Jason Kunesh

Design Director, City of Chicago

Jason Kunesh finds simple solutions for gnarly problems wherever people meet technology.

He is the Design Director of the City of Chicago, helping ensure the city’s products and services work well for all Chicagoans. Jason is a cofounder of PublicGood.com, and a veteran of the Obama for America 2012 tech team, Orbitz, Groupon and other startups. He’s taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and DePaul University.

He’s spoken at companies including Google, Intuit, and Microsoft and at conferences like SXSW, UX Week, BAYCHI, Web Visions and more. His work has been featured in the New York Times, the Atlantic Monthly, BusinessWeek, TIME, Forbes, Crain’s, the Chicago Tribune and others.

For more, keep up with Jason at jdkunesh.com or on Twitter as @jdkunesh.

Russ Unger

User Experience Designer & Researcher, Author, & Speaker

Russ Unger is an Experience Design Director in Chicago where he leads teams and projects in design and research. He is co-author of the book “A Project Guide to UX Design,” “Designing the Conversation,” and the forthcoming Speaker Camp for Peachpit Press (Voices That Matter). Russ is also working on a book on guerrilla design and research methods that is due out well, sometime.

Russ is also co-founder of Chicago Camps, which hosts low-cost, high-value technology events in the Chicago area, and he is also on the Advisory Board for the Department of Web Design and Development at Harrington College of Design. Russ has 2 daughters who both draw better than he does and are currently beginning to surpass his limited abilities in coding.

For more, keep up with Russ at userglue.com or on Twitter as @russu.

Brandon Satrom

Director of Product Management, Telerik

Brandon Satrom is the Director of Product Management for Telerik, the world’s greatest developer tools company. An unabashed lover of the open web, Brandon loves to talk about HTML, JavaScript, CSS, open source and whatever new shiny tool or technology has distracted him from that other thing he was working on. Brandon has spoken at national, international and online events, and he loves hanging out with and learning from passionate designers and developers. He is the author of two books, the latest being “Building Polyfills” from O’Reilly. Brandon lives in Austin, TX with his wife, Sarah, and three sons, Benjamin, Jack and Matthew.

For more, keep up with Brandon on Twitter as @BrandonSatrom.

Goodbye Specs, Hello Prototypes

As a developer, architect and now Product Manager, I’ve spent most of my career trying to turn software ideas into reality. For many years, I worked on teams that adhered to the Way of the Functional Spec, an ancient practice whereby a product leader spends countless hours producing a document that uses text to describe the future state of software, only to see that document become useless by the time the first line of code is written.

Over the years, I’ve experimented with all of the agile and Product Management techniques designed to help drive down uncertainty in software and foster clear, high-fidelity collaboration between product leaders, designers and engineers. Some have been useful, others not.

About two years ago, a few product teams at my current company began toying with the idea of replacing our existing spec work with prototyping. Instead of working with text-based docs, a PM would work with an Interaction Design to create an interactive piece of software that conveys the vision for a product or feature.

This was one of the best decisions we ever made. High-fidelity prototyping is now a critical component of our product workflow, and we’ve become addicted to using these assets for collaborating with customers and internal teams alike.

In this session, I’ll will share how one software company abandoned functional specs and PRDs for the green pastures of prototyping. Using a case study format, I’ll share challenges we overcame, victories we experienced and tips for embedding a full-on Prototyping workflow in any software organization.

Jon Hadden

Founder & Design Director, NiceUX

Jon Hadden is the founder of NiceUX, a user experience design and development consultancy in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In his 12 years of designing, coding, speaking, and writing, Jon has produced usable products and services for millions across the globe. He’s a volunteer with Boxes and Arrows, guest speaker with the University of Minnesota Design program, and has been lucky enough to have worked with Happy Cog, Yahoo!, and space150.

For more, keep up with Jon at niceux.com or on Twitter as @niceux.

Communication with Flexible Documentation

The fundamental process we follow of how we understand design problems, users, and content hasn’t changed much, but the documentation we deliver is a bit in flux. We’re experts in the field of solving problems with design in a digital world. However, device fragmentation forces us to think through flexible experiences with portable content and in turn, to rethink how we communicate to our clients throughout the process.

In this session, you will learn proven documentation, or better yet communication techniques using simple HTML and PHP to get us to a living breathing prototype, earlier in the process. All the while helping us as communicate flexible design decisions to both clients and team members.

Kamaria Campbell

User Experience Consultant, IBM

Kamaria Campbell is a User Experience consultant for IBM Interactive Experience and Mobile. She began her career as a Usability Auditor at ForeSee, a customer experience analytics firm. There, she led multiple research projects that leveraged design principles to identify best practices for social media accounts and feeds, mobile app design, and communicating product availability on e-commerce websites. In her current work, she primarily focuses on mobile experience design, research, and analysis. To date, she has conducted over 100 heuristic evaluations spanning web, mobile, and social experiences in a range of industries. Kamaria holds a master’s degree in Information with a specialization in Human Computer Interaction from the University of Michigan School of Information.

For more, keep up with Kamaria on Twitter as @kaccampbell.

