Yes, you can sit in a chair and learn something

Our most recent meeting featured an informative presentation from Bob Barlow-Busch on personas, and there was some great discussion amongst the attendees on the nuances of their value. As you can see, there was a good turnout on hand at Primal Fusion (location of this month’s event).

(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!

Video of Scott Berkun’s February 2009 talk in Waterloo

Last February Scott Berkun was in Waterloo and gave an entertaining talk to a full house of designers, developers, and anyone else interested in hearing about Scott’s experiences. The result was a talk in which the audience engaged in a wide-ranging discussion with the speaker. UX Group stalwart Henry Chen has uploaded a video of the event. Enjoy! (Sorry about the lack of embedding. Couldn’t seem to make it work!)

(August 2009) Summer fun on the patio

Thursday August 20, 2009
5:30 pm to… whenever!
Huether Hotel 3rd floor patio (cash bar)
59 King Street North, Waterloo
[Directions on the Huether's website]

Join us for drinks and conversation

We’re keeping things casual for August, lounging in the (hopefully) warm sun on the Huether’s patio. If you’re interested in design or user experience, come hang out with folks who share your interest and we’ll talk shop.

RSVP required

We’ll be making a reservation under the name “UX group”, so please RSVP if you hope to attend by sending an email to Wanda Eby at Communitech.

I am IxDA. You are, too. So please support IxDA during this week’s fundraiser!

This week, the Interaction Design Association (IxDA) is asking its members to chip in with a small donation to the organization. Well, that’s us folks! Please take a moment to learn about the goal of this fundraiser and then, most importantly, to make a small contribution. Through the support and generosity of IxDA (and of course Communitech, our local sponsor), the UX Group has grown from an initial experiment two years ago to a community of over 200 people — at absolutely no cost to our members.

Contributions are needed to upgrade IxDA’s technology infrastructure

This blog post by the IxDA board explains the goal of this fundraiser in detail. Here’s an overview:

For the price of a cup of coffee you can help IxDA deliver our next-generation platform to serve the needs of the interaction design community. We can’t do it without your help.

Since its inception as a mailing list in 2003, IxDA now supports over 10,000 discussion list subscribers, 80 IxDA Local Groups from around the world, an annual conference (with a regional conference on the way in South America), several budding community initiatives and over 12,000 people affiliated via LinkedIn. Despite our ambitions, our current technology infrastructure is no longer able to support our needs, nor expand to meet our future ones.

Please chip in! Visit IxDA’s website to make your contribution. It takes only a few minutes.

(June 2009) From Concept to Production: Prototyping with Expression Blend 3

Thursday June 25, 2009
5:00 pm
Accelerator Centre
295 Hagey Blvd., Waterloo
[Map]

See SketchFlow in Action

So, you’ve got a great design idea for your project. But how do you quickly turn conceptual design ideas into rich prototypes that are ready for production? Additionally, how do you share your design ideas with others effectively at each stage of the design process?

Come hear Qixing Zheng from Microsoft introduce a new component in Expression Blend 3, called SketchFlow. It’s a fun, flexible, and powerful way to sketch and prototype rich and dynamic interactivity in your applications. Learn how SketchFlow allows you to quickly iterate on your designs and share them with your colleagues for feedback. Previous knowledge in Expression Blend is not necessary.

About Qixing Zheng

Qixing joined Microsoft Canada as its first User Experience Advisor. In this role, she talks to schools, design communities and companies about Microsoft’s investment in UX, and finds design heroes and design stories from the community. More importantly, she works with many outstanding IT professionals to consider how user experience can impact the technology we deliver today. She graduated from UBC at the end of 2005 with a Masters degree specializing in Human-Computer Interaction.

Registration is required for this event

This event is being hosted by the Infusion Angels Innovation Centre. If you plan to attend, please visit their website and submit your registration. It’s free. Thanks, Infusion Angels!

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!

UX Flicks Mix

UX Movie Night, from the back of the room

The UX movie night was a blast. We had popcorn, peanuts, and soft drinks, just like at a real movie theatre (thanks Wanda and Communitech!). The movies were all found online and provided laughs, insights, and even nostalgia. This lists below are almost certainly out of order, but provide a record of our evening of enlightenment.

Here are the videos that we watched:

• Paul Bennett: Design is in the details
• James Howard Kunstler: The tragedy of suburbia
• Blaise Aguera y Arcas: Jaw-dropping Photosynth demo
• Medieval helpdesk with English subtitles
• The Machine is Us/ing Us (Final Version)
• Information R/evolution
• Pattie Maes & Pranav Mistry: Unveiling the “Sixth Sense,” game-changing wearable tech
• Knowledge navigator
• The Future of The Web Part 1 of 4 Mozilla Labs Aurora Concept Browser Video by Adaptive Path
• Microsoft Surface Parody
• Microsoft iPod

And here’s a bonus list of movies that we didn’t get to:

• 10 Minute Mock Prototyping
• BumpTop Feature Walkthrough
• AT&T 1993 “You Will” Ads
• Talks  David Merrill: Siftables, the toy blocks that think

(April 2009) UX Movie Night

Wednesday April 22, 2009
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Accelerator Centre
Meeting Room #2
295 Hagey Blvd., Waterloo
[Map]

Movie night!

The famous "Minority Report" gestural user interface

At this month’s event, we’re turning down the lights and rolling out some munchies. 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.

Suggest a movie

Seen something that inspired you professionally? That got you thinking? That had you Rolling On The Floor Laughing? Bring your suggestions and we’ll get them on the playlist. If you can’t make it but have something great to share, please let us know by leaving a comment to this post.

RSVPs requested

If you’re hoping to join us, please send an RSVP to Wanda Eby at Communitech, so we know how much popcorn to pop.

Hope to see you there!