Last October we ran a successful design workshop event with REEP, a Waterloo Region not-for-profit devoted to improving the energy efficiency of homes.
For our June event we have another design workshop, this time in conjunction with Tula Foundation, a Canadian not-for-profit, and an organization it supports named TulaSalud. TulaSalud is a Guatemalan non-governmental organization that assists the Ministry of Health and partner institutions with improving the health of the country’s rural population through e-health initiatives.
Our goal for this workshop will be to brainstorm designs for a software tool that supports rural healthcare workers. This will be a chance to dig into a real world problem and make a difference through design.
Details
Thursday June 21, 2012
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Communitech Hub
151 Charles Street West, Suite 100, Kitchener
Our client in Kitchener/Waterloo is actively recruiting for an Interactive Designer to work with its firm in support of multiple projects.
Taking on this contract-based opportunity, the Interactive Designer will be responsible for executing a wide range of interactive, mixed media design projects for a variety of clients and diverse applications. The projects involved are to include eLearning modules, instructional video and interactive Flash presentations with SCORM compliant comprehension testing. The Interactive Designer will be required to create website designs and other web-based communication devices such as ad banners and Flash video / animation interfaces. He/she will use a wide range of applications including Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, Presenter and Soundbooth.
Reporting to the Creative Director, the Interactive Designer will work on a team, assisting with some high profile clients derived from various industries such as Retail, Tourism and Professional Services. He/she will work closely with a team of Graphic Designers, Writers and Program Managers and will assist in the creation and delivery of projects on a tight timeline.
The Interactive Designer is expected to make creative decisions regarding the editing of projects based on written scripts or input from the Creative Director, ensuring quality control and consistency of the final product. He/she will perform technical editorial functions including audio recording and editing, colour correction, graphic design and integration.
Qualifications
The ideal candidate must have 3+ years of proven work experience in graphic / web designing supported by a post-secondary Diploma / Degree in Graphic / Web / Multimedia Design. Candidates will have proven moderate knowledge of Actionscript and any experience with video (Adobe Premier or Final Cut) is an asset (although not mandatory).
Candidates must be fluent in the use of Adobe Media Encoder for video encoding solutions and compression in addition to being able to demonstrate an understanding of branding and marketing strategies and implementation. Candidates must also be presented as a strong team player, as an eager collaborator and active contributor to the creative team; a creative, highly organized self starter who works well independently.
The Interactive Designer must have a keen eye for detail, ability to handle multiple assignments, a strong work ethic and the drive and determination to get the job done.
To Apply
To learn more about this role or to find out about other exciting opportunities available through The Creative Group, please visit our website www.creativegroup.com or contact Malcolm Jasumani at 416.365.2010.
About Us
The Creative Group, a division of Robert Half International, specializes in placing highly skilled marketing, advertising, creative, web and public relations professionals on a project and full-time basis with advertising and public relations agencies, Fortune 500 companies and small to mid-sized firms. We are faster at finding you work because of our strong network – we reach out to over 12,000 creative and marketing hiring managers each week. In addition to our free job search services, we provide our candidates with access to competitive skills training, benefits and compensation packages. We encourage you to work with us to find out why Robert Half International again was named to FORTUNE® magazine’s “World’s Most Admired Companies” list, ranking #1 in our industry. (March 19, 2012)
Wow, could we have gotten fewer actual words into the theme for this month’s event? I think not!
This month’s Q&A session is, surprisingly, a format that we haven’t explicitly done before.
Do you have questions about some aspect of UX, but haven’t had a chance to find answers? Now’s your chance. Whether you’re wondering how to quantify the usability of a product, or curious about what card-sorting is, there’s bound to be someone in our extended family of UX practitioners and researchers who can shed some light.
Why use a pencil and paper to create prototypes? How does multi-variate testing work? What’s the difference between a wireframe and a prototype? What is it you want to know?
Bring your questions, your answers, and your willingness to engage in a group discussion with the uxWaterloo crew.
Details
Thursday May 17, 2012
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Communitech Hub
151 Charles Street West, Suite 100, Kitchener
It’s been three years to the month since our last movie night, and that just feels far too long!
For our April gathering we’re turning down the lights, popping the corn, and firing up the projector. Join us for an informal screening of a variety of movies about our relationship with the tools and technologies that surround us — either as designers, or as end users. We’ll view clips from commercial films as well as a good variety of online videos from sources such as YouTube and Vimeo.
