February Meeting Review

by Benjamin Cape

The February program started off with a reminder from Frank about the need for more people to run for office. Those interested can write runforoffice@stcrmc.org for more details.

Lori Lamar and Cathy Barnes of Industrial Wisdom, presenters at February's chapter meeting

The featured speakers were Laurie Lamar and Cathy Barnes of Industrial Wisdom, a Denver-based information design firm. Their presentation “A Whirlwind Tour of a UXD Methodology,” was a high-level overview of the information design process Lamar and Barnes have perfected with their decades of experience in everything from Web site design to usability engineering.

Lamar and Barnes first established that User Experience Design (UXD) can mean many things, but it is primarily identifying the user requirements for a product. To find out what those needs are, a methodology can be implemented that will reveal what the end user needs and wants when they navigate a Web site.

The methodology is divided into two parts. The first part, business and user requirements, consist of four steps: concept model, persona, task flow and use case. The second―design, spec, evaluate the UX―consists of site map, flow map, wire-frame and visual comp steps.

The first part must be done before any design steps are taken. These first four steps answer the basic questions that confront any online business, essentially a who, what, where, when and why of potential customers.

Once the first part is done, the business problem has been identified and the designing process can start. It begins with the site map design but really starts to take shape with the flow map and wire frame states. At these stages, the true outline of the Web site starts to take shape and the solution is in sight. Finally, a visual comp stage is completed that is presented to the client. This stage is also used in marketing the Web site.

Lamar stressed that all the steps are crucial and need to be taken, even if only for a couple of minutes.

 “If you skip a step, all the questions will come up at the visual comp stage,” she said.

Of course, all steps are subject to time and budget constraints. The second half of the presentation focused on the challenges that face implementing a UXD methodology. There will always be a difference between how much time a team wants to work on a project and how much time they will actually be allowed to work on a project.

Lamar and Barnes offered suggestions on selling a UXD project to a company. They said that the value of the project itself isn’t the only thing being presented to an organization’s decision maker. The value of the staff behind the project must also be brought forth so those in charge of the purse strings and calendar know that the resources put into a UXD project will be money well spent. They ended their presentation by saying the biggest asset to any project is “YOU.”

More information about Industrial design can be found at www.industrialwisdom.com.