Design Thinking Digest

Why go to MIX?

It goes without saying that most of us are doing a bit less traveling today. Those of us that get to go to conferences probably have to do a lot more dancing with the corporate bean counters than ever before and, truly, the value proposition of conferences are changing.

I’ve had to make some hard choices myself this year. Such as not going to Interactions 09—but please stop by the Cafe and say hi to Manifest Digital as I’ll be living vicariously through them (If you say something nice about me they might even give you a treat).

But there are two conferences that are pretty important to me personally this year. One is SxSW. I’m a relative virgin to SxSW and this will only be my third year attending, but this is the conference that energized me and restores my spirit. I’m excited that Microsoft has been able to play a part in it for the past few years and I’m excited that the PhizzPop finale will occur here.

SxSW is a great place to have a beer, reconnect with old friends and be stimulated by the diversity of discourse and get some of that special energy and mojo that I only seem to get when I’m in Austin.

But MIX is different. It’s certainly a more serious event—and there’s far more depth to the content that is delivered there. Like SxSW, it’s also a conference with serious, sometimes exhausting, fun.

But what makes MIX special is that it’s about things that are new and things that MIicrosoft has never talked about publically before. This year, if your passions fall to design, or you’re on the fence, or even past the tipping point, on stuff like Expression Studio and Silverlight, you’re going to want to be there. Not just for the content (which, let’s be honest, you can see online later) but because you get a chance to meet, talk, argue and a give feedback to the people that invent and build this stuff at Microsoft.

You also get the opportunity for outstanding networking with your peers, and let’s face it, your competitors—sort of like when James Bond has to partner up with the Russians to foil Spectre, stuff you just can’t do when watching a keynote from a Web Browser or even when you’re at the local pub eyeing your competitors suspiciously. In this economy it’s probably safe to assume that we’ve all got lots to talk about—and what better place to that than Las Vegas.

But in truth, the most important reason to GO to MIX is that your going to learn important exciting things about Silverlight and Expression Studio that are going to impact greatly the way we all work and the expectations that folks have around the classic iron triangle and what’s possible and expected within the constraints of time, money and quality.

You’re also going to see folks that you probably won’t see speaking at other events in 2009. This includes a keynote by Microsoft’s very own Bill Buxton and design standbys like Molly, Luke W., Dan Roam, Lou Carbone and Bill Scott.

See a smattering of the speakers here.

If you’re still reading I’m gonna suspect your interesting so in the spirit of the Sham Wow guy I’m also going to offer up a special that we’re running at MIX. Register by February 13 and you can save over $400 bucks on registration.

Are you still here?

One more thing, if you can’t get to any PhizzPop events and you won’t be at SxSW you can still see videos of PhizzPop events at MIX and actually meet and interact with many of the PhizzPop teams in our PhizzPop booth. We’ll have teams and solutions from our 08 and 09 events.

The Chicago Convergence: Highlights

I had the opportunity to speak at The Chicago New Media Summit (Newly minted as The Chicago Convergence). This was back on September 16th and this was a great event. You can see some highlights here.

I'm speaking at Webmaster Jam Session 2008

Want to get up close and personal with some of the best designer and Web developers in the country? Want to be inspired and get away from the same, old conference prattle? Then check out Webmaster Jam Sessions in it's new Atlanta home this year. Sean Seibel (Peer UXE) and myself will be talking about using the Web as a stepping stone for new ideas and concepts around social media by looking at the influence of gaming, imaging and robotics.

This is a nice conference where you truly get to interact with the speakers during the sessions and during the 'seams' of the event.

This is an accessible and reasonable event that I had a wonderful time at last year, it's even more of a no-brainer if you take advantage of a special discount code. Want to attend Web Master Jam Sessions and save 30%? Use the code 'MSOFT' when you register at https://2008.webjamsession.com/register/

I'll be at the Sarasota International Design Summit

Want to hear a variety of opinions on what's next for the Web? How social media should/could influence you as a marketer today and tomorrow? All those topics and more will be covered at one of the premier educational and design summits in Sarasota from October 27-28th. We'll talk big picture about design and it's business value and why we think RIAs (Rich Internet Experiences) will play off big-time in the future.

IxDA Interaction08 Revisited

Technorati Tags: Chris Bernard,IxDA,Dan Saffer,David Armano,David Malouf,Jared Spool,Bill Buxton,SCAD

 

IxDA's first conference in Savannah was one of the most interesting conferences I've been to in the past 12 months. More than just about any other event I've attending recently I found folks here to be the most closely aligned to much of my thinking on design as it related to technology and the crafting of experiences. Just a few of the highlights included getting to spend some quality time with Bill Buxton and learn that Jared Spool, in addition to being an expert on usability is also accomplished with the art of the card trick (In the picture above he's showing David Armano a few tricks worthy of Ricky Jay).

From a social perspective the highlight of the event was a party that was sponsored by Microsoft on Saturday evening at the Savannah College of Design Gulf Center. A working production studio for the school it provided perfect mix of fun and design inspiration.

