Whit Hour – Week 16

Thank you so much to the ~22 people who showed up for the sixteenth week of Whit Hour — my weekly one-hour video chat to answer any and all of your questions about user experience, consulting, and whatever else you throw at me.

Tune in every Monday night from 10-11pm Eastern Time at http://www.livestream.com/whithour.

Whit Hour – Week 16

September 13, 2010, from 10:00-11:00pm ET

This Week’s Beer

No beer this week!

Questions Asked and (Hopefully) Answered

1. How was judging the 10K contest?
2. I wanted to ask you about the recent post by ryan carson about ux professionals. Did you read some responses? What did you think?
3. Do you know any organizations that help fund the education of interaction design?
4. What’s your favorite thing about teaching?
5. How much experience should a person have under their belt before going freelance as a UX designer?
6. I’m new to UX/IxD. I want to put together a portfolio of the deliverables I’ve created. Do you have advice on where to begin, and resources , guidelines or examples of how to do it really well?
7. Do you know any startups that have really embraced UX to the point where UX really helps define the entire product and business strategies?
8. What doesn’t an UI Designer understand about UX?
9. Do you feel it’s important for web designers to have a grasp of UX and how in depth should they know about it? How do you work best with web designers and what qualities do they have they brings advantages to your position when working on web projects?
10. Which are the basic characteristics that a UX designer must have?
11. When can you actually call yourself a UXdesigner if you don’t have a specific degree?
12. Read any good UX books lately that you’d recommend to any of us?
13. How many persons do you usually use for your usability test on your projects?
14. Who are a couple UX designers whose work you especially admire?