Garbage In, Garbage Out: Optimizing Design Inputs for Successful Prototypes

We’ve all heard the phrase “Garbage in, Garbage out”. The quality of a product or service is often linked to the quality of the underlying components. When it comes to prototypes, the truth is that much of the important work happens before we ever create a prototype artifact. This may include brainstorm sessions, creating requirements documents, analyzing an existing system, etc. More often than not, the effectiveness of the prototype is linked to how effectively these different aspects are managed in the pre-design process. Whether you are a designer, business representative, project manager or developer, this session will provide you with effective techniques for managing design inputs to create better prototypes.

Will Hacker

Interaction Design Manager, Cars.com

Will Hacker is a Manager of Interaction Design at Cars.com, where he leads a team responsible for experience design and usability for a portfolio of consumer-facing automotive shopping, research, and financing products. He is also the author of Mobile Prototyping with Axure 7, and his work has appeared in Boxes and Arrows, Mobile Commerce Daily, Smashing Magazine, UX Booth, and UX Magazine. Will is a frequent speaker at design events in Chicago.

For more, keep up with Will at willhacker.net or on Twitter as @willhacker.

Dodging Speed Bumps When You Take Your Prototype on the Road

Once that prototype leaves the safe confines of your office it could encounter slow network connections, devices that won’t behave as expected, and corporate firewalls that are ready to shut you down. So you’ll have to be prepared to improvise on the fly, but will be ready with the real world examples covered in this look at prototyping for the road. Strap yourself in, it’s going to be a fun and enlightening ride.

Because after you’ve created that perfect prototype, covered all the anticipated use cases, fixed all the bugs so that it works as it’s expected to, and considered all of the web browsers and mobile devices you have to deal with–you’re still not done! We’ll uncover why and how to better prepare yourself for the real world just outside your door.

Adam Tramposh

Sr. User Experience Manager, Manifest Digital

Adam Tramposh is an Interaction Designer at Manifest Digital specializing in mobile product innovation, design and consulting. He is an advocate for visual communication, a self-described “Fandroid” and Google product enthusiast.

For more, keep up with Adam on Twitter as @formal_gs.

Prototyping Glassware

Google Glass is still very much a prototype–adoption hasn’t quite hit critical mass, attrition is high, and public reception is lukewarm at best. Still, there’s a unique value proposition in the head-mounted form factor. In this talk, I’ll relate insights from the bizarre social experiment that is Glass “Exploration,” and my efforts to design a Glassware application. Glassware design principles, structure, & UI patterns will be addressed. Resources, pattern libraries and case studies will also be shared.

Brett Schilke

Chief Instigator, IDEAco

Brett Schilke is an education designer, storyteller, and self-proclaimed man-of-making-things-happen. His work as an educator, researcher, and community organizer has taken him to eight countries across three continents, including a decade in US-Russian citizen diplomacy and educational development and three years leading community impact initiatives for a private university in Siberia. Brett is now the co-founder and “Chief Instigator” of IDEAco, a Chicago-based nonprofit working to empower communities of Changemakers around the world.

For more, keep up with Brett at brettschilke.com or on Twitter as @brettschilke.

3D Printing to Save the World: Kids Prototype to Solve Global Problems

The City X Project is an international edtech curriculum that uses 3D printing and the design process to turn kids into Changemakers tackling world problems. It is the largest program of IDEAco, a Chicago-based nonprofit building learning experiences that fuse design thinking and technology around the world.

Accessed by more than 500 teachers across 50+ countries since its release in April 2014, the City X Project is a globally-tested open education resource that was developed through 15 months of rapid-fire prototyping and testing–all said, 17 iterations in five countries across three continents and four languages. Not only was the City X Project itself prototyped, but kids in the workshop also learn about the value of failing, iterating, and prototype their ideas as they use the design process to create hypothetical inventions that can tackle challenges we face as a society.

I will share our experience prototyping the workshop around the world (from the mountains of Lebanon to the tundra of remote Alaska), tell the story of a special kid whose City X prototyping will soon be literally “out of this world”, and share some of the best kid-designed prototypes that might just one day change our future.

Brittanie Crain

Interaction Designer, Manifest Digital

Brittanie is an Axure-pro and part of the User Experience team at Manifest Digital. She has predominantly worked with small inter-disciplinary teams on rapid projects for companies such as AT&T, Bloomberg, and the San Francisco Giants. She is obsessed with solving process road bumps due to her experience navigating the chaos of fast-paced and small staffed projects.

For more, keep up with Brittanie on Twitter as @brittanielynn.

Team Work: Axure for Small Teams Axure is for Wireframing Only!—NOT!

We all know Axure is great for wire-framing and prototyping but it can also be the foundation for successful team work. Axure is a pretty robust tool that can benefit all members of your team by improving communication, documentation, and the final product without the cost of time that is so critical for small teams. In this presentation you will learn how Axure can be leveraged for your project partners in Business, Marketing & Content, Visual Design, and Development & Planning.

Jonathan Ozeran

VP Product, Zest Health

Jonathan is a product designer, software engineer, team builder and startup evangelist who enjoys contributing to the growth of the Chicago and Detroit startup communities.

