See this in email newsletter form
People Skills for UX, May 27th
The #1 request for UX professional development around here is Rosenfeld Media mini-conferences. We did 31 UX Tips in 2013 and 32 UX Tips last year.
The next Rosenfeld Media virtual conference has just been announced for May 27th! The theme is “People Skills for UX” with sessions on four critical soft skills: listening, facilitation, negotiation and leadership.
Check out the details and start thinking about if you want to attend and/or your company wants to sponsor an all day local conference to watch these talks together. These topics may be interesting to a wide range of people at your company, such as project managers, business analysts, HR, and executives.
I would love your thoughts about how to organize this event (How much food? Where to have it?), if you are interested in attending, and if your company may want to sponsor it. Please fill out the planning survey!
Dashboard Design, May 13th
Dashboard design – not in your car, on your computer screen – is the topic of the May 13th Toledo Web Professionals meet-up.
University of Michigan student Selwyn Jacob is visiting to give us an update of his World Information Architecture Day presentation Lessons from Dashboard Design. Some of the things he might cover:
- Break conventions
- Simplify
- Info at first sight
- Get extra makeup out of the way
We also welcome a new sponsor/host: Owens Corning.
Be sure to RSVP at Meetup. And spread the word to your colleagues about another great TWP event that can help you create better user experiences.
Presentations from March
Did you make it to Rita DeRaedt’s March 12th presentation about her intern experience at Google? Her slides are online if you want to see them again.
I did a talk about UX for strategic creatives at the Mad Ave Collective’s Shop Talk last week.
A copy of the slides and links to things I mentioned are in my blog entry.
A video of the talk will get posted eventually.
Student Competitions in April
There are three student competitions in April that we can “crash”:
- Saturday April 11th is the 8th Annual AIGA Toledo / BGSU Graphic Design Portfolio Review Day. The guest speaker is Kelli Anderson, an artist/designer. You can show up at Hanson (in Arrowhead Park) at 1pm to hear Kelli.
- Friday April 17th is the District 5 National Student Advertising Competition. Rich Stoddart, CEO of Leo Burnett North America, is the lunch speaker, at the Park Inn (downtown). $30. More info.
- Lura Tromper from Apple is coming to Bluffton University to be a judge in an Apple Watch app design contest for students, on April 31st. You can attend, too, if you apply and are selected based on your innovative thinking. Learn more.
Design students in The Hatch, April 8th
Design students are well represented among the participants in BGSU’s The Hatch, where students work with mentors to develop business ideas and pitch to investors.
- Meredith Keller is a VCT student with an idea for a cystic fibrosis app
- Elsa Vogel is a graphic design student with an idea for personalized clothing patterns
Other businesses that are part of the “Shark Tank”-like event that you may find interesting are a toy that teaches children new languages and a music synchronization app.
Learn more about The Hatch (April 8th). Come out and support our local design students who are showing that good design is good business.
