Sessions - Technology: Design/UX
Bring the Users: Integrating UX into Your Organization
Technology/Platform: Design/UX
Difficulty Level: Intermediate
Start Time: Friday January 13, 2012 @ 9:30 AM
Location: Orange
Abstract: User Experience (UX) can be surprisingly difficult to bring into organizations. This session will give you the facts to back up your convictions. Carol will provide you with clear and convincing responses to tough questions about UX and usability methods. You’ll leave with facts about the Return on Investment (ROI) of UX, how to respond to UX skeptics, and how to turn your entire team into usability evangelists.
Presented By: Carol Smith
About the Speaker: Carol Smith has worked as both an employee and consultant in a wide variety of industries. She has helped businesses through their first usability study, and worked with organizations as they grew their UX practice. Through her business, Midwest Research, LLC, she researches and communicates user needs to clients to help them improve products and also conducts usability tests on websites, software, and consumer products. Carol has a Master's degree in Human-Computer Interaction and is the Treasurer and Director of Education and Training for UPA International, an organization that promotes usability concepts and techniques worldwide. Carol enjoys spending time with her husband and two young children and runs when she can.
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CANCELLED - Fast Track Mental Models
Technology/Platform: Design/UX
Difficulty Level: Beginner
Start Time: Thursday January 12, 2012 @ 4:50 PM
Location: Salon D
Abstract: Mental Models are like steroids for the UX process. They create a rich context and rationale for both near-term and future features and content while aligning them with your user's goals, philosophies and motivations. A research driven mental model can give you a timeless, solid framework for moving forward with confidence on content strategy, information architecture and user experience decisions. When the time and/or money aren't available for a full-scale mental model process, (or when you simply want to sneak it in) you can still create a rich mental model that will provide a solid foundation for features, content strategy and general marketing strategy. I'll present the fast-track version of Indi Young's Mental Model methodology. Originating from real-world examples, this run-through of key steps and tools will give viewers all the tactics, selling points and confidence necessary to start introducing the mental model approach to smaller scale projects. Who will benefit: Anyone responsible for, involved in, or interested in the overall user experience, design strategy, content strategy or information architecture of a project.
Presented By: Eric Wiley
About the Speaker: Eric is the founder of Infotoken, an user-centered interaction design studio based in Northeast Ohio. He works closely with stakeholders, subject matter experts and developers to evolve human-computer interactions by way of actionable design documentation and prototypes. Eric has been working in the interactive industry since 1995; with specific focus on the content strategy, information architecture, and interface components of the user experience. He collaborates regularly with design studios and in-house teams to develop better interfaces for web, industrial devices and software. He is a regular contributor to the air traffic control interface component of the Federal Aviation Administrationʼs ongoing NextGen project; a comprehensive overhaul to the national airspace system. Eric is an active member of the Cleveland Web Standards Association and local leader of the Cleveland Interaction Design Association. He lives in Peninsula, Ohio with his wife and their son.
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CANCELLED - The User Obsessed Developer
Technology/Platform: Design/UX
Difficulty Level: Beginner
Start Time: Friday January 13, 2012 @ 10:45 AM
Location: Orange
Abstract: In software, User Experience specialists determine how people will interact with an application. Their research is not typically part of the developer's domain, and quite often for good reason. However, that does not mean that developers have nothing to do with the user experience. Quite the opposite, programmers have a great deal of influence over the way people, from internal team members all the way to the end user, experience a product. The way code is written affects stability, performance and how quickly the team can respond to feature requests. It can even influence the opinion of key business stakeholders. This talk will highlight the problems that occur when we don't consider our users. We'll also explore how our code affects team members who aren't programmers. Attendees will learn how, through code, we can help ensure a great experience for all of our users.
Presented By: Joe Fiorini
About the Speaker: Joe is a Ruby & Javascript developer, husband and father from Cleveland, Ohio. He works for LeanDog Software where he builds solutions for customers using Ruby on Rails. He has contributed to a number of open source projects including RSpec, Ruby on Rails and GitX. He is currently writing his first screencast on Backbone.js.