Suggest a movie
Of course, making an event like this successful requires participation and input from all of the attendees! Have you seen something that inspired you professionally? That got you thinking about your approach to user experience? That made you smile? Bring your suggestions and we’ll get them on the movie playlist. And, as always, be prepared for plenty of discussion, both serious and playful.
Details
Thursday April 19, 2012
5:30 to 7:00 pm Communitech Hub
151 Charles Street West, Suite 100, Kitchener
In our March event at the FELT lab, uxWaterloo members gave our feedback to the students from the Research Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program (REAP) at the University of Waterloo. We listened to quick presentations from each group, and then broke into groups so we could chat more about the usability issues and concerns that they were having in their projects. Thanks to the students for showing us their ideas and allowing us to share our usability expertise!
Our next event in April will give us another chance to provide feedback and apply our usability knowledge. This time, we’ll be having a workshop, where we’re helping a not-for-profit group by providing ideas for their mobile app. Stay tuned fore more!
March 2012 REAP Student Project Highlights
Video Wall– This group was able to film someone and make them look like they were part of an image on a screen. They were able to gather great ideas about how this could be used in shopping malls and other public spaces. Their main challenge was how to go from fun to getting a message through to the public.
iPad app for Thinkering– Their iPad app can be used for brainstorming sessions, or thinkering, where groups may want to have one person recording their session. The app creates a cloud of tags that will become searchable. We brainstormed lots of other day-to-day uses for the app, provided some interaction design suggestions, and came up with ideas for more integration with other devices.
Blister Games- This group has the challenge of taking a boardgame, digitizing it, and making it available on mobile devices. We were able to suggest ways that they could use of negative space to their advantage, and also provide zoom in/out options that could help players keep track of their moves, and the full board.
The user experience of the Aeryon Scout is what sets it apart from the pack. We’ve made an aerial vehicle that can be flown by anyone using Google Maps and we’re looking to enhance our current design. As Aeryon’s UI/UX Designer, you would own the user experience, transforming ideas and turning them into real-world product designs.
Job Description
Work closely with the R&D team to build product demos, prototypes, and interfaces
Define user interface design standards for Aeryon products, optimize ease-of-use and achieve an integrated and consistent product look and feel
Represent the “user experience ” and translate customer requirements into defined product features and specifications
Conduct ongoing research on user interface development
Required Skills
Bachelors degree preferred along with 4+ years relevant design experience
Portfolio required to demonstrate front-end product design and graphic skills
Strong graphics production capability experience with Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and other graphics tools
Experience with Agile software methodology
Outstanding interpersonal skills and the ability to collaborate with the team as well as outside vendors
Experience managing multiple design projects
Detailed-oriented and committed to delivering dynamic, visually appealing design under tight time constraints
Willingness to learn new programming techniques and skills
Wednesday March 7, 2012 5:30 to 7:00 pm FELT Lab at Quarry Integrated Communications
1440 King Street North, St. Jacobs, Ontario
[Map] Sign up now, as space is limited!
We like to mix up the kinds of events we do at uxWaterloo. It keeps things interesting, provides exposure to a wider range of ideas, and enables us to share our expertise with the community.
Some of you will recall our visit to the Felt lab back in November. That event was a chance to try out some of the interesting interactive display technologies at Felt. Well, we’re going back, but this time we’re on a mission to help students in the Research Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program (REAP) at the University of Waterloo by providing them with feedback on the projects that they are working on.
Come out and share your insights and design expertise with the next generation of UX practitioners and researchers, while learning more about exciting new technologies. The discussions are sure to be enlightening all around.
Our mission at Sortable is to make it easy for people to make decisions about which product or service to use, for example their next camera, phone, or tv purchase, or their next meal, movie, or trip. Sortable’s focus is making these decisions easy for ordinary people by handling all the data analysis and surfacing the best options in simple, beautiful interfaces. Sortable is a 7 person engineering driven startup, our fast growing websites are used by millions of visitors each month, and we need to expand!
We need talented frontend engineers to help us build simple and powerful web interfaces for mobile and desktop users. Designing interfaces that make complex tasks simple is what drives you. You live and breathe HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript — we’re talking clean, minimal markup, with fast page loads, and responsive layouts for multiple devices. At Sortable you’ll have the opportunity to build software that get used by millions of people. Join us to change how people make decisions online.
