Whitney Quesenbery
I am on the UXnet board and the local ambassador for the greater New York City area.
Website: http://www.wqusability.com/
Monday, October 6th, 2008
| October 28, 2008 |
| 6:00 pm | to | 8:00 pm |
In an age of media overload how do undecided voters make up their minds in the upcoming election? Do Web savvy Americans turn to the Web for answers and if so, how much influence do the candidate’s Websites have? Could the usability of the Obama & McCain sites have a significant impact on the way people perceive each candidate? Can having a user friendly Website really sway people’s votes?
First Insights wanted get the answers to these questions and more. Our team traveled the country and conducted one-on-one usability interviews with dozens of undecided voters. Lon Taylor, Principal Usability Consultant at First Insights, will explain our methodology, share how we created our moderators guide and present a host of detailed findings & video clips.
Location:
JPMorgan Chase - Park Avenue
277 Park Avenue, 7th floor, New York, NY 10017
(Between 47th & 48th on EAST side of Street)
Optional dinner after the event on a pay-for-yourself basis
Online registration
Posted in Calendar | Local meeting | New York City, NY, USA | UPA
Tags: elections persuasion
Add the first comment »
Friday, September 5th, 2008
| September 17, 2008 |
| 5:30 pm | to | 8:30 pm |
If you have thousands of pages of really cool stuff on your web site, how do users find what they are looking for? Turns out that the content itself has to pull the user to it. The stronger the pull, the more likely the user will find it.
In this presentation, Jared Spool discusses how to organize your site to pull users to the right place. He’ll talk about User Interface Engineering’s recent research on how people find information on large web sites. Jared shows you plenty of examples of sites that work well and those that don’t.
He’ll also discuss
- how the quality of links affects whether users click on them
- how longer pages actually help users get where they are going faster
- the 3 types of graphics: navigation, content, and decorative and the importance of each
- how users follow a scent and four ways your design could be blocking their smell
Costs (click one to pay by credit card):
Dinner/Networking Member Fee: $15.00
Dinner/Networking NonMember Fee: $45.00
Meeting only Member Fee: $5.00
Meeting only NonMember Fee: $10.00
We ask that you please RSVP by September 7th so we can have the proper number of seats available.
Arno’s Restaurant
141 W. 38th St.
NYC at Broadway
212-944-7420
Posted in Calendar | Local meeting | New York City, NY, USA | STC
Add the first comment »
Monday, August 25th, 2008
| August 16, 2008 |
| 5:00 pm | to | 8:00 pm |
As children, we’re told the world is a magical place. Babies are delivered by storks. The tooth fairy harvests retired teeth in exchange for currency. Bunnies deliver candies in brightly covered baskets on a spring holiday. The world’s adults use magic to explain away the complexity of life.
In our work, confusing complexity is the natural result of an unchecked design and development process. Teams work hard, responding to customer requests through incremental improvement and feature enhancements, yet they often end up with a dismaying array of features that make users unhappy.
In this entertaining presentation, Jared will share some of his recent research into the craft of professional magic. He’ll demonstrate the parallels between the world of magical illusions and the world of digital design, comparing the similarities between professional illusions and some of today’s top design techniques.
In this presentation, you’ll learn how:
- Illusions performed by professional magicians follow the same design principles as your computer’s file system
- Designers can create specific mental models to eliminate perceived complexity
- Simple design tricks can make designs seem to be faster than they really are
- Whimsicality, attention, and functionality are essential elements to creating delightful experiences
You’ll see examples of illusions built into a variety of designs, including those from Microsoft, Flickr, Netflix, YouTube, and Google. Jared will also, possibly at his own peril, reveal the secrets from several magical illusions to show you just how the tricks were created and the effects are realized, giving you the ammunition necessary to build illusions into your own designs.
Speaker: Jared Spool, Founding Principal, UIE - User Interface Engineering
Date: Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Cost: To be announced
Time: Approx. 6:00 – 8:30 pm
Location: To be announced
Registration: Members will receive advanced notification for registration.
NO EMAIL RSVPs ACCEPTED FOR THIS EVENT
About the Speaker
If you’ve ever seen Jared speak about usability, you know that he’s probably the most effective, knowledgeable communicator on the subject today. What you probably don’t know is that he has guided the research agenda and built User Interface Engineering into the largest research organization of its kind in the world. He’s been working in the field of usability and design since 1978, before the term “usability” was ever associated with computers.
Jared spends his time working with the research teams at the company, helps clients understand how to solve their design problems, explains to reporters and industry analysts what the current state of design is all about, and is a top-rated speaker at more than 20 conferences every year. He is also the conference chair and keynote speaker at the annual User Interface Conference, is on the faculty of the Tufts University Gordon Institute, and manages to squeeze in a fair amount of writing time.
