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Subject:Workshop in Phoenix From:"Ann L. Lamon" <alamon -at- PSN -dot- NET> Date:Wed, 3 Feb 1999 16:30:40 -0700
"Communicating with the Developer"
Workshop presented by Whitney Quesenbery
What You'll Learn at the Workshop
Introduction to Logical User Centered Interaction Design (LUCID) - The
workshop starts with an overview of the six stages of interface design,
looking at the tasks and deliverables and how they work to produce more
usable software.
"Guerilla tactics" for information developers - Trying to "infiltrate"
user-centered design into your company? We'll look specifically at
activities that can be initiated by the documentation department and
make a difference.
· UI Roadmap: Create a UI Roadmap as a starting point for the user
assistance design and then use it to open up discussions about the user
interface.
· User analysis: Conduct user interviews, or work from your experience
with users to create a functional requirements analysis from the user
point of view. Use this analysis to help make your case to the
development team.
· Scenarios: Create scenarios of typical user activities. They not only
help clarify design goals, but personalize the user to the design team.
· Storyboards (paper prototypes): Volunteer to create a complete paper
prototype and use that to work out the wording of any on-screen prompts,
tool tips, or other embedded help. You'll be surprised how often
developers who rejected the idea at first become "addicted" to the
storyboards as their design documentation.
· Ongoing design support: Become the team "secretary" and document
design decisions as they are made in meetings. Create a one-page style
guide that developers can use as they lay out screens.
· Low-impact usability activities: There are many ways to usability test
without a lab. Volunteer to do these quick studies (maybe even just with
people within your company) to help answer key questions about the
interface.
Learn how to make the case to management - We'll take a look at some of
the literature on the return on the investment in usability and
user/performance centered design to give you some ammunition.
Get solutions you can use in your workplace - Come to the workshop with
a problem you are facing. We'll pick a few of them and end with some
group brainstorming of possible solutions you can take back to work
right now!
About our Workshop Leader place picture of W. Quesenbery here above and
left Whitney Quesenbery is an interaction designer at Cognetics
Corporation. She has been the project leader for many of Cognetics'
consulting projects, including a multimedia introduction to the AT&T
Product Documentation Development group, which was named Best of Show in
the STC International Online Communications Competition in 1996. Other
key projects include the Dow Jones Investor Network--a multimedia news
service, and the Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 4 Travel Guide--an interactive
guide to the printer. Other interface design credits include work for
Lucent, IBM Internet Media Group, OpenText, ADP Easy Pay, JP Morgan and
the U.S. Postal Service. She is part of the team developing Cognetics'
L.U.C.I.D. (Logical User-Centered Interaction Design) methodology, which
stresses the importance of human interaction and usability testing in
interface design.
Ann Lamon
Education Committee Manager
STC Phoenix Chapter
