! We’ve done this before, and the laid-back atmosphere and conversations are a welcome addition to any summer schedule. See you there!

What is your most valuable idea? Why is it valuable to you? How do you know it is actually yours?

Ideas are intangible, and, yet, can be highly valuable. Creativity and innovation have a significant impact on many aspects of our lives, from the global economy and international trade, to individual, personal expression. Governments create laws to protect intellectual property. Technology companies rely on new inventions for commercial success. Our personal identities may rely on originality and expression. We all live and thrive in a world of ideas, each in our own way.

But, to what extent to you actually own your ideas? How can this ownership be enforced? How does our intellectual property law system simultaneously account for inventions as assets for a corporation, the aesthetics of a unique design, or the individual expression of a person? Please join Kuyler Neable in exploring the concepts, principles, and laws that contribute to patent, trade-mark, copyright, and industrial design protection.

Kuyler is an intellectual property lawyer with the firm of Bereskin & Parr LLP. He spends his days helping his clients realize the value of their high-tech inventions by protecting their intellectual property with patents, and is also an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Engineering at Western University, where he lectures on copyright and trade marks.

Thursday June 26, 2014
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Patio at The Barley Works
(upstairs in the Huether Hotel)
59 King St. North
Waterloo, Ontario
Communitech Hub, P2P Room
151 Charles St. W.
Kitchener, ON N2G 1H6

May 2014 bonus event: Product Design at ZURB

We already have a terrific UX Book Club event happening this month on May 22. Register now if you haven’t yet done so.

But now there’s more!

Fluxible 2013 featured ZURB founder Bryan Zmijewski presenting on Design that Drives Action. This month, two of Bryan’s colleagues will bring a new talk to uxWaterloo as part of the ZURB World Tour.

The folks at ZURB have been practicing product design since 1998, long before people even realized they were building digital products and not just websites. Yet most companies are still struggling with the concept of product design in a digital world. But they don’t have to. In this special uxWaterloo event, learn how you can elevate your game and design online products that everyone will want to use.

Alok Jethanandani is one of ZURB’s stellar designers. He’s worked on several client projects and is the main designer on ZURB’s product suite of apps.

Rafi Benkual is ZURB’s Foundation Advocate. He works on the world’s most advanced responsive framework, helping others design responsively.

Thursday May 15, 2014
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Communitech Hub, P2P Room
151 Charles St. W.
Kitchener, ON N2G 1H6

May 2014: The art of seduction at UX Book Club KW

UX Book Club KW is meeting again in May and this time we’re focusing on art of seduction. Well, in terms of designing interfaces, at least!

Join us on Thursday May 22nd at 7pm, to discuss Seductive Interaction Design: Creating Playful, Fun, and Effective User Experiences by Stephen P. Anderson (@stephenanderson). The book takes a fresh approach to designing sites and interactions based on the stages of seduction, and examines what motivates people to act.

It’s packed with excellent examples of websites employing seductive design, and goes even further to delve into the fundamental psychological theories behind exactly why each of the examples work so well.

We’re pretty excited to be hosting this month’s meeting at DVLB, the fabulously hip coffee bar in Uptown Waterloo.

You can grab the book directly from Peach Pit Publishing, Amazon.ca and other places, including WordsWorthBooks in Uptown. And if you’re just looking to borrow a copy instead, we’d be happy to lend you ours.

So, have you been seduced? We hope so – see you there!

Because space is limited at DVLB, we have to cap registration to 18.  Go ahead and register now:

Thursday May 22, 2014

7:00 to 8:30 pm
DVLB
84 King Street North
Waterloo, ON N2J 2X4

April 2014: Building the muscles of innovators, with Steve Portigal

How can you broaden your sphere of influence within the field of user experience? You can start by building your muscles! Steve will take a look at some fundamental skills that underlie the creation and launch of innovative goods and services. He will discuss the personal skills that he considers to be “the muscles of innovators” and the ways you can build these important muscles, including noticing, understanding cultural context, maintaining exposure to pop culture, synthesizing, drawing, wordsmithing, listening, and prototyping. Along the way, he will demonstrate how improving these powerful skills will equip you to lead positive change.

Steve Portigal is the founder of Portigal Consulting, a bite-sized San Francisco firm that helps clients to discover and act on new insights about themselves and their customers. That means that he’s important enough to have a company named after him, but not important enough to have an invincible army of minions… yet. Steve delighted conference attendees at Fluxible 2013. He’s also author of Interviewing Users: How to Uncover Compelling Insights, a Rosenfeld Media book.

Sounds like a great time, right? Register now!

Thursday April 17, 2014
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Communitech Hub, P2P Room
151 Charles St. W.
Kitchener, ON N2G 1H6