Hello!
I attended UX Australia in Sydney last week. UX Australia is a four day event with two days of workshops followed by the main two day conference. I attended one full day workshop on the Wednesday and then went onto the main conference on the Thursday and Friday.
I wanted to share my notes with you all:)
[B]Wednesday 27 August[/B]
[B]All Day Workshop: Beyond Digital – Applying UX skills beyond the realm of digital channels[/B]
[B]Presented by Iain Barker[/B]
Workshop was fun – it took me back to my uni days designing for an experience that is not digital. We had a brief for the day to improve the Keepcup experience. We mapped out the experience from manufacture to disposal, brainstormed ways to improve it, and prototyped an idea that allowed users to drop the cup off somewhere and collect it again from the coffee shop. When we were brainstorming ideas we were also identifying pain points. We determined that carrying it, cleaning it and having to remember to bring it were issues we wanted to try to solve. There was playdoh too.
[B]Main Conference[/B]
[B]Thursday 28 August[/B]
[B]Keynote opening[/B]
[B]Design at Scale by Greg Petroff[/B]
My main takeaway from this one was be inclusive and let non-designers do design work. Don’t work with an us vs them mentality.
[B]The Neuroanthropology of us by Stephen Cox[/B]
[LIST]
[]As a society we are becoming more selfish and less social
[]UX was born in the 1980’s and we studied people and applied 1980’s HCI and psychology to it
[]Now we are aware of neuroplasticity - the idea that our brains are always changing and that we can adapt and learn new things. When you find new things in your environment, your brain rewards you with dopamine.
[]Smart devices are great because we can develop new pathways in our brains by learning new things but it’s actually making us less social and more disconnected with those around us.
[]How can we design more socially?
[]We work like an extended family –we help each other
[]We know who we work for
[]We use personas and scenarios
[]It’s easier to solve a problem if it’s in a social context
[/LIST] [B]New Users Matter Too – Krystal Higgins[/B]
[LIST]
[]How can we build engaging experiences for new users?
[]How do we make the first impression more human?
[]3 Principles: Guided interaction, Demos/Free samples and Personal focus
[]Make it relevant and make it easy – let them go in the water but don’t let them drown.
[/LIST] [B]UX Careers: The good, the bad and the ugly[/B]
[B]Matthew Magain, Emma Jones, Fox Woods, Jodie Moule and Luke Chambers[/B]
[B]Emma is a recruiter, Fox is a freelancer and Jodie is the CEO of Symplicit [/B]
Q. What should a portfolio look like?
[LIST]
[]Less about the finished product and more about the approach
[]They want you to show them how you think
[]It doesn’t have to be pretty and they are definitely not looking for a high fidelity finished product so don’t put it in
[]They want you to take them on a journey through your process and methodology
[]“We look at the values of the person and we look for a good degree of humbleness” – Jodie
[]Show in your portfolio the things you feel you need to develop – they want to see that you’re capable of identifying your weakness and owning them
[]Attitude is very important –they want to know will you fit in with our culture?
[/LIST] Q. Do we need a resume?
[LIST]
[]Emma says no. All about the portfolio.
[]Fox says yes. In her experience it’s 95% resume and only 5% about the portfolio
[]Jodie says yes to both. As a hiring manager she wants to see how long people have stayed with an organisation because she wants people who will stay for the long haul.
[/LIST]
[LIST]
[]Q. What is freelancing like in Melbourne, Fox?
[]She started as a freelancer in January, thought she’d be rolling in gold but the first few months were tricky.
[]Most places wanted her to join their team or take up a contract because they want the designers in there with them.
[]She charges by the day - $600. Also has an hourly rate but prefers to work an 8 hour day because travelling into the city for 1 hour is a waste of a day. She charges less for start ups and more for big organisations.
[/LIST] Q. General advice??
[LIST]
[]Read everything Jared Spool writes
[]Learn to become a good story teller
[]Presenting and facilitating is a huge part of the job
[]You need to be a person with an opinion who doesn’t mind sharing it (nicely)
[/LIST] Q .What skills will be in demand in 5 years?
[LIST]
[]Lean UX methodology
[]Unicorn-ism
[/LIST] [B]CCD – hero and villain by Ian Muir[/B]
[LIST]
[]This one looked at customer centred design being the hero and corporate cognitive dissonance being the villain
[]The slides for this one were pretty awesome
[]He discussed the death of Nokia and the demise of Kodak
[]Nokia failed due to blind spots and couldn’t figure out the right problem to solve
[]Kodak drowned in bias towards film and completely underestimated the speed of digital technology. They failed to listen to the market.
[]Abductive reasoning is a super power
[]Super Powers; peer reviews, re-framing, listening, abductive reasoning and awareness
[]Be the wise hero and create better designs
[/LIST] [B]Change Aversion and how to design for it by Hendrik Mueller (from Google)[/B]
[LIST]
[]Change causes stress and uncertainty
[]You leave people asking “Who moved my cheese?”
[]Something familiar is replaced by something new and you have to relearn it – people prefer what they are accustomed to
[]However the only constant is change
[]Risks of change aversion: removes expertise from the user –they lose a super power and have to relearn it
[]There is a fine line between a loyal user and an angry mob
[]How do we measure change aversion? – user attitudes through surveys and look at usage levels of the product
[]Google Drive case study
[]Started as google docs in 2010
[]In 2011 and early 2012 they made small changes to the UI and the look and feel
[]In April 2012 they re-branded to google drive and the workflows changed
[]At first they saw a decline in satisfaction (they did surveys) and then it climbed back up again.
[]How to design for change aversion:
[]Improve key functionality
[]Asses user impacts BEFORE launching
[]Plan the stages of the launch: announcement with opt in, transition with opt out and then full transition for all
[]Prime users for the change –let them play with it
[]Promote the benefits of the change
[]Give transition guidance and support
[]Let users switch between versions (temporarily)
[]Provide a feedback channel
[]Address the user issues quickly
[]Tell people what you improved
[/LIST]
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