Wharton UICONF 2010

Two weeks ago, I attended Wharton’s UICONF 2010, which focused on user experience design in the context of higher education. While a greater percentage of our work happens in other sectors, it was interesting to revisit how the concepts and principles we trade in are applied (or not) in academia.

Several themes emerged across the days, highlighted by the two keynotes: Don Norman’s “Living with Complexity” and Cory Ondrejka’s “Angry Dinosaurs.” These two speakers couldn’t have more divergent styles (Norman, the wise and respected mentor; Ondrejka, the double-caffeinated fast-talker who knows he’s right, but is just respectful enough to let you realize it yourself) but ultimately spoke on the same topic: Change.

The upshot of Norman’s talk (and upcoming book) was that complexity is not only OK, but is to be desired…especially when the alternative is baffling simplicity masquerading as “design.” As our worlds become more and more complex, he claims, it is up to us as designers to ensure it doesn’t become more complicated. We must design for memory, not for the moment; creating pleasurable experiences that will overcome the frequently less-than-ideal interface trade-offs of today’s mobile devices.

Quick, what time is it? The sundial is simplicity incarnate, but the wall clock's complexity helps reduce complication.

Ondrejka took a different tack on the theme of “change,” positing that agility (or adoption rate) will become a–if not the–key competitive advantage in the near and long-term. He railed, rather convincingly, against the “Angry Dinosaurs” of the world who fail to see that their business model is crumbling around them (NYT, RIAA, we’re looking at you). Admitting you have a problem is only the first step, however. Ondrejka continued to outline how to build an agile team (that’s a small “a” for all you SCRUM/Agile/Lean geeks) in these massive institutions, how to foster innovation (which he likens to art and pornography…you know it when you see it, but nobody can define it), and why few of us can see massive world-rocking change coming before it’s about to swallow us whole.

Beyond the keynotes, some of the breakout sessions covered such topics as conducting quick and dirty usability tests, the benefits of prototyping, what to expect (or not) from your CMS, and designing interactions with Ajax.

For the most part, the lessons of the conference were broadly applicable and not just suited for the higher ed world. While the keynote speakers were clearly in a different league than most of the breakout hosts, the conference did provide good value given its extremely reasonable fees. Looking to 2011, this conference seems well suited for those in early- or mid-stage UX careers looking to build their repertoire, but may leave more experienced practitioners wanting more deep dives.

Review: UIE Web App Masters Tour

We received some great feedback about our reviews of An Event Apart Seattle 2009 (AEA) and ePatient Connections 2009, so we figured we’d make it a tradition. Earlier this week we attended the Philadelphia stop of the 2010 UIE Web App Masters Tour – brainchild of UIE (User Interface Engineering) founder, and host, Jared Spool. Putting on an event tour like this takes moxy and a lot of coordination, so kudos to Jared & Co. for pulling it off quite smoothly in Philly. Overall, we had a very pleasant experience and were glad we attended; we walked away with both new insights and new ways of articulating concepts we’ve been batting around with clients for some time now.

Brian's Sketch Notes (Click the image above to see 'em all)

First things first… “Web App Masters” is a bold claim…did the speakers live up to it? We give that a solid “yes”. Whether or not the topic was in our particular wheelhouse, there were still solid takeaways from each talk even if some connected a bit more than others. Plus, we were also very encouraged by the undercurrent of experience design throughout the two days – we felt like these folks were speaking our language, and that they clearly understood the importance and value of user-centered design.

Luke Wroblewski wowed once again by combining his “greatest hits” around web form design with great new insight on collecting user input using mobile devices and beyond. Other highlights included the peek behind the curtain at 37signals (we’re fans, and use their products every day), Mark Trammell’s Twitter insights and Jared Spool‘s wise words about Vision, though the talk we found most inspirational was Stephen Anderson’s – a brilliant piece called “Serious Play: Designing Seductive Business Apps” that not only covered off nicely on the scope of the title but also offered principles and insights that can be applied more universally. Inspiring.

Stephen Anderson & Mental Notes

It also helped that Stephen was an engaging and dynamic presenter, which brings up the first of a few suggestions – that the overall energy of the conference could probably have used a shot in the arm. Granted, we’ve got our experience at AEA to compare this to – but there were a few things from an experience design standpoint that we thought could be tweaked.

Great authors and great designers don’t necessarily make for great speakers, and things tended to get a bit monotone at spots. Make no mistake, at conferences you get out of it what you put in – and there was plenty to be mined… evidence: Brian’s Sketch Notes. But to make it feel more like an “event” and keep things crackling, maybe pulling back from 75 minute presentations to a tighter and punchier 30-45 would help. For talks that got deep into execution that sometimes weren’t relevant to the entire audience, the next attention-getting topic shift was a little too far away.

Witticisms From Jason Fried, 37signals

Also, as far as execution goes – it was indeed fascinating to hear how web apps like Netflix and Basecamp were dreamt up and iterated. However, several talks were very focused on lengthy, in-depth use cases that not everyone could necessarily relate to. Certainly there were nuggets in there for people to take away and match up against their own experiences/organizations, but they weren’t always clearly pulled out as usable tips and pointers that could be more universally/practically applied. Put simply, there was more “here’s what we did” than “here’s what we did, here’s the broader concept it exemplifies, and here’s how you might think of applying it.”

Still, these are minor quibbles with a conference still finding its feet. The crew of speakers was down to earth, good hearted, and approachable – there was a great sense of community in the room and a sense of common purpose. The Twitter stream was equally collegial and respectful, and though it contained few new insights from attendees, it did provide great bite-sized takeaways for those unable to be there in-person.