In his current role, Jonathan serves as VP, Product at Zest Health, a Chicago-based start-up that is reinventing the healthcare experience for its members via mHealth innovation. Backed by Lightbank and 7wire Ventures, Zest’s dual focus on healthcare innovation and consumerism is deeply engrained in the company’s DNA. Additionally, he is an Adjunct Lecturer at Northwestern University where he teaches mobile application design and prototyping and also serves as Technical Director and Co-Founder at WÜF (formerly Ridogulous Labs).

For more, keep up with Jonathan on Twitter as @jozeran.

The Tail of a Wireless Dog Collar: Building a Hardware Product with a Globally Dispersed Team

This is the tale of a globally distributed team of individuals who came together to build a product for their dogs in 2013 without ever having been in the same room together. Month by month, the team started to grow and now includes individuals from the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Venezuela and Pakistan, all working to bring the product to life and into the marketplace of wearable dog collars.

A few of the experiences to be shared with the audience will include how team member initiatives and responsibilities have been divvied up, approaches to making routine team communication work and insights into assembling iterative hardware and mobile software prototypes. Additionally, we’ll share some of our progress that was presented recently at the Boomtown Accelerator’s Demo Day in Boulder, Colorado.

Ben Lister

Senior UI Designer, Sprout Social

Ben built his first website, a Nirvana fan page, in the late 90’s (on GeoCities) and hasn’t looked back since. He works at Sprout Social where he designs, prototypes and builds interfaces relied on daily by social media teams at many of the World’s leading brands and agencies. Ben is an avid White Sox, Sports Car, Running, Cooking and Craft Beer enthusiast and lives in Chicago with his wife Erin and a rambunctious Whippet named Devo.

For more, keep up with Ben at benlister.net or on Twitter as @benclister.

Designing for Iteration: How we Build Prototypes at Sprout Social

Four years ago I left the world of design agencies behind and joined an early stage, fast growing Startup as the first UX Designer. For me, the shift in paradigm from client to product work has been equal parts humbling and enlightening. As our product has evolved and the team has grown, the ability to iterate quickly has been at the heart of our success. From scrappy, low fidelity animated gifs to production ready features, I will explore the world of prototyping at Sprout Social.

Marina Lin

User Experience Architect, Cars.com

Marina Lin is a Senior Interaction Designer for Mobile Apps at Cars.com where she uses Axure for prototyping Android and iOS apps. She holds a Master’s in Information Architecture from the Illinois Institute of Technology. She has recently contributed a chapter to the textbook “Negotiating Cultural Encounters: Narrating Intercultural Engineering and Technical Communication.” Her work has also appeared in Boxes and Arrows, Smashing Magazine, User Experience Magazine, and Business Communication Quarterly.

Mixing Metaphors: Using a Variety of Research Methods to Solve a Problem

From contextual inquiry, to un-moderated remote usability testing, to in-lab participatory design sessions you have many methodologies and stages of prototypes at your disposal. Learn how to use prototyping effectively to aid research and to form a comprehensive research strategy for your projects.

Just like the evolution of a design, your research strategy needs to evolve as you move from concept to end-result. This talk explores a case study showing where the research strategy involved multiple techniques and stages of prototyping new features for Android and iPhone apps.

Nicole Maynard

Head of User Experience, Hyatt

Nicole Maynard is the Head of User Experience at Hyatt leading a team of researchers, interaction and visual designers, creating solutions that elevate Hyatt’s digital footprint and enhance the guest experience. She has taken the helm as president of the Chicago chapter of UXPA (User Experience Professionals Association).

Nicole is a versatile UX professional; she has a foundation in graphic, information and interaction design and has been performing user research well before realizing it was a profession. She has always found the inner workings of our minds to be a compelling subject of study. Her work has been published nationally and has won various design awards. If you want to get her chatting, ask about her talking budgie or her commitment to health and wellness.

For more, keep up with Nicole on Twitter as @punkynixter.

Prototype Testing: Working Smarter Not Harder

Usability testing can be very demanding. “Ain’t nobody got time for that!” Especially in the fast paced development world we work in. We need to adapt our methods to learn how users respond to our prototypes without the design or team taking a hit.

Lessons from the field have taught me that testing prototypes requires us to take a fresh look at usability testing. Learn how to remain flexible while testing your prototype to ensure you get the most out of your time and the team by pruning your process, being ready to change on the fly and prepping reports without losing sleep.

Before you know it, your project team will be hooked and asking you to schedule more tests.

Ross Belmont

Chief Experience Designer, Appiphony

Ross Belmont gave up a life of code to build the design practice at Appiphony, a Chicago-based consultancy focused on Salesforce.com apps.

For more, keep up with Ross at rossbelmont.com or on Twitter as @rossbelmont.

Prototyping Pitfalls

In this session, you’ll learn what goes wrong when you swap out wireframes and comps for prototypes. Prototypes bring benefits to designers, but introducing them into your process affects everyone else on the team.

Hear our stories of what it’s been like to trade Photoshop for a text editor, the problems we had in doing so, and how we addressed them.