User interface designers work with text, form fields and other visual elements to build engaging product experiences. Technical considerations such as performance, however, also play a large role in how a visitor perceives a website and, by extension, a brand.
At this week’s NoVA UX meetup we celebrated the group’s birthday and three years of user experience events. NoVA UX was founded back in June 2012 to provide opportunities for user experience professionals in the Northern Virginia and DC metro area to connect, share ideas and learn from each other. Since then we’ve grown to nearly 1,700 members.
At this month’s NoVA UX meetup we had a double feature, with two presenters talking about prototyping and demonstrating some great tools and strategies.
Many of us that work in the creative arts are familiar with Dieter Rams, a highly regarded industrial designer. Even if you are not familiar with Mr. Rams, though, you have almost certainly used products that were influenced by his work. Over the course of his career he developed ten principles for “good design” that continue to inspire creative professionals, such as Apple’s Jonathan Ive.
Last week we kicked off our 2015 NoVA UX meetup calendar at AddThis HQ with a visit from author and Lean UX specialist Jeff Gothelf. On the evening before his full-day DC Lean UX workshop, Jeff shared a talk titled, “Purity vs Pragmatism,” in which he passed along his experience with helping organizations implement frameworks such as Agile development and Lean UX. Continue reading
Can UX designers be product strategists? Absolutely, says Kevin Vigneault from Viget Labs, who gave a talk about product strategy, and how UX designers can provide leadership in this area, at last night’s NoVA UX meetup. Continue reading
For the November NoVA UX meetup at AddThis HQ, coding architect and Lucid Technics partner David Hodge demonstrated what it’s like to use and design for Google Glass. Continue reading
Last night we had a solid turnout for the July NoVA UX meetup at AddThis headquarters. Tim Mannino from Kettul Design joined us to give a talk on creating great web application user experiences. Continue reading
For the May NoVA UX meetup, Microsoft Dev Evangelist Andrew Duthie gave the group a presentation on the design thinking behind Windows 8. He described three influences–Bauhaus design, Swiss typography, and motion cinematography–and five design principles that guided the team: Continue reading
For our February NoVA UX meetup, John Whalen (PhD Cognitive Science Johns Hopkins and Founder, Brilliant Experience consultancy) shared his insights and experience about cognitive science with the group. Using videos and interactive examples, he shared learnings about how we perceive, remember, and make decisions, and how those concepts can be applied to user experience design. Continue reading