Posted in Calendar | Local meeting | New York City, NY, USA | UPA
Add the first comment »
Monday, August 25th, 2008
| September 17, 2008 |
| 6:15 pm | to | 8:30 pm |
Even though the technology has been around for decades, only now are we starting to see mass production and adoption of touchscreen and gestural devices for the public. Jeff Han’s influential 2006 TED demonstration of his multitouch system, followed by the launches of Nintendo’s Wii, Apple’s iPhone, and Microsoft Surface, have announced a new era of interaction design, one where gestures in space and touches on a screen will be as prominent as pointing and clicking.
But how do you create products for this new paradigm? While most of us know how to design desktop and web applications, what do you need to know to design for interactive gestures?
This introduction to designing gestural interfaces will cover the basics: usability and ergonomics; a brief history of the technology; some elemental patterns of use; prototyping and documenting; and how to communicate that a gestural interface is present to users.
DATE and TIME
Wednesday, September 17
6:15 - 7:00 networking and refreshments
7:00 - 8:00 presentation
8:00 - 8:30 Q&A and discussion
Important: Please plan to arrive no later than 6:45 p.m. to clear security and be seated
LOCATION
R/GA New York
350 West 39th Street
New York, NY 10018
http://rga.com
RSVP here: http://tinyurl.com/67ukh6
(Only those on the RSVP list will be admitted; please bring photo ID)
If you experience any problems with the URL, send email to: nyc.ixda (at) gmail (dot) com
ABOUT OUR SPEAKER
Dan Saffer is an experience design director for Adaptive Path. An international speaker and author, his writing on design has appeared in BusinessWeek and many online publications. His acclaimed book Designing for Interaction: Creating Smart Applications and Clever Devices has been called “a bookshelf must-have for anyone thinking of creating new designs” and has been translated into several languages. His new book on interactive gestures will be published by O’Reilly in October 2008.
Dan is a member of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) and the Interaction Design Association (IxDA). He received his Master of Design in Interaction Design from Carnegie Mellon University.
Posted in Calendar | IxDA | Local meeting | New York City, NY, USA
Tags: multitouch gestures
Add the first comment »
Thursday, July 3rd, 2008
| July 24, 2008 |
| 6:15 pm | to | 8:15 pm |
Throughout the electronic age, people have become accustomed to interacting with digital media indirectly, mediated through screens and peripheral devices. But now, as digital technology becomes invisibly embedded in everyday things, the ‘feeling’ of everyday things is also increasingly becoming embedded in digital technology.
In many senses, physical objects are becoming more important. In an immediate way, they can help us define new systems of relationships with digital information. Luke Williams, Creative Director at frog design, examines how perceptions and gestures formed through our experiences with physical products can effectively bring liberty to the relationship between brain, body, and digital media interface.
Luke will cover:
- how patterns and archetypes from product design now frame new ways for people to orientate themselves around information;
- the principle of stimulating one sense through another to create multi-sensory interactions; and
- new developments at the collision point between ‘real world’ objects and ‘digital interfaces’ — the touch screen.
SPEAKER: Luke Williams, Creative Director, frog design
WHEN: Thursday, July 24th
6:15 networking (refreshments served0
7:00 presentation
8:00 Q&Q and discussion
WHERE: Location details provided on RSVP
RSVP to: nyc-rsvp (at) ixda (dot) org
Posted in Calendar | IxDA | Local meeting | New York City, NY, USA
Add the first comment »
Friday, June 6th, 2008
| June 16, 2008 |
| 6:15 pm | to | 8:45 pm |
We live in a world where the little things really do matter. Each encounter — no matter how brief — is a micro interaction which makes a deposit or withdrawal from our rational and emotional subconscious. The sum of these interactions and encounters adds up to how we feel about a particular product, brand or service. Little things. Feelings. They influence our everyday behaviors more than we realize.
The speaker is David Armano, VP Experience Design at Critical Mass. He has over 14 years experience in the communications industry with the majority of his time spent in digital marketing and experience design. Aside from his presence on the Web, David is known as an evangelist for customer-centric strategies and acts as an advocate for the creation of meaningful interactions.
WHEN:
6:15 - 7:00 networking (refreshments served)
7:00 - 8:00 presentation
8:00 - 8:30 Q&A and discussion*
After the event we’ll move from micro interactions to macro interactions with some of the smartest, hippest, coolest and geekiest people around. Join us for drinks at Sweet & Vicious (5 Spring St between Bowery & Elizabeth).
WHERE: SoHo; location details provided on RSVP
RSVP: Send e-mail to: nyc-rsvp (at) ixda (dot) org
Posted in Calendar | IxDA | Local meeting | New York City, NY, USA
Add the first comment »
Thursday, May 15th, 2008
| May 20, 2008 |
| 6:30 pm | to | 8:30 pm |
When you think of TechSmith Morae, you probably think of testing things on a computer screen - like a software application or Web site. But what about testing the iPhone user’s experience? Could Morae speed up and simplify a whole range of testing methods, from paper prototyping to in-depth interviews to focus groups? Could it enable unmoderated testing?
The Morae development team is hard at work to support all these methods and approaches! In this session, they will pull back the curtain to give you a peek at what’s coming…and demonstrate specific use scenarios. As time and audience interest permits, he may also demo current Morae 2.0 features. We hope you can join us!
