UX London is a three-day event for user experience designers (including information architects, visual designers, user experience managers and web producers).

It combines a day of inspirational conference with four half days of practical, in-depth, hands-on seminars, all presented by some of the biggest names in the industry.

See uxlondon.com for more information.

Information Interaction in Context 2008 is a symposium by the Information Retrieval Specialist Group of the British Computer Society.

IIiX will explore the relationships between the contexts that affect information retrieval and seeking, how these contexts impact on information behavior, and how knowledge of information contexts can help design truly interactive information systems.

IIiX invites research contributions that approach information contexts from a broad range of perspectives, such as context surrounding documents, context influencing seeking, humans and their tasks, the context of information seekers and providers, the context of interactive search, and the technical contexts of information systems.

For people in design teams who need to spot usability problems in prototypes and finished products, “How to carry out a usability expert review” is a 1-day seminar that teaches delegates cost-effective methods to evaluate designs. Unlike courses in usability testing, this seminar teaches delegates how to find and fix usability problems without involving end users.

September 2nd 2008, London. £425/delegate + VAT.

You will learn how to

• Appreciate the difference between a usability inspection and someone’s personal opinion.
• Learn and practice some quick techniques for carrying out usability reviews of prototypes and finished products.
• Find and fix usability bloopers before they become hard coded.
• Apply Jakob Nielsen’s “heuristic evaluation” technique to software, products and web sites.
• Uncover the elements of your design that lead new users to make errors, using the task-based ‘cognitive walkthrough’ method.
• Learn to spot usability problems in prototypes and finished products.

More information and booking form.

For new users of Techsmith’s Morae who want to run a usability test, “Morae for beginners” is a 1-day seminar that shows delegates how to set up, observe, log and analyse a usability test with Morae.

Morae has rapidly become the tool of choice for people carrying out usability tests. With the insight Morae provides, you can make critical design changes that will improve sales and conversion rates, boost Web site traffic, and increase customer satisfaction. But with the release of Morae 2.0, the software has become more complex and it’s not always clear how to start using Morae to run a usability test, log data and analyse and report the results.

The aim of this training seminar is to show you how Morae is used in practice by usability experts. You will learn how to:

• Confidently use Morae Recorder to set up and record a usability test, capturing clickstreams and picture-in-picture video.
• Create video recordings that you can hand to observers the instant the participant has finished.
• Customise Morae’s marker terminology so that it matches your own.
• Use Morae’s built-in survey tool to collect end-of-test participant ratings and comments.
• Log and observe important moments quickly and accurately (and get hands-on practice by watching real usability tests).
• Rapidly carry out sophisticated analysis in Morae Manager by creating and saving search profiles.
• Quickly and automatically analyse data, calculate usability metrics, and create graphs.
• Assemble graphs and important moments from the recording into a highlights video to share those “ah-ha!” moments.
• Export your results to Excel and quickly create a bug list to hand to the development team.
• Use keyboard shortcuts to work faster.

More information and booking form.

How did you get into this field and what sorts of things had you done previously?

Between 1979 and 1986, I earned a degree and a Ph.D in psychology (from the universities of London and Cambridge) and then embarked on an academic career of post-doc research. My interest was in human colour vision and Andrew Monk at the University of York encouraged me to write a cross-over book to help HCI people use colour effectively on displays (called, predictably, “Effective Color Displays”). At the time, designing for colour displays was like designing for Web 2.0: it was seen as a real paradigm shift from the previous technology (even though, in reality, all the old rules still apply). The book got me on the agenda of some people at BT’s research labs in Ipswich who headhunted me for a job in their graphical user interfaces team in 1989 (sadly, it’s the only time I’ve ever been headhunted). I quickly realised that colour was just one element of interface design and BT gave me the opportunity to design usability labs and mock-up future HCI concepts, like telepresence. This gave me the urge to do more applied work, so in 1995 I moved to System Concepts and built up their practice in usability consultancy. I founded Userfocus in 2002.

What are some things (or people) that inspire how you think about and then develop digital experiences for users?

At the University of York in 1986 Andrew Monk introduced me to the Mac. Before that I’d been programming PDP-11s to support my research activities and this was the first graphical user interface I’d ever seen. It was an epiphany. Andrew had a post-doc working with him at the time who insisted on giving me a tutorial on how to use a Mac, as if this was some untamed beast I was about to be let loose on, but I was dying just to play with it. So I’d get into work at 8am before anyone else (this doesn’t seem early to me now but this was at a University) to spend time playing around with MacDraw and Cricket Graph, two wonderful Mac applications. I was blown away by the possibilities. It was like Adam’s first words to Eve: “Stand back, I don’t know how big this thing is going to get.”