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Developers Can’t Design (and Other Completely Untrue Design Myths)
Technology/Platform: Design/UX
Difficulty Level: Beginner
Start Time: Friday January 13, 2012 @ 1:45 PM
Location: Orange
Abstract: Designers are designers and developers are developers and never the twain shall meet, right? Except – not really. There are some imaginary lines drawn around the two disciplines of design and development, but the truth is they are closely intertwined, and it can be very useful for a developer to have design knowledge and skills in his or her toolbox. This presentation will correct some commonly-held misconceptions about design, cover the basics of design from a developer’s perspective and explore how a developer can employ these principles to build clearer, cleaner and more usable applications. Discussion: What is design, or more to the point, what isn’t it? Introducing the design myths we’re going to debunk: design is decoration, design is entirely subjective, and design is separate from development. Myth #1: Design is decoration. Typically, design is defined as only the visual layer on top of website or application. However, design also encompasses structure, content and organization, at all levels of a project. Myth #2: Design is subjective. True, there is difficult-to-define element of creativity to design. But, just like coding, design has rules and guiding principles, such as those dealing with color theory, typography, negative space, ratios and contrast. Myth #3: Design is separate from development. They are different disciplines, but having each work in tandem will produce stronger products that won’t need design retrofitting later down the road. Developers can facilitate this with a bit of design know-how integrated into their communication and process.
Presented By: Jen Myers
About the Speaker: Jen Myers is an interaction designer in Columbus, Ohio, where she also teaches HTML/CSS and organizes the web development education program Girl Develop It Columbus. Her particular areas of interest are interactive user experience design, teaching innovation and creating technical solutions for social causes. She spends the rest of her time writing, watching good movies and raising a future geek girl.
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Easy & Effective Usability Testing
Technology/Platform: Design/UX
Difficulty Level: Intermediate
Start Time: Thursday January 12, 2012 @ 3:35 PM
Location: Orange
Abstract: Getting user feedback on your progress is key to making successful interfaces and it doesn’t have to take months. In this session you will learn how setting up regular usability tests can allow you to save time doing the studies and without sacrificing quality. In this session you will learn strategies and techniques that can be used for making traditional and remote usability testing methods easier to plan and conduct. We will cover usability testing from planning through analysis, and ways to provide useful and usable recommendations to the team. This session will cover the following topics: • Planning tips and tricks • Recruiting methods • Note taking and managing observers • Specific tips for methods (Traditional, Rapid Iterative Testing and Evaluation (RITE) • Specific tips for locations (in-person, on-site, remote) • Brief review of software • Analysis • Sharing your findings • Making usable recommendations
Presented By: Carol Smith
About the Speaker: Carol Smith has extensive experience conducting usability studies remotely, in the lab and in the field. Through her business, Midwest Research, LLC, she researches and communicates user needs to clients to help them improve products and also conducts usability tests on websites, software, and consumer products. Carol has a Master's degree in Human-Computer Interaction and is the Treasurer and Director of Education and Training for UPA International, an organization that promotes usability concepts and techniques worldwide. Carol enjoys spending time with her husband and two young children and runs when she can.
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Effective Data Visualization: The Ideas of Edward Tufte
Technology/Platform: Design/UX
Difficulty Level: Intermediate
Start Time: Thursday January 12, 2012 @ 4:50 PM
Location: Orange
Abstract: We spend much of our time collecting and analyzing data. That data is only useful if it can be displayed in a meaningful, understandable way. Yale professor Edward Tufte presented many ideas on how to effectively present data to an audience or end user. In this session, I will explain some of Tufte's most important guidelines about data visualization and how you can apply those guidelines to your own data. You will learn what to include, what to remove, and what to avoid in your charts, graphs, maps and other images that represent data.
Presented By: David Giard
About the Speaker: David Giard has been developing solutions using Microsoft technologies since 1993. He is a Microsoft MVP; an INETA mentor; and the President of the Great Lakes Area .Net User Group. David has presented at many of the conferences and user groups around the Midwest. He is a recovering certification addict and holds an MCTS, MCSD, MCSE, and MCDBA, as well as a BS and an MBA. He is the host and producer of the mildly popular online TV show Technology and Friends. You can read his latest thoughts at www.DavidGiard.com. David lives in Michigan with his two teenage sons.
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Hands-On Responsive and Adaptive Web Design
Technology/Platform: Design/UX
Difficulty Level: Intermediate
Start Time: Thursday January 12, 2012 @ 1:45 PM
Location: Orange
Abstract: This session will be a hands-on walk through of the latest responsive and adaptive web design techniques. Attendees will walk away with a working knowledge of how to implement a responsive front-end on their sites. Particular attention will be given to ensuring that sites are built responsibly (for example, proper image sizes are served to the device). Additionally, the session will cover techniques that can be used on the server in combination with client-side technologies to offer a more seamless user experience. Specific topics covered: - fluid grids - flexible media (images/video/...) - media queries - polyfills - useful resources - effective testing Because this topic is so new, the specifics will certainly change as we approach the conference date. Never fear, I'll make sure that the content presented is fresh and current as well as easy to understand and applicable.
