#ladiesthatux

[melika97]

Keeping my skills fresh with whiteboard challenges at the ATL Ladies that UX meetup! 

[elevatorupcompany]

Ladies That UX + EU

In case you missed it

Last week the lovely Ladies (and gentlemen) That UX hosted a studio crawl around Grand Rapids . Elevator Up was happy to be the first stop, at 7:50AM, at which time we were indeed crawling into the studio.

As a part of the studio tour, we walked through of a project done here at Elevator Up. We chose Baker Book Store as a prime example of work we’re passionate about doing. Key artifacts built together by the Elevator Up and Baker team were hung to tell the story of our process. Everything from user personas to in-store workflows and wireframes to designs. We gave a rapid presentation on the project and left time at the end for people to take a closer look. We also encouraged attendees to write their questions on sticky notes to be answered back.

Now, reporting back on those questions: asked and answered.

Plans to test prototype As it can happen—sometimes things don’t get to be done at the level you want. We would normally set up the wireframes in InVision and get a few people from our core audience to run a few tasks but alas we took a simpler route. We did some visual testing by doing walk throughs of the wires with a few key people throughout the project.

Will there be a mobile version? Yes! All our projects include responsive design. We did wires for tablet and mobile views but didn’t throw them on the wall. This is good feedback—we should’ve put them up! After we have some initial design concepts we prefer to “design in browser” which means the designer and front end developer will look at the site in a browser and make decisions on how to handle different sizes and situations that come to life.

Was the retail store flow map made from observations or perceived experiences through users? Observations. We spent (and continue to spend) a LOT of time with our external team members (the client) at their physical store. This gives us first hand experience at how things work currently, and how we can introduce positive change to those processes.

Possibility to import favorites/saved from Amazon or other 3rd parties? This is a neat idea. It’s not scoped for Phase 1 of our project, but we’re certainly building a decent list of features for future phases. Watching site analytics and recorded user sessions will guide us to features that users don’t even know they want yet. This may be one! 

Thanks to all that joined in on the crawl, it was a pleasure having fresh faces in the studio and crawling with you all after! And as always a big thanks to LTUX for including EU on the tour and all you do for our community. 

~EU team

[retrospectivejcboi]

09•08 DFUX: Designing the Fillennial User Experience #UX #UserExperience #LadiesThatUX (at Acceler8 Coworking)

[bidlanpro]

4 Ladies That UX Share Their Wisdom at Girl Develop It Career Panel

Last Tuesday Girl Develop It and Ladies that UX Durham jointly hosted a fantastic UX Career Panel. Industry professionals, novices and those of us who are intrigued, yet a little intimidated by the world of UX enjoyed an informative discussion led by four very knowledgeable women who are presently doing very exciting work in the in UX space.

The discussion began with each lady introducing herself, explaining her role as a UX professional in her company, how she got there, and what her typical workday looks like.

It was interesting to note that each of these women followed a unique path to their present careers. Susan Tacker started off in journalism and worked as a technical writer for more than a decade before she moved into the UX world. Rachel Daniel and Heather Young both spent time as visual designers. And Wren Lanier is a self-taught web designer. What was evident in all these ladies is their passion for creating better products through the integration of user-centered design. As Tacker stated, “We make a difference…it’s not user centered design if you’re not talking to users”.

The panel answered audience questions ranging from, agile usability testing, A/B testing and the lean UX process, to figuring out who your usability stakeholders are, what project managers can do to better facilitate the UX testing process and how someone who is interested in a career in UX can get started.

Daniel and Lanier both suggested a proactive and hands-on approach for those who are new to UX. That includes learning about the various disciplines (interaction design, content strategy, information architecture, etc) within UX, understanding how they work together, deciding which role is best for you “what floats your boat” as Daniel put it, and formulating your own UX process.

Lanier suggested participating in a startup weekend. The benefits of which include working on a project that involves real world challenges you can add to your portfolio and showcase to prospective employers.

Young encouraged the audience to follow the thought leaders in the industry via blogs, twitter and other social media platforms.

The panel also lent their insights into the challenges women in technology face. The overriding consensus was, women in technology and especially those in a disruptive field like UX have to learn to find their voice and define who they personally and professionally. Sometimes that means realizing that you have a voice and you can speak up when you feel it is necessary. Daniel even left a company, in part, because the cultural fit just wasn’t there.

Friction is inevitable. But, if you know who you are and understand your process you will be better equipped to, according to Young, “articulate your ideas in a meaningful way…and gain the following and respect of your peers.”

Tacker advised the audience to find other women in their field who can be of support and encouragement. Organizations like Girl Develop It and Ladies that UX are doing a great job in this area.

Finally, the panel commented on their thoughts about the future of UX. Put simply, as companies realize the value of user centered design, UX will continue to branch out into every part of an organization.

There definitely is a place at the table for UX as we steadily move towards the Internet of things. So ladies, grab a seat and let’s get to work!

[rockpooldigitalux]

Ladies that UX SW - First Meet Up!

Yesterday was the first ever Ladies that UX SW meet up and it was awesome! We've got a bunch of things to feedback on and share, so stay tuned. Please get in touch if you want us to put you on our mailing list for updates (email: sw  "at"  ladiesthatux.com).

If you came along - thank you for making it so much fun.

If you didn't make it - don't worry - we'll have another meet up soon!