Skills
Extensive HTML5, Javascript, jQuery and CSS3 experience
Experience with Scala, Java or C#
User interface design
Mobile frameworks such as PhoneGap
Ability to take responsibility and release features users love that drive our vision forward
Top-notch communication skills – we’re a small team, you’ll need to fit in well
Bonus: Worked at a startup before, active in open source, personal projects, active blog, linux experience, spending way too much time researching which product to buy
Environment
We use Scala for most of our development. In addition, we have written tools or services in Python, Bash, and Java. We want our team of developers to have fun and be productive, so we’ll expect you to bring your own ideas and suggestions as to what hardware and software should be used.
Other tools and services we use include: Lift, PostgreSQL, Redis, Mercurial, Jenkins, Amazon Web Services (EC2, S3) and Ubuntu.
Benefits
We offer competitive salaries (80-120k+ based on experience and ability), health benefits, equity in the company, and kick ass developer machines. If you’re interested in building the future of how people make purchase decisions with a group of nice, funny, smart people, then Sortable is the place for you.
Thursday February 16, 2012
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Bauer Kitchen (private room booked under “UX Waterloo”)
Located in the Bauer Marketplace
What makes for a truly amazing conference experience?
Not everything we build as user experience designers is digital (service designers have known this forever!). Even if your own work to date has been strictly online, much of your knowledge is transferable to the real world. So this month, we put that idea to the test — by digging into the DNA of a successful conference experience.
Come prepared to share your own conference experiences, or to chime in with reactions to what others have to say. There’ll be no presentations this month, just informal discussion among UX peers. Have you been to a conference before? Let’s hear about it! Describe what you loved about the experience, and share some low points as well.
Your ideas could very well influence KW’s very own UX conference in September, Fluxible 2012.
RSVP requested
We’re meeting in a private room at the Bauer Kitchen, booked for “UX Waterloo”. Please note that food and drinks will not be supplied, but you’re free to place individual orders if wanted.
Please RSVP below if you plan to attend. Attendance will be capped at 20 people, so sign up soon!
Whitney Quesenbery (@whitneyq) and Daniel Szuc (@dszuc) were our special guests who called into last week’s uxWaterloo meeting by video conference. They are the authors of Global UX, which describes their in-depth interviews with design professionals who represent over 60 countries and 25 languages. Check out the following highlights from their presentation, and thanks again to Whitney and Daniel for joining us!
Are there tips that ux professionals can use when running global usability tests?
When conducting usability tests, let your testers talk to you about what they do. Acknowledge who they are in their world and change your testing methods to suit them. Plan breaks between global usability tests and give yourself more time after sessions for debriefing, to ensure that you’ve absorbed the information from the meeting. Overall, don’t think of people as your usability testers. Instead, think of them as your global collaborators.
From your interviews, what were the most common characteristics of people working in global ux?
The common characteristics were openness, curiosity, and a willingness to learn about other cultures. More details about these and other characteristics are available in this article: Global UX: A Journey.
What tips do you have for project teams wanting to improve in global ux?
Create a mindset in your project team where team members care enough to ask how to make a product more global. Have a cultural debrief at the beginning of a project where you ask “what are the things that we assume and could constrain our project team’s thinking?” Each team member should ask themselves “who do I need to speak to to help me learn and confirm what I know and don’t know?”
What can I do to improve how I work on global ux projects?
If you need to research a group of users you don’t know about, spend time with them. Immerse yourself in their world for a little while to understand the services they use and understand how they interact with others. Furthermore, get out of the office and watch people using your products! You don’t necessarily need to travel widely to gather a global perspective and you can learn a lot by calling your global coworkers to ask for their perspective. If you do decide to travel, have a local buddy that can answer your questions and help you with your travel plans. Involve them in your usability tests and get their opinions in your debrief sessions. They can help you understand any cultural or language differences that you may encounter.
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About uxWaterloo
uxWaterloo welcomes anyone with an interest in user experience (UX) design, whether you're a seasoned veteran or hoping to get your career started. Located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, we meet once a month and engage in a range of activities such as workshops, presentations, or informal meetups over food & drink.