Finally, I think the organizers of this event are to be commended for their commitment to sharing the good words and thoughts of all the speakers at the event by posting videos in less than a week after the conclusion of the event (a model that all conferences should follow).

You can actually see some of the sessions for yourself.

There are many faces that were behind this successful event but special recognition should go to Dave Malouf and Dan Saffer for making this happen and getting all the right folks in place, they were supported by a great IxDA Board Membership (Most of whom I also got to spend quite a bit of time with) and I hope to see IxDA conferences become a regular occurrence.

Here's some of the sessions that are being hosted over at Brightcove.

Cinematic Interaction Design, Sarah Allen

The Design Ecosystem, Bill Buxton

Design for Flow, Dave Cronin

Device Art, Regine Debatty

Conversations with Everyday Objects, Bill DeRouchey

Hit It with the Pretty Stick, Jenny Lam

Don't Make Me Click, Aza Raskin

Concept Ideation and IxD, Gretchen Anderson

Experience Design, Convergence + The Digital Agency, David Armano

Effective Prototyping Methods, Jonathan Arnowitz

Classic Design Movements and IxD: Kissing Cousins?, Chris Bernard

Help Me! A New Approach to Support Interactions, Doug Bolin

Concept Models: A Tool for Planning Interaction, Dan Brown

An Insurgency of Quality, Alan Cooper

IxD for Community Empowerment, Carl DiSalvo

Self-Conscious Gaming, Andrew Hieronymi

Designing for the Other 99%, Morten Hjerde

Designing for SpaceTime, Building in No-Time, Matt Jones

Redesigning Sony-Ericsson's Product Catalog, Saskia Idzerda

Intervention-Interaction, Sigi Moeslinger

New Interaction Model for a Modular Personal Infotainment System, Sajid Saiyed

Strategic Boredom, Molly Wright Steenson

Interaction Across Disciplines, Michele Tepper

Ethics of Everyday Design, Gabriel White

User Interface Design in an Agile Environment: Enter the Design Studio, Jeff White and Jim Unger

Fieldwork and Sketching: Translating Research Themes into Conceptual Designs, Susan Wyche

The Ultimate Mash-Up: Stephen P. Anderson and Design

Technorati Tags: Stephen P. Anderson,Design,Star Wars,The Force Behind Star Wars,George Lucas

Any one that is active in local communities such as Refresh or IxDA or has attended an Adaptive Path conference has some passing experience with Stephen P. Anderson. Stephen just went out to start his own thing recently after a tenure at Sabre and I think he's one of our most cogent thinkers in the design space. But he also knows how to have fun in going about that inspiration. See the presentation below for example. Back in December I had a chance to see George Lucas speak in Chicago at the Chicago Economics club and Stephen does a pitch perfect job of telling this story the same way that George does but also includes his design focused spin. I'd LOVE to hear Stephen give this presentation.

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In Microsoft many of my peers and I spend an inordinate about time developing the stories that talk about the importance of design. We spend a lot of time catering these messages to different audiences too. Now, more often than not, I point people towards some of the thinking Steve has done on this subjects, I'm not sure there's anyone out there right now that can put a more human face on design and it's value in such a delightful and accessible way.

If you get a chance to hear Steve talk, don't miss it.

Design Inspiration for my IxDA Talk

At the upcoming IxDA Interaction 08 conference in Savannah I'll be giving an abbreviated version of my classic design talk. I'll play spoiler here and say that much of what we think is pioneering today had it's roots and was even mastered far before most of us were here. In light of that of that I'll simply provide a link to this video that shows how much of our past is related to our present and our future in ways that are far more compatible than we think.

Special thanks to former colleague John Tolva, whose earlier post on his blog  served as inspiration.

Teaming and Collaboration for Creative Types: A Workshop With Chris Bernard

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So in addition to shilling for Microsoft I do have other hobbies. One of these hobbies is teaching people how to be effective in collaboration and not waste time. These are slides (which you can download in .PPT format) that I use to teach a one day workshop on teaming and collaboration. I've had the privilege of walking about 120 folks through this one day workshop and it's had a fairly decent level of success at my alma matter, the Institute of Design.

There Will Be Blood: Why the Web 3.0 Will Be More 1.0 Than 2.0 by Chris Bernard

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This is an update on my 'Marketing's Perfect Storm' talk that goes deeper into the technology and economic landscape and looks at how much social media is influencing this space. It also delves a little bit into how Microsoft perceives the digital marketing landscape both on the Web and beyond it. Yes, a ScreenCast is coming.

Design Thinking Dallas: Doors to Meaningful Innovation by Chris Bernard

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This is a talk I gave in Dallas in October of 2007. It covers a lot of the territory I cover with other talks and I've reposted the presentation in a downloadable format. It's kind of a collection of my all-up views and thinking on design and innovation.

Again, some of it won't make sense without the words and I'm working on a ScreenCast of the presentation.