Full Text Chat

Welcome to the ‘whithour’ room.
vanshea: ‘ello
whitneyhess mod: Can everyone hear me?
vanshea: check
johnlabriola: yes
r: yep
luis2048: I can hear
johnlabriola: hey whit
gabimoore: hi there!
gabimoore: beer?
luis2048: How was judging the 10K contest?
whitneyhess mod: http://10k.aneventapart.com
gabimoore: i wanted to ask you about the recent post by ryan carson about ux professionals
gabimoore: did you read some responses? what did you think?
chad: Just was typing that lol
sandblasta: Yo
karolmunoz: Do you know any organizations that help fund the education of interaction design?
gabimoore: i was wondering if you read cennydd bowles response
gabimoore: sorry :)
karolmunoz: scholarships, grants… etc
karolmunoz: not a free ride, but applications for scholarship
scottperezfox: <---- hey it's scottperezfox chad: I would interested to know about for academic programs. chad: I work at a University and will be sitting in on an academic program strategic planning commitee and I'm going to try to champion courses or a program. whitneyhess mod: Liz Danzico whitneyhess mod: http://bobulate.com whitneyhess mod: Jon Kolko chad: Thanks! vanshea: What's your favorite thing about teaching? mortvia: How much experience should a person have under their belt before going freelance as a UX designer? sandblasta: Yeah, SCPS!!! sandblasta: As you know, I'm new to UX/IxD. I want to put together a portfolio of the deliverables I've created. Do you have advice on where to begin, and resources , guidelines or examples of how to do it really well? gabimoore: Do you know any startups that have really embraced UX to the point where UX really helps define the entire product and business strategies? vanshea: Ha! Sandblasta! sandblasta: yeah, what?!! :-P mortvia: Very true, thanks! whitneyhess mod: http://uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2009/10/process-not-portfolio.php sandblasta: Good point. whitneyhess mod: http://www.planandsection.com/?p=504 sandblasta: Yes it does! Thanks! :) whitneyhess mod: CustDev whitneyhess mod: http://www.custdev.com/ gabimoore: Oh interesting whitneyhess mod: Minimum viable product whitneyhess mod: http://www.slideshare.net/startuplessonslearned/minimum-viable-product whitneyhess mod: http://www.uxmag.com/strategy/when-you-startup-with-ux gabimoore: that's great gabimoore: and yeah UX is seen as UI a lot of times gabimoore: it's a challenge whitneyhess mod: http://mashable.com/2009/01/09/user-experience-design/ whitneyhess mod: http://www.slideshare.net/whitneyhess/10-most-common-misconceptions-about-user-experience-design vanshea: heh kinda like how actors are bad at living life.. karolmunoz: what doesn't an UI Designer understand about UX? Matt Moore: woah is it over? I just hit with a Nick Berkus ad Matt Moore: nm karolmunoz: great, thanks Matt Moore: haha thetristan: Damn, expensive! Matt Moore: thx :) thetristan: I guess I'll have to live with Dr. Oz then thetristan: Whit: about a year ago you ran a Whit hour where I asked about your thoughts of turning orgs onto the value of UX thetristan: Well, since then, we're doing UX activities throughout our projects at the agency. Jackienyc: Do you feel it's important for web designers to have a grasp of UX and how in depth should they know about it? How do you work best with web designers and what qualities do they have they brings advantages to your position when working on web projects? laurapeterson: which are the basic characteristics that a UX designer must have? thetristan: blood sweat tears thetristan: For sure. Would be curious to hear if you're opinions are still the same now; cause a year ago you thought it couldn't be easily done. thetristan: s/you're/your Jackienyc: design & development theredheadsaid: the mashable link doesn't work. :( Matt Moore: “Developers don’t need designers, users do.” - Jennifer Brook whitneyhess mod: http://www.slideshare.net/whitneyhess/diy-ux Jackienyc: THanks :) whitneyhess mod: https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/11/23/so-you-wanna-be-a-user-experience-designer-step-2-guiding-principles/ laurapeterson: cool :) thetristan: It seemed easyh... as soon as we started doing the whole process, the clients were buying in easier thetristan: and their customers loved the outcomes laurapeterson: And when can you actually call yourself a UXdesigner if you don't have a specific degree? laurapeterson: :O sandblasta: music! mortvia: Former librarian here :) Matt Moore: read any good UX books lately that you'd recommend to any of us? theredheadsaid: journalist/techwriter here! laurapeterson: thanks! satnik: How many persons do you usually use for your usability test on your projects? whitneyhess mod: https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2008/07/19/ux-bookshelf/ theredheadsaid: New Riders consistently putsout the best UX/UI/Design books out there Matt Moore: thanks guys! mortvia: Rosenfeld Media whitneyhess mod: https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/06/30/so-you-wanna-be-a-user-experience-designer-step-1-resources/ whitneyhess mod: http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/ Matt Moore: hah laurapeterson: do you agree that 5 is enough? laurapeterson: :D satnik: thanks!! gabimoore: gotta go, thanks for another awesome whit hour sandblasta: who are a couple UX designers whose work you especially admire? sandblasta: knowing that you don't have to name them all! sandblasta: :) whitneyhess mod: Todd Zaki Warfel whitneyhess mod: Stephen Anderson whitneyhess mod: http://getmentalnotes.com/ Matt Moore: he spoke at SXSW and was phenomenal sandblasta: cooliosis mitosis theredheadsaid: What UX issue is on your mind right now? thetristan: Thanks Whitney! mortvia: Thanks, Whitney! karolmunoz: Thank ya! luis2048: Thank you for sharing your time with us. laurapeterson: very cool theredheadsaid: great show! I am definitely tuning in next week! Traci: thanks Whitney. satnik: thank you, Whitney! Matt Moore: thank whitney! Matt Moore: thanks whitneyhess mod: oh sorry C, i just missed your question! whitneyhess mod: i'm gonna have to say the research-based vs. intuitiion-based design has been coming up in conversation a lot lately theredheadsaid: OOOH i would LOVE to read/talk about that! whitneyhess mod: i think you know which camp i'm in theredheadsaid: ha, and I"m in the other camp! whitneyhess mod: but it's definitely a great topic, and something i plan to explore more fully whitneyhess mod: thanks for joining everyone, see you next week! theredheadsaid: actually, I think if you are a good sort of mind-reader intuitive UX person, you can get most of the way there, but you still need input from user base

JOIN ME NEXT WEEK

Monday, September 20, 10-11pm Eastern Time at http://www.livestream.com/whithour, and bring your questions!

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