Talk:
UX sells, but not by itself
Thursday
A deep exploration on the mechanism of selling UX.
Designing a user experience is only half the job. The other half is responding to a brief (whether internal or external) by defining the scope and selling the project. In many organizations, our work is defined by project managers and sold by sales people. But shouldn't we be responsible for defining our work? And shouldn't we be as good at selling it as the sales people?
In this presentation, we want to share our thoughts about - and experiences with - selling UX work. We want to help you:
- Identify who you are selling to and how to flex your selling style
- Pick the right content and structure for your proposal
- Apply the same tricks that salespeople use to be successful
Workshop:
Do The Right Thing
Thursday
Learn how to make your design accepted by building a better understanding of the design process and the people you will interact with.
People in the field of User Experience are taught that having empathy for the end-user is the holy grail. We believe that, by studying the way your fellow project team members work, what their needs are, and what & how they deliver, you can develop another type of empathy, one that may prove to be more important for business success and results in a delightful work environment.
In the first half of this workshop, we want to walk you through the design process and the people you will meet on the way, mostly from outside of your design team's environment. We will show how your skills and contributions allow you to influence their work and, indirectly, the resulting end-user experience.
Peter will explain that documenting your organization's design process allows you to sell your work better, to train new team members easier, to maintain a consistent vocabulary for your team, and to measure and improve your team’s effectiveness.
Activities in this part will include sketching organizational charts and design process diagrams to identify the relevant people to influence, as well as specifying input and deliverables that will help your organization to identify, design and build successful user experiences. The end-result is a plan to improve your process.
In the second half, we will focus on how to successfully communicate your contributions to different stakeholders during the design process.
Birgit will explain the concept of communication styles, and show you how to identify your own style and that of co-workers. She will teach you how to adapt your own style to others to ensure you will be heard during a project, and help you to overcome conflicts.
Activities in this part will include discussing a typical work-related communication problem; finding a solution and gaining a common ground; a self evaluation exercise; applying the communication styles on the earlier introduced problem and finding more effective ways to solve this (and other) challenges.
We believe that by paying attention to these two aspects, process and people, you will develop that other kind of empathy, the kind that makes you a better participant in the design process, helps you communicate your designs better, while enjoying your work more. It makes you do the right thing.
Who is this workshop for?
User Experience designers, of course, as well as people in the roles around the design process: from user researchers, via project managers and front-end developers, to account managers and heads of design departments.The focus of this workshop is on learning how to determine the best design process for your team and the importance of communication that is needed to successfully work within a team environment.
What will you learn?
- Understand the roles involved in the design process
- Document your work process
- Define your team's deliverables
- Communicate your process
- Communication style theories
- Understand your own communication style and that of co-workers
- Methods to flex your style to others
- Become aware of - and overcome - communication pain-points in the design process
Prior knowledge from participants:
It helps if participants have thought about their design process and the way they communicate before but, more importantly, they should have some experience designing in different teams and for different internal or external clients.
Birgit Geiberger
Digital Strategy Director
Osudio
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Being an experienced UX designer herself, Birgit is passionate about improving (design) communication, both within teams and with clients. .
Birgit is a Digital Strategy Director at oSudio.
Previously, she worked as a Design Manager and Visual & Interaction Designer, and has worked for clients such as Olympus Europ e, the EDEKA Group, ZEIT Online, Axel Springer Verlag, Monster Global, The Seattle Times and Toyota Europe. Birgit is IxDA's Regional Coordinator for Europe & Africa and founder and local leader of the IxDA Hamburg chapter.
Peter Boersma
Interaction Design Director
Blast Radius
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Experienced UX practitioner, design process freak, blogger, beer lover, lover, dad.
Peter is the Interaction Design Director at Blast Radius. He studied computer science and ergonomics, and has been working in the UX field since 1995 for the agencies Satama, EzGov, User Intelligence, Info.nl and Adaptive Path, and clients such ABN Amro, the UK Inland Revenue, Shutterstock and Nokia. He has acted as Director of the Information Architecture Institute, and was program chair of the The Web and Beyond conferences. Self-proclaimed beer lover, he is the host of the Amsterdam UX Cocktail Hours.
