Chopsticker

September 29, 2008

Microsoft Surface makes its first visit to Waterloo tomorrow

If you haven’t already heard about tomorrow’s Innovation in Action event, be sure to check it out. The Waterloo UX Group (aka IxDA Waterloo and the Communitech UX P2P) is kicking off our new season with an event co-sponsored with the Infusion Angels. And it’s going to be great.

Jensen Harris from Microsoft will be sharing stories about the redesign of Office, describing in particular how they conceived of the new Ribbon interface element. I recently saw Jensen deliver this talk at UX Week in San Francisco and quite enjoyed it.

But the real draw tomorrow is likely to be… well, a table.

This ain’t a run-of-the-mill kitchen-table piece of furniture, of course. Microsoft Surface is a very cool multi-touch device, which I admired last year in a previous post.

To get your hands on a Surface tomorrow, follow the RSVP instructions described at the UX Group’s blog.

April 17, 2008

Workshop: Improving website usability for arts organizations

Looking forward to May 9-10 this year, where I’ll be conducting a 2.5-hour workshop at the Technology in the Arts Conference in Waterloo. Here’s the session description:

For a growing number of arts organizations, the web has become a key communications channel — not just for sharing information, but for cultivating relationships with visitors. To what degree does your website deliver on its full potential? Does its visual and architectural design help or hinder visitors? What does it currently do well, and what specifically could improve? In this interactive workshop, you’ll learn how usability testing can help to answer these questions.

Through a series of hands-on exercises with live websites, we’ll practice planning, conducting, and acting upon the results of a usability test. As a group, we’ll discuss options for how to proceed with a limited budget and some tips for testing with younger audiences. You’ll also learn several simple exercises for uncovering potentially hidden insights, such as people’s emotional reactions to your organization. Becoming proficient at these methods takes practice, but by the end of this workshop you’ll have the skills necessary to begin conducting them on your own website.

Planning to attend the workshop? Drop me a line with questions, requests, or suggestions.

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February 29, 2008

Job: User Experience Designer in Waterloo, Ontario at Primal Fusion

I’m excited to announce this opportunity to work with me at Primal Fusion! Although we’re still in stealth mode, the time nears when we’ll throw off the covers to unveil our first product. In this role, you’ll make important contributions to that product — and to those which follow.

We’ve assembled a team of talented people who are a lot of fun to work with. Our new office is pretty nice too and in a great location, at the corner of King and University in Waterloo. Almost everything you’d need is next door or across the road: banks, restaurants, a pharmacy, Starbuck’s. If you’re so inclined, we’re even upstairs from a head shop…

Read on for a description of the job, then contact me if you’d like to learn more.

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January 21, 2008

You may not know it, but you want my job.

And guess what… I’m fine with that! According to Fast Company this month, interaction designer is one of the “Ten Jobs You Didn’t Know You Wanted“. And we’re in fine company, sharing the list with brewmaster, flavorist, and roller coaster engineer. (Piece of family legend: a distant cousin of mine worked on satellites until one was famously lost in space; he then switched careers to become a design engineer for the Space Mountain roller coaster in Disney World.)

Fast Company describes the allure of interaction design:

Interaction designers work at all stages of product development to design innovative and user-friendly products. In addition to wearing the traditional hat of a designer, they work with executives to define goals for products and systems in development. They also investigate how people actually engage with new products and systems…. [and] enjoy the opportunity “to learn about every walk of life and industry imaginable….”

Suffice to say it’s the sort of job that won’t bore you easily. I’ve had the chance to learn about proteomics, machine vision, embedded operating systems, electricity markets, commercial facilities management, international shipping, computer networks, consumer telephony, radiology, and a host of other domains

Yep, this job rocks.

December 19, 2007

Heading to Interaction 08

Just registered for Interaction 08, the first conference organized by the Interaction Design Association (IxDA). Very excited about this, and not just for the opportunity to visit Savannah, Georgia in February! IxDA is growing into a terrific organization and has attracted most of the world’s top talent in interaction design; for instance, keynotes include Alan Cooper, Bill Buxton, Sigi Moeslinger, and Malcolm McCullough. The conference will also be a fabulous opportunity to put faces to familiar names from the IxDA discussion list.

Check out the conference, but FYI it’s likely to sell out by mid-January.

Heading to Interaction 08? Drop me a comment and hope to see you there!

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