Back to (UX) school
It is back-to-school time for the kids: how about you? Need to learn more User Experience methods, skills and tools? Here are some things coming up in the next few months to help you get better at planning & designing digital experiences.
August 25: The Lean UX meet-up continues, this time with a hands-on workshop demonstrating the mapping of journeys, experiences, and more. Expect more great Lean UX educational opportunities each month (4th Tuesdays).
August 26: Learn about personas and usability testing in downtown Detroit.
August 27: If you are struggling with building good user interfaces with WordPress, come to a WP Toledo Show & Tell at Seed Coworking.
August 28: Do a Google Hangout with the Lean UX meet-up.
September 8-9: Accessibility Summit, an online conference, hosted at the University of Michigan. Crap, too late, sold out! Maybe next year, or we could do our own in Toledo.
September 15: We are going on a road trip to Ann Arbor together to attend Ignite UX Michigan, a series of 5-minute talks on a range of user experience topics. RSVP on meetup.com so we can arrange the carpool.
September 17: TEDxToledo.The "D" in TED stands for Design.
September 21-28: A series of Design Week events by AIGA Toledo.
- September 21: Design Week kicks off with talks about fashion design (by Beth Doane) and digital architecture (by Dan Klyn). At Owens Community College.
- September 24: Design Briefs at the Toledo Museum of Art. Business ideas get presented, design workshops explore the possibilities.
- September 28 Design Week closes with Doug Powell from IBM, talking about Design for Good. At BGSU.
Watch AIGA Toledo for details!
October 1-3: Midwest UX is a great value for a UX conference: reasonably priced, driveable, high quality. This year it is in Pittsburgh. Let me know if you are going so I can help arrange a carpool like in past years. I cannot make it to Pittsburgh, but I will help you buddy-up with others going from the Toledo region.
October 2-4: Startup Weekend Toledo. 54 hours of intense learning. Design a business in a weekend. Prototype user interfaces to help validate customer value. The best teams include business folks, software developers and UX designers. Buy a "designer" ticket for just $25 - early bird special ends September 1st. Not sure yet? Get more info on September 17 at Seed.
October 14: The Project Management Institute Western Lake Erie chapter (PMI WLEC) presents a day of professional development. "Agility Beyond the Team" features Agile coaches from Ford Motor Company. Good UX cannot happen without good project management, so attend this session yourself or drag your PMs to it. Watch PMI WLEC for details.
November 2-5: Attend Cooper courses in Columbus. Attend a 3-day course on Interaction Design or a 2-day course on Customer Experience. They are expensive, but it is a lot cheaper to drive to Columbus than it is to fly to a coast. Use promo code cooperu20 to save 20%! I can tell you more about the courses and help you build a business case to tap the training budget for this.
November 10: Creativity and Innovation Summit by AAF. Hear local stories about tech startups, app development, social media, amusement park design, and more. See how UX plays a role in these success stories.
November 12: Several groups will be collaborating on a big local event for World Usability Day. Save the date: you will not want to miss the innovative ideas, networking, and adult beverages.
If you want to teach instead of learn (or more accurately, teach as a way to learn), then you should consider submitting a presentation for the Design/User Interface/User Experience track at CodeMash. CodeMash is one of the top conferences for software developers in the midwest, and it is right in our backyard (Kalahari water park, Sandusky, in January). Deadline is August 31st, so hurry!
Finally, these are not really UX-educational opportunities, but the regional IT industry is getting re-connected at big events in September and December. You are welcome to attend either one and invite your IT colleagues.
|