Tools Of The Trade, As Suggested By Mark Trammell

If you’re looking for a solid conference to attend and are interested in the topics, you’ll certainly get good bang for your buck from this one. There’s one more stop on this tour in 2010 – July 12-13 in Seattle…so don’t delay!

Quick Thoughts from ePatient Connections 2009, Day 1

Our friends at KruResearch invited Think Brownstone to conduct 1:1 coaching sessions at the first ePatient Connections conference.

Blogs will be filled with recaps and Twitter is already teeming with comments hashtagged #ePatCon.

Rather than recap the day, I thought I would share a common theme I picked up from most of the presenters: The healthcare landscape is changing; listen to your patients and follow their lead. As we often note on our blog, listening to the user is the job of any experience designer.

Two memorable quotes from the day are good examples of how this message permeated the sessions:

We don’t blog because we have to, we blog because it helps us heal

-Kerri Morrone Sparling, Diabetes awareness advocate and sixuntilme.com blogger addressing her motivation to blog.

The users will tell you what’s relevant, it’s not about us

-Tricia Geoghegan, from Johnson and Johnson, when discussing how to determine what the best channel of communication is for your audience.

The questions asked during my Facebook 1:1 coaching sessions focused around, “How do I use Facebook to promote my (organization, product, service, non-profit…) My advice was twofold:

1. If you’re not already active on Facebook, get on it and use it in earnest for at least a month. During that time period, learn how the space works: the jargon, the etiquette. Become a user.
2. Don’t bother trying to force your audience to come to you. Every user group is different. Develop methods to identify where and how they communicate, but don’t be a stalker. The focus should not be on promoting, it should be about informing. Their voice is stronger in this landscape, when you’re providing value to your audience, they will listen.

I’ve known the folks at KruResearch for a while and even though this is their first big event, they get it. Probably because they have attended enough conferences that lacked focus or focused too much on star power and not enough on practical application.

Russ will be there today. Stop by his 1:1 coaching session if you’re around.

*images courtesy of the ePatient Connection Photostream

Refresh Philly Recap

Earlier this week, Russ and I presented at Refresh Philly. The best way to describe Refresh is to quote from their site:

Refresh is a community of designers and developers working to refresh the creative, technical, and professional culture of New Media endeavors in their areas. Promoting design, technology, usability, and standards.

The Refresh Manifesto:

Let’s Gather Great Minds

Let’s Share All Of Our Knowledge

Let’s All Grow And Learn

Let’s Promote Local Talent

Let’s Be More Than We Think Can Be

Let’s Make Our Cities Better

We were preceded by two great presentations: Shaun Gering showing off Chirp – (a new tool for online communities for TV viewers from CIM) and Tom Boutell from P’unk Ave walking us through Symfony, a technology solution that employs a full-stack framework and a library of cohesive classes written in PHP5. Our presentation was titled Experience Design Step 1: Starting on the Right Foot and focused on the first step of any design project: Problem Statements and SMART Goals.

One of the great things about Refresh is that it’s wide open – the members get to define what their intentions are and how they will execute the Refresh Manifesto in Philadelphia. Our interpretation was that this is a unique opportunity in the design & development community to use our skills in an altruistic way to improve the city – however we, as a group, decide where we can have the most impact. Russ’s analogy of us all being like the “Superfriends congregating at the Hall of Justice” focused on the fact that some of the brightest designers and developers in the Philly area were overlooking our city on the 45th floor of the Comcast Center looking for ways to improve it. We opened the floor to a discussion of the types of things that could “Make Our City Better” – trying to be open-ended and idealistic about it in order to eventually come up with some goals and then figure out what skills and technology could be used to achieve them rather than the other way around.

What was even more exciting to me were the conversations that occurred after the sessions. As the crowd dissipated, everyone was buzzing over what Refresh would/could become. The Think Brownstone crew retired to a local watering hole with some friends to talk about where we fit into the Philly design community. The next day, Tom posted an entry on the P’unk Ave blog that began a discussion over the difference between front-end, back-end and design – and what the most productive relationships between those in each camp might look like. Jonny Goldstein posted a napkin sketch of our presentation.

I hope Russ’s superhero metaphor continues to prove itself: by day we could be mild-mannered competitors, vendors and clients, but by night we could band together to use our talents to refresh our communities. It will be interesting to see how this one pans out.

A Company is “Born”

It was a great night. A dream come true, really. Now that I’ve had a few days to reflect on it, the best way I can describe what happened on Friday night is to compare it to the birth of a child. OK, I know it sounds weird, but stick with me.

201 Fayette Street, Second Floor, Conshohocken PA

Last September we started Think Brownstone. Carl and I had a vision, some basic principles, and a few really great clients. Yet with just a placeholder web page, fake business cards and no real office space, Brownstone was still somewhat under wraps, hidden from view.

Collect all nine colors

Over the last 12 months our company developed. Several incredible people joined our team. We defined our brand with a logo and website. Business cards were printed. An office space was transformed into a Think Space. A date was set, invitations were mailed and anticipation grew.

Lots of great friends

Then on Friday November 7th, 2008, Think Brownstone was introduced to the world. A company was “born”. Thanks so much for coming out and making our First Anniversary Celebration and Open House truly a night to remember. Even more than that, thank you all for your support, passion and trust through the years. We are going to make you proud.

Think Space

Visit our Flickr photostream for more photos from the Open House (thanks Steve!).