Presented By: Ben Callahan
About the Speaker: President of Sparkbox and Founding Partner of FORGE, Ben is a thought leader on front-end development sharing his ideas about the web on the Sparkbox Foundry and industry blogs like Smashing Magazine. His leadership at Sparkbox has driven the organization to be a leading provider of responsive web design and he continues to push for better user experiences outside the context of specific devices.
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High Performance Developer & Designer Collaboration
Technology/Platform: Design/UX
Difficulty Level: Beginner
Start Time: Thursday January 12, 2012 @ 11:00 AM
Location: Orange
Abstract: Join us in this session to hear a story about how two Compuware employees Tim Fisher and Kate Pricer, a developer and a visual designer, have worked side-by-side the past six months on a variety of web and cross-platform mobile apps. Perhaps your familiar with the concept of pair programming for developers? Tim and Kate will tell you how they have used a similar strategy for merging technology and design to achieve high performance design and implementation cycles. Within Compuware they have formed a team known as “Fisher Pricer” which has gained recognition throughout the company for the innovative way they have been working and collaborating side-by-side, merging design and technology on each project they work on. One of their recent projects was an award winning mobile app for the Maker Faire Detroit which they created from scratch in just a few weeks. Their style of working enables close collaboration and rapid feedback shaving weeks off a typical back and forth period between a development team and a design team. Learn how together they conceive the user experience and UI layout for their projects followed by individual yet highly collaborative work on the graphic design and coding of the projects. Can this strategy work for you? Join us to learn how it has worked at Compuware.
Presented By: Timothy Fisher & Kate Pricer
About the Speaker: Tim has over 20 years of experience in the software development field. He has served in roles ranging from lead developer to chief architect for a variety of large and small companies. He is also the author of the Java Phrasebook and the Ruby on Rails Bible. Currently, Tim works as a technical consultant for Compuware in Detroit, Michigan where he is currently leading the technology teams for Compuware Ventures. Tim’s main area of development focus over the past year has been mobile app design and development. Outside of his day job, Tim is very active in the local development community having organized multiple user groups and is lead developer on multiple open source projects. Kate is a recent graduate of the International Academy of Design & Technology. Since joining Compuware in 2011, Kate has already had a significant impact at Compuware. Kate has been the lead designer on several web and mobile projects. Her accomplishments have also included being the designer of the logo for Compuware Ventures and the lead designer for several start-ups that are funded by Compuware Ventures. For the last 6 months, Tim and Kate have worked closely collaborating on several mobile and web projects including an award winning app developed exclusively for Maker Faire Detroit 2011. Within Compuware they have formed a team known within Compuware as “Fisher Pricer” which has gained recognition throughout the company for the innovative way they have been working and collaborating side-by-side, merging design and technology on each project they work on.
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It's the Little Things
Technology/Platform: Design/UX
Difficulty Level: Beginner
Start Time: Thursday January 12, 2012 @ 9:45 AM
Location: Cypress
Abstract: In design the user experience is paramount and getting the little details right can make a huge difference. In this presentation Brad talks about his experience designing interfaces for mobile devices and looking at how little changes can have a big impact on how we use them. You will be introduced to the world of human interface guidelines for mobile devices. What can we learn by comparing and contrasting the guidelines of these mobile players and how can we incorporate it into our apps and websites? What are the main differences in developing for these platforms and what do user experience designers need to take into account before starting a project? Should you focus on building an app or make your website mobile friendly instead?
Presented By: Brad Colbow
About the Speaker: Brad Colbow is an award-winning web designer, illustrator and speaker best known for his comics that are published monthly in .Net magazine and "The Brads" a weekly strip found on his personal website. His work has appeared on the New York Time's website, CNET, Smashing Magazine and elsewhere. You can find out more about him and his work on his website colbowdesign.com
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New Rules of UI Design: Golden eggs found by a wary software interface designer
Technology/Platform: Design/UX
Difficulty Level: Beginner
Start Time: Friday January 13, 2012 @ 9:30 AM
Location: Salon D
Abstract: What separates a good user interface from a bad one? How do you make sure that your customers' experience with your software leaves them feeling good about you? We will go over some rules, tips, and tricks for designing a good user interface that will hopefully lead you to building better and more usable applications in the future.
Presented By: Joe Nuxoll
About the Speaker: Joe Nuxoll is best known in the software technology world as a co-host of the popular podcast "The Java Posse". By day, Joe is a UI designer for Tesla Motors, and is working on the in-car user interface for the new Model S. He's also a race driving instructor and avid photographer. Before Tesla, he held significant positions at several top-tier Silicon Valley technology companies including Apple, Sun, Navigenics, Borland, and more than his fair share of startups.
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