From a practitioner’s perspective, the two biggest influences on me have been Bill Buxton and Tom Stewart. I’ve worked with both of them and learnt the importance of a pragmatic approach to design problems and to avoid “analysis paralysis”.

There are various definitions of UX out there depending on who you talk to… What does UX mean to you?

I like the quote from Whitney Quesenbery: “User Experience v. User Interaction v. User Interface v. Information Architecture v. Information Design v. Human Factors v. User-Centered Design v. Performance Centered Design v. … As far as I can tell, a choice of title says more about “where you got on the bus” than any real distinction of goals.”

To me, user centred design means three things: 1. Early and continual focus on users and their tasks. 2. Empirical measurement of user behaviour. 3. Iterative design. You may be doing design, but if you’re not doing all of these things then you’re not user centred.

How does London influence you when it comes to creating and refining interactive experiences?
I’m a Londoner by birth, so I’m not sure how to distinguish the way it influences my work from the influence of just being born here. For example, I’ve borrowed Transport for London’s “red routes” as a metaphor for critical tasks with a product (http://www.userfocus.co.uk/articles/redroutes.html). I’d also point to the sheer number of people in London as an influence. The number of different people that you see every day makes you realise that you can’t do design without some kind of audience research.

Thinking about past or current projects, in what ways, if any, have the expectations changed in terms of the type of UX that is sought (or expected) by users?

In my experience of running hundreds of usability sessions, users tend to have fairly low expectations and are delighted to discover that someone values their opinion. Intranets in particular show woeful levels of usability even though Intranet users are exposed to good web sites every day. So I’m not sure that user expectations have altered much. Clients, on the other hand, are now much more clued up about usability and will approach us with a specific plan of action that they want us to implement. Sometimes this is well thought out, and sometimes it’s poorly thought out, but it shows clearly that the notion of usability is now high on the agenda.

If you were asked to share a book, either fiction or non-fiction, with a colleague in your field, what would it be and why?

Am I allowed to recommend my own book, “E-Commerce Usability”? If not, I’d choose “Strangers to Ourselves” by Timothy D. Wilson. Wilson’s book describes study after study proving that we have very little insight into the motivations behind our behaviour. When designing new products, this means you can’t just ask people what they like or don’t like. You must focus on observable behaviour using techniques like contextual inquiry and “proper” usability testing (i.e. not the kind of usability tests that are run like a 1-1 focus group that spotlight user opinions).

What advice would you give to students interested in this profession?

Having the right technical skills and the right experience will get you only so far. We interview many new graduates and a common problem with many of them is a lack of passion. If you look at some of the best, most inspirational practitioners in our field you’ll see that they think of their work, not as a job, but as a calling. They see the impact of technology on people’s lives as important. They feel that good design makes the world a better place — and that bad design can make life miserable (as anyone who’s worked in a badly designed work environment, like a call centre, would agree). So my advice is: find your passion, pursue it and your career will take care of itself.

What trend(s) do you see advancing that will influence the UX of interactive systems?

I think a key trend is towards really measuring usability, not just testing a product to find usability problems. This means assigning a number to say how usable a product or web site actually is. Unfortunately, many people seem to think that usability measurement means stuff like eye tracking, simply because eye tracking generates lots of numbers and plots pretty graphs. A better example is the usability standard, ISO 20282 (“Ease of operation of everyday products”) which I think will prove to have a huge influence on our field. ISO 20282 includes test methods for quantifying the usability of consumer products to ensure they meet a pre-defined quality level. This development is exciting because it reflects a sea change in the evolving practice of usability. In the old world, usability specialists just found usability problems with a design. In the new world, usability specialists will also answer the question: “How usable is this design?”

Apply Serious Games 2008 is a conference for games developers, learning, brand & corporate communications suppliers, publishers and heads of training, branding and new product development, military and innovation gate-keepers all to get together to explore:

• Effective immersive environments & virtual worlds
• Casual games and casual serious games
• Connected systems - web, handheld and virtual worlds and the impact of social networks
• Innovation in action with many case studies
• The global market

Darrell Wilkins is Founder and Head of User Experience Design at Special Moves which offers high-end production for the interactive industry. Special Moves has created everything from games for MTV’s the Osbournes to interative experiences for Volkswagen, the Guardian and British Gas. Here’s what he had to say…

How did you get into this field and what sorts of things had you done previously?