The speaker is Shane Lovellette, product manager for Morae and UserVue.
RSVP: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/115129355
We need your RSVP by 4PM on Monday May 19th to fulfill security requirements.
No email RSVPs accepted. The event will book up quickly.
For more information, NYC UPA
Location: JPMorgan Chase - Park Avenue
277 Park Avenue 17th Floor
(Between 47th & 48th on EAST side of Street)
New York, NY 10017
Map
Cost: Free
Posted in Calendar | Local meeting | New York City, NY, USA
Read the comment »
Tuesday, May 13th, 2008
| May 29, 2008 |
| 6:30 pm | to | 8:30 pm |
It’s time for another NYC IxDA event! This month, Avenue A | Razorfish’s Andrew Green will talk about Interaction Design on platforms beyond the web.
So far, we have created mountains of Wireframes, Feature Specs, Personas and Scenarios to get the job done. But we are now at a point in Interaction Design/UX where we need to consider more than just designing usable, useful products and services for the web. People now have higher expectations for transparent, intuitive and simple ways to interact, research, shop and decide. At the same time, CEOs are starting to look at us to solve their hairiest business problems. Easy, right?
Andrew Green an Experience Designer at Avenue A | Razorfish, will explore these new challenges and explain some fresh ways to think and design for them including ideas on Mobile Convenience, Emotional Findability, Interaction Manners, and the general need for all Interaction Designers to stop making sculptures.
About Andrew Green:
Andrew Green combines a background in technology and an obsession with design to craft out innovative user experiences and digital strategies for clients including Ford, Lonely Planet, Yellow Pages Australia and Microsoft. He is an evangelist of interaction design and its potential to help transform businesses and create new ‘user experiences’ for consumers. Andrew can be found leading a team of Information Architects, Content Strategists and User Researchers at Avenue A | Razorfish in New York City. Otherwise, he’s at home in Melbourne, Australia barracking for the Collingwood Australian Rules Football Club.
Location: Times Square, details provided on RSVP (e-mail nyc-rsvp at ixda.org)
Posted in Calendar | Local meeting | New York City, NY, USA
Add the first comment »
Monday, April 21st, 2008
| April 29, 2008 |
| 6:30 pm | to | 8:30 pm |
The IxDA NYC April event is an Interaction08 redux. We’ll provide quick summaries to kick off a discussion on sketching and storytelling as pivotal tools for design.In his keynote, Bill Buxton convinced us that he views sketching as more than a design technique. At times, it can be a lifestyle choice. Sketches are used to explore a design problem: to generate alternatives, to elaborate upon them, and to winnow them. With this introduction, we’ll give some examples of projects in which sketching has come in handy and invite you to do so too.
We’ll also visit storytelling. The conversational nature of a well-constructed story makes for engaging designs. We’ll review and build on ideas reflected in talks by Sarah Allen, Chris Conley, and Gretchen Anderson. You can join in by telling a story that drove a successful project, or by recounting what happened when you tackled a project with a storytelling approach.
Whether you were at the Interaction08 (http://interaction08.ixda.org) or not, we want to hear your stories about how sketching and storytelling have made a difference in your design work. In advance of the redux, we have created a wiki where we encourage you to offer sketches, stories and more that we can share during this lively discussion. For a wiki invitation, just request wiki access when you reply.
Location to be announced on RSVP. Respond to nyc-rsvp at ixda dot org.
Posted in Calendar | IxDA | Local meeting | New York City, NY, USA
Tags: sketching | storytelling
Add the first comment »
Thursday, April 10th, 2008
| April 23, 2008 |
| 6:00 pm | to | 8:30 pm |
Developing computerized support for time- and safety-critical teamwork, such as trauma resuscitation, is very challenging. To date, it is not even clear whether computer aids should support certain individuals, the overall team, or both, and in what manner.
This talk describes a study of teamwork in trauma resuscitation and the challenges concerning access to the setting, research methodology and data analysis. Preliminary insights about where in the process and how technologies can help will also be discussed.
About the Speaker:
Aleksandra Sarcevic is a PhD candidate at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, majoring in Information Science at the School of Communication, Information, and Library Studies (SCILS). Her research interests are in the areas of human-computer interaction, computer-supported collaborative work, human information behavior, and information visualization.
Prior to Aleksandra’s current research on collaborative processes of trauma teams and trauma resuscitations, Aleksandra has been involved in research projects that investigated synchronous collaboration across dissimilar computer platforms, user interface design for searching emotional content in large video databases, and techniques and tools for evaluating interactive question-answering (QA) systems used by intelligence analysts. Aleksandra’s work experiences include internships at Siemens’ User Interface Design Group and Google’s User Research Experience.
Location:
Siemens Corporate Research
755 College Road East
Princeton, NJ 08540-6632
Directions
Cost: Free. Donate as you wish for snacks.
RSVP: the event is open to all. However, as a courtesy to our host, please RSVP to rsvp@usabilitynj.org.
Posted in Calendar | Local meeting | New York City, NY, USA | UPA
Add the first comment »
