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]

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]

(October 2009) Personas: Love them or hate them, but at least understand them!

Thursday, October 15, 2009
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Please note the special LOCATION this month:
Primal Fusion Inc.
7-258 King Street North, Waterloo
Need to park? You may park in any spot around the building, regardless of whether it’s marked “Primal Fusion” — and yes, that includes the bizarre diagonal spots by the sidewalk!
[Map]

Personas in product design

Personas are a type of user profile that have become a common tool in the product design process, although you’ll find both advocates and skeptics of their value. Done well and at appropriate times, personas can galvanize teams around a product’s vision. Done poorly, they are little more than an exercise in creative writing.

In this session, Robert Barlow-Busch (Twitter @becubed) will share case studies and stories from the trenches to illustrate how to get the most from personas. What exactly is a persona? When are they useful — and not? How do you actually create them, and what do you do with them afterwards?

RSVPs requested

If you’re hoping to attend, please help us anticipate numbers by RSVP’ing to Wanda Eby at Communitech. Thanks!

(September 2009) Design Interactionary: Get hands-on and have crazy fun with a series of extreme design challenges!

Thursday September 17, 2009
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Accelerator Centre
Meeting Room #2
295 Hagey Blvd., Waterloo
[Map]

In February of this year, we enjoyed a visit from Scott Berkun, who filled the RIM Theatre for a lively discussion of the myths of innovation. This month, Scott’s with us again in spirit as we kick off the 2009-2010 season with a fun event that he first imagined almost 10 years ago: the design interactionary.

What is a design interactionary?

In a design interactionary, small teams of typically 4 people work together on solving a design problem. The catch? You have only 10 minutes. The pressure of producing a completed design concept in only 10 minutes is, as you might guess, quite insane. But it’s also insanely fun!

This event was originally designed to take place on-stage during large conferences. Audience members could witness design teams work through their challenges live, one team after another. Judges would score each team’s efforts and declare a winner. If you’re curious to learn more, check out this essay on Scott’s website.

How we’re adapting the interactionary format

We’re changing the event format slightly, to make it more suitable for a smaller group in which everyone can participate. Our plan is to form teams of 3 or 4 people. We’ll still get only 10 minutes per design challenge, but the teams will work simultaneously. There’ll be no scoring and we’ll have no judges aside from other participants, since we’ll be presenting our final work to each other.

We hope to complete at least 3 design challenges. They’ll be fun and won’t require any specialized knowledge, so everyone is welcome to participate!

Want to suggest a design challenge?

If you’ve got a great idea for a design challenge, please email it to uxgroup (at) gmail (dot) com. We’ll keep the challenges secret until the last minute!

RSVPs requested

If you’re hoping to attend, please help us anticipate numbers by RSVP’ing to Wanda Eby at Communitech. Thanks!

What's the state of UX in Waterloo Region today?

Is it in its infancy? Is it maturing into a well-practiced and well-respected discipline? Is it all grown up? Is it all these things at once? Where is it going?

Come on out and talk with fellow UXers about your take on the state of UX in Waterloo Region. Bring some stories that shine light on your experience and that can help others better understand where UX stands.

This month we’ll be meeting on Thursday May 21 from 5:30pm–7:00pm in the comfortable upstairs lounge at Whole Lotta Gelata in Uptown Waterloo (120 King St S, Waterloo).

If you’re hoping to join us, please send an RSVP to Wanda Eby at Communitech, so we know how many couches and chairs to commandeer.

Hope to see you there!

(October 2008) What can we learn about design from Pixar?

Thursday October 16, 2008
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Accelerator Centre
Meeting Room #2
295 Hagey Blvd., Waterloo
[Map]

Event description

The product design community has long considered dramatic arts as a related discipline, albeit perhaps more of a distant cousin than a direct sibling. Brenda Laurel first explored this relationship in some depth back in the early 1990s, in her highly-regarded book Computers as Theatre. More recently, the arrival of NUIs (natural user interfaces) such as the iPhone has marked a renewed interest in dramatic concepts such as character and narrative — which can help any software interface come alive, regardless of its application or underlying technology.

Join us on October 16 as we take a close look at what might be the world’s most successful product design firm: the movie studio Pixar. Every film released by Pixar has been a commercial and critical success, something that no other studio can claim. Is it luck? Doubtful. In last month’s Harvard Business Review, Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar, credited their success to “our adherence to a set of principles and practices for managing creative talent and risk”. Interaction designers can learn a lot from these principles and practices, despite designing different types of products.

Henry Chen (RIM) and Mark Connolly (Primal Fusion) will lead this group discussion about lessons to learn from Pixar. They’ll draw upon the recent HBR article and on Michael Johnson’s engaging keynote at UX Week in San Francisco. Michael leads the Moving Pictures Group at Pixar, where he’s responsible for the pre-production pipeline — a pipeline that feels eerily familiar to those of us designing software user experiences.

RSVPs not required

No RSVPs required this month. Hope to see you there! Feel free to spread the word, as everyone’s welcome.

(September 2008) "Innovation in Action" co-hosted with the Infusion Angels

We’re kicking off the 2008 UX season with a bang! Join us on September 30 for an event co-hosted with the Infusion Angels — where you’ll not only hear first-hand about Microsoft’s redesign of Office, but will get several chances to win over $3000 in prizes. Seating is limited so be sure to RSVP soon.

Tuesday September 30, 2008
4:30 to 7:30 pm
Accelerator Centre
Main foyer
295 Hagey Blvd., Waterloo
[Map]

Event description

Poster for the Innovation in Action event

Get inspired by two case studies of innovation in action:

• First we’ll hear from Jensen Harris about the thinking and design process behind Microsoft’s new Ribbon user interface, introduced in Office 2007. Jensen is Group Program Manager of the Office UX Team and was a key designer of the Ribbon, so he’s able to speak from personal experience about what it was like to design something that’s now used by millions of people.
• Next, the creative design team at Infusion Development takes the stage to talk about their work with Microsoft Surface, the interactive table that ushered in a new wave of commercial development in multi-touch (or NUI) devices. They will present demos of Surface applications they’ve built for clients in hospitality, retail, and government, discussing their designs and the challenges in building usable interfaces for this relatively new technology.

RSVPs required

Given the cool topics, the free food, and the great prizes, we’re likely to have a full house at the Accelerator Centre. Please RSVP if you plan to attend. To RSVP, send an email to Kayla Spiess at Infusion Angels.