IxDA

“Prototyping for UX Practitioners” with Todd Zaki Warfel (New York, NY)

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009 by Michele Marut
August 13, 2009
6:30 pmto8:30 pm

Ever had a moment when you’re presenting your detailed design work and you get an unenthusiastic “Is that it?” from your audience?This can sometimes happen when a project has been in design development without conceptual feedback or consensus-building. We often move forward rapidly with our detailed design work due to time pressure. Sure, we incorporate our assumptions about the users, their needs, the technology, and the business. But those assumptions need to be validated early and often (with stakeholders and end users) to ensure success.Prototyping — building a mockup of a design to validate its direction — has never been easier. Designers today have a plethora of tools for every stage of the development process. New techniques make it fast and easy to get a design working, allowing you to effectively communicate your intentions to others.

IxDA invited Todd Zaki Warfel, author of the upcoming book “A Practitioner’s Guide to Prototyping”, to give  a comprehensive overview of the prototyping landscape. You’ll see the full gamut of prototyping techniques, from paper to JavaScript and everything in between. Todd will also lead participants in a hands-on paper prototyping exercise to demonstrate the amazing power of paper.

This event is free of charge and open to all interested parties. However, for security reasons, only those on the guest list will be admitted. Please bring photo ID.
RSVP:  http://ixdanyc2009august.eventbrite.com/
NOTE:
 
attendees must obtain a ticket under their own name to clear security.
WHERE

Pace University
One Pace Plaza
New York, NY 10038
Enter via Spruce Street. We will be on Level B of the building.

Map: http://tinyurl.com/lge53z
Subway: 2/3, A/C, 4/5/6, N/R

Business Design Meets Interaction Design (New York, NY)

Monday, July 6th, 2009 by Michele Marut
July 16, 2009
6:00 pmto9:30 pm

DUANE BRAY, interaction designer and head of Digital Media for IDEO, and RYAN JACOBY, who leads IDEO’s Business Design discipline, will co-lead a discussion about the intersection of interaction and business design. Drawing on examples from IDEO’s past work as well as inspirational stories elsewhere in the world, the two will consider the question of how interaction and business designers approach problems, how the relationship between the two disciplines has changed, and how collaboration can lead to rich user experiences and business solutions.
RSVP http://ixdanycjuly2009.eventbrite.com

Human to Human Interaction with CHI*Atlanta, PDMA, and IxDA

Friday, June 12th, 2009 by Colleen Jones
July 16, 2009
6:30 pmto9:00 pm

Location: User Insight
Directions: Map
Cost: FREE for Members

Join us for a fun evening of food, drinks, and networking with Atlanta’s best and brightest in user experience, product management, and interaction design.

Good membership standing with local chapters of CHI*Atlanta, PDMA, or IxDA is required.

REGISTER NOW 

CALL FOR CONVERSATION STARTERS!
To spark conversation during the social, we’re going to display slides showcasing each organization as well as good and bad examples of experience design.

We need your help! Send us a PowerPoint slide with your favorite example of good or bad design. Include “Submitted by [first name last name]” and a brief statement about why it’s your favorite.

Email a Conversation Starter

Understanding Social Media, Accelerating Social Participation

Wednesday, June 10th, 2009 by Olga Howard
June 10, 2009
6:00 pmto7:45 pm

Billions of people participate in online social activities. Some users participate as readers of discussion boards, searchers of blog posts, or viewers of photos. A fraction of users become contributors of user-generated content by writing consumer product reviews, uploading travel photos, or expressing political opinions. Some users move beyond their individual efforts to become collaborators, forming tightly connected groups with lively discussions whose outcome might be a Wikipedia article or a carefully edited YouTube video. A small fraction of users become leaders who participate in governance by setting and upholding policies, repairing vandalized materials, or mentoring novices.

It’s FREE!

See IxDA DC site for more information.

Design Strategy: Building Concentric Circles of Connection (New York, NY)

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009 by Michele Marut
June 18, 2009
6:30 pmto8:30 pm

A discussion and working session with ROGER MADER and JAKE SAMUELSON

Please join IxDA NYC for a discussion and working session to apply a
tiered strategy to your interaction design challenges in a variety of
applications. Noble Desktop will be raffling off a free, 3-day computer
graphics training class!

For more information and RSVP go to  http://tinyurl.com/nyc-ixda-june

IxDA Meetup (Phoenix, AZ, USA)

Monday, May 11th, 2009 by Dean Barker
May 12, 2009
6:00 pmto9:00 pm

The 2nd meetup for IxDA Phoenix is this Tuesday, May 12th at Gangplank from 6-9pm. Spread the word and bring a friend!

Time: May 12, 2009 from 6pm to 9pm
Location: Gangplank
Street: 325 East Elliot Road Suite 34
City/Town: Chandler
Website or Map: http://www.gangplankhq.com

IxDA Phoenix utilizes a hands-on approach and will include ideation and discussion. Anyone with an interest in Interaction Design / Usability is welcome, from novice to the experienced professional. Prepare to get your “hands dirty” and exercise your brain all while networking and having a blast!