I started at University. I studied MediaLabArts at Plymouth and was introduced to HCI there. It was a marriage of Art and Computing and we didn’t go into lots of technical details, but I soon realised that if you make something easy to use, you get a higher mark.

What are some things (or people) that inspire how you think about and then develop digital experiences for users?

Shigeru Miyamoto is my hero. His amazing attention to detail and ability to guide users effortlessly through complex and challenging interfaces is unsurpassed.

Everyone can learn lessons from game design.

There are various definitions of UX out there depending on who you talk to… What does UX mean to you?

It’s the experience that the user has when interacting with your product or service. There are many facets to this experience and all are valid.

Some of the main ones :

• Visual experience- how beautiful the thing is
• Brand experience - what the user is left thinking about the supplier of the thing
• Personal experience - how good the users feels about themselves using the thing
• Transactional experience- how well did the thing do it’s job.

How does London influence you when it comes to creating and refining interactive experiences?

I’m not sure it’s London that influences me. It the people that are here. There is a lively and very talented community of people in London that are doing interesting things. It’s a kind of proximity effect, everyone is driven upwards by being in the presence of other smart people.

Genius never happens in isolation. It requires a stimulus from others.

Thinking about past or current projects, in what ways, if any, have the expectations changed in terms of the type of UX that is sought (or expected) by users?

Clients are starting to understand what User Experience means. In that respect things are changing. It is being mentioned earlier and earlier in the process and therefore the types of activity we are doing change. More research, more prototyping and more lo-fi testing.

If you were asked to share a book, either fiction or non-fiction, with a colleague in your field, what would it be and why?

That’s easy. ‘Universal Principles of Design’ - William Lidwell, Kritina Holden and Jill Butler. It the most beautifully conceived and executed book. Anyone who works in the creative industries should have a copy.

What advice would you give to students interested in this profession?

Get some real world experience. Get a placement or internship. Even if you don’t get any cash for it, the pay off in the future will be worth it.

What trend(s) do you see advancing that will influence the UX of interactive systems?

Enjoyment as well as ease of use will dramatically increase in importance. The iPhone shows us this. It’s actually harder (takes longer) to do several things with the iPhone, but people love using it. Efficiency in an interface is not everything.

Darrell can be reached at darrell.wilkins@specialmoves.co.uk.

The next Userfocus public seminar on A Practical Guide to Usability Testing will be June 3rd in London.

For people in design teams who want to gain confidence in usability testing, this 1-day workshop shows delegates how to obtain customer feedback on prototypes and finished products. Unlike lecture-based courses, delegates get practical, hands-on experience moderating and logging usability tests.

After attending this usability testing training course, you will be able to confidently carry out a usability test of your company’s product or website. In addition to the course notes, we provide forms and templates you can adapt for your own usability tests. This seminar is led by Dr. David Travis who has over 20 years experience in the field of user centred design.

The next Userfocus public seminar on Web Usability Training will be May 14-15 in London.

For web designers who want hands-on experience with usability tools and techniques, this 2-day seminar shows delegates how to boost sales and conversion rates, increase usage and improve customer satisfaction. Unlike shorter introductory courses, this in-depth workshop covers the entire design and development lifecycle.

This popular web usability training seminar describes best practice in web usability, demonstrates good and bad examples of web pages and teaches you the tools and techniques you need to make your own web site a success with its users. This seminar is led by Dr. David Travis who has over 20 years experience in the field of user centred design.

Create 2008 is a 2-day conference about creating innovative interactions, whether digital consumer products, interactive services or interaction paradigms. The emphasis is on sharing the wealth of creative ideas we have developed to resolve problems, to create new capabilities, or new functions. The aim is to spawn further creative designs that can make a difference to people. In keeping with this theme, we invite people to bring:

• Your experiences - designs, both successes and failures, that have pushed the boundaries of interaction
• Your approaches - principles and methods that have delivered new, people-centred ideas and products.

This year’s theme is “embedding people-centred design in the process of innovation”. How do we work together as designers and HCI specialists to come up with people-centred design, and how do we work with others to make our designs a reality?