Visit IxDA Phoenix at: http://ixdaphoenix.ning.com

Personas SUCK / Personas RULE! (Burbank, CA, USA)

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009 by Alexis Antonelli
April 29, 2009
7:00 pmto9:00 pm

The Los Angeles area IxDA and Yahoo! are hosting the next Interaction Design Association Event: “Personas SUCK / Personas RULE!” at Yahoo! in Burbank.

Personas. Do you use them? Are they useful or a waste of time? Our April event will feature persona experts who will explain why, when, and how personas can be used effectively in your interaction design process.

What do you do when you know you need personas, but you can’t seem to convince the client or stakeholders? Go rogue! We will workshop what to do when you have no time or resources.

Speakers:
- Jill Strawbridge
- Adam Korman

Come out and enjoy a lively evening and enjoy a tasty spread of snacks & drinks provided by our gracious hosts at Yahoo!
Date: April 29, 2009

Time: 7:00pm - 9:00 pm

Location:
Yahoo! Burbank
3333 Empire Ave.
Burbank, CA 91504

Parking Info:
Parking is free. Enter the parking structure from Empire Avenue and pull a ticket. Please be sure to bring the ticket to the lobby and turn it in at the Receptionist desk upon arrival. The elevator and stairs to get to the building will be to your left down the first aisle after you enter the structure. When you leave, there will not be an attendant. Just keep pulling forward and the gate will open.

RSVP:  Register at  IxDA’s new website and RSVP from there. There is a 115 person maximum.

“Experience Themes: An Element of Story Applied to Design” with Cindy Chastain (New York, NY, USA)

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009 by Michele Marut
May 12, 2009
6:30 pmto8:30 pm

As designers we too often neglect to define a common vision, or coordinating force, behind the scope of what we’re designing, making or building. Without some means of unifying our efforts we can easily end up with a product or service that falls short of its potential of delivering an optimal user experience. One path to holistic coordination is to employ the concept of themes as used by fiction writers and filmmakers. For storytellers, themes are used as a compass, a means for examining every element in the story for its possible implication with regard to theme. For readers, themes offer an cognitive and emotional response to the story that is often much deeper and more memorable than details of plot. In experience design, themes can be used to pattern and unify product solutions as well as a means of unifying teams, assisting in the work of defining strategy and helping to design for the intangible pleasure, emotion and meaning in experience. By aiming to capture the value and focus of the experience we intend to deliver to users, themes guide us in the design process and, by extension, strengthen the impact and meaning of that experience.

Please join IxDANYC for a presentation about how experience themes were developed in the context of an interactive agency. The talk will delve into the notion of themes as they relate to user experience as well as discuss how they can be generated by a team and then used in the design process.
WHEN
Tuesday evening, May 12, 2009
6:30 - 7:00 networking and refreshments
7:00 - 8:00 presentation8:00 - 8:30
Q&A and discussion

The event is free of charge.

WHERE
Digitas
355 Park Avenue South
(between E 25th and 26th Streets)
New York, NY 10010
http://www.digitas.com
Map: http://tinyurl.com/dheq4y
Subway: 6 to 23th or 28th Streets, R/W and F/V to 23rd Street  

RSVP http://tinyurl.com/ixdanyc-may09

IA Summit + Interaction Recap (St. Louis, MO, USA)

Monday, April 13th, 2009 by Local meeting Editor
April 28, 2009
6:00 pmto7:30 pm

Two of the biggest User Experience conferences occurred in the first quarter of 2009, Interactions 09 and IA Summit 2009. Nathan Verrill attended Interactions and Brad Nunnally attended the IA Summit and have come back to give the St. Louis User Experience community a recap.

When: April 28th, 2009 6:00-7:30 (Social Drinks @ Schafly Tap Room after wards)

Where: Spoke Interactive Marketing

More about this event:

This meeting is the St. Louis IxDA Meet Up for April.

IxDA Phoenix Meetup (Chandler, AZ, USA)

Saturday, April 11th, 2009 by Dean Barker
May 12, 2009
6:00 pmto9:00 pm

Time: May 12, 2009 from 6pm to 9pm
Location: Gangplank
Street: 325 East Elliot Road Suite 34
City/Town: Chandler
Website or Map: http://www.gangplankhq.com
Event Type: professional, meetup
Organized By: IxDA Phoenix

IxDA Phoenix utilizes a hands-on approach and will include ideation and discussion. Anyone with an interest in Interaction Design / Usability is welcome, from novice to the experienced professional. Prepare to get your “hands dirty” and exercise your brain all while networking and having a blast!

More Info and RSVP: http://ixdaphoenix.ning.com/events/ixda-phoenix-meetup