Mock Interviews For Job Seeking UX Professionals
Posted: March 16, 2023 Filed under: events Leave a comment
An evening of fast-paced fun and practice for job seekers and those who want to polish their interviewing skills.
Are you a job seeker looking to improve your interviewing skills? Or perhaps you want to polish your skills and prepare for your next job opportunity? Join us for an evening of fast-paced fun and practice to help you ace your next interview at Shift Retail Labs on VCU campus!
Our event will feature a series of mock interviews, where you’ll have a chance to practice answering common interview questions and receive feedback on your performance. You’ll have the opportunity to walk your interviewer through work in your portfolio or on your resume. The evening’s activities are designed to help you think on your feet, showcase your strengths, and overcome any interview jitters.
Led by your fearless industry professionals from the Richmond Design Group, this event is the perfect opportunity to get hands-on practice in a supportive and engaging environment. You’ll leave with a better understanding of your strengths and opportunities as an interviewee, and actionable tips to help you improve your performance in future interviews.
Whether you’re a recent graduate, a seasoned professional, or somewhere in between, this event is open to anyone who wants to build their confidence and ace their next job interview. Don’t miss this chance to have fun, learn, and connect with other job seekers in a dynamic and supportive environment!
Space in this hands-on, interactive workshop is extremely limited. Reserve your spot today before there are no spots left!
02.25.23: In-person workshop – Practicing Service Design at the Science Museum of Virginia
Posted: February 12, 2023 Filed under: events Comments Off on 02.25.23: In-person workshop – Practicing Service Design at the Science Museum of Virginia
Richmond Design Group connects, inspires, celebrates, and amplifies the designers of today and tomorrow in the Richmond area.
In-person Workshop
Get out your lab coats and dust off your clipboards! This month, we’re inviting you along with us to conduct a heuristic analysis of the service experience at the Science Museum of Virginia.
Heuristics offer fast, practical ways to solve problems or make decisions. As UX professionals, we use heuristic evaluations to systematically determine a design’s or a product’s usability. But how might your digital skills play out in the real world? And what does this have to do with the Science Museum of Virginia? Meet up with us at the museum and find out!
We’ll start at 1pm, talking about heuristic analysis and how to map it to a brick and mortar experience. Then we’ll set you loose in the museum with some thought starters – you can work on your own or with a group to discover what’s working well and where some experience gaps might exist. After our review, we’ll come back together to discuss our findings and recommendations. Finally, we’ll cap off the afternoon with a social meet & greet down the street at River City Roll.
Note: Reserving a space in the workshop is free, but gaining entry to the Science Museum is not.
Space in this hands-on, interactive workshop is extremely limited. Don’t forget to reserve your spot (free on Eventbrite) and purchase your Science Museum ticket for entry ($16 per person, with discounts for educators, or free for museum members)
RSVP so we know you’ll be there, then purchase admission to the Science Museum for Feb 25, 2023
10.28.22: Panel Discussion – Can Teamwork Really Make the Dream Work?
Posted: October 26, 2022 Filed under: events Comments Off on 10.28.22: Panel Discussion – Can Teamwork Really Make the Dream Work?
Richmond Design Group connects, inspires, celebrates, and amplifies the designers of today and tomorrow in the Richmond area.
Panel Discussion
This month, we’ve invited a panel of teammates from Simple Thread to share their knowledge as they discover, define, design, and develop digital experiences for their clients. Learn all the secrets of how this close-knit team works together from Research to Deployment on a variety of B2B and B2C projects. We’ll dig into things like: managing client expectations, keeping your assets organized, handoff from team to team and agency to client, and more!
Space is limited so don’t forget to grab your ticket!
Panelists
Stacey Warthen, Principal UX Designer, Simple Thread
Bio: Stacey has been crafting effective and intuitive experiences as a UX designer for 10+ years, working with a variety of clients and business verticals, from startups to enterprise businesses. She is particularly passionate about user research and creating inclusive, collaborative environments in the design and tech world.
Derek Heilmann, Senior UI/UX Designer, Simple Thread
Bio: Derek is a VCU grad with over 10 years of design experience at a variety of agencies and companies. He’s been working at Simple Thread for the last 4 years as the senior UI/UX designer managing design systems, interfaces and the overall user experience on a wide range of both B2B and B2C products.
Austin Carr, Senior Software Engineer, Simple Thread
Bio: 50% Designer, 50% Developer, 100% Hunk. Austin has worked professionally for 9 years making everything from library marketing websites to cyber security web apps. He loves harnessing the web to create delightful experiences that make people’s lives easier.
Coming 10.11.22: Social Hour at Ardent Craft Ales
Posted: September 30, 2022 Filed under: events Comments Off on Coming 10.11.22: Social Hour at Ardent Craft Ales
Hey you! Richmond Design Group is officially back in session! Our first in-person meetup of the year takes place October 11 at Ardent Craft Ales from 5-7pm. Reconnect with old friends and make some new ones as we get together for this informal meet & greet social.
Get to know our Board for 2022-23, and join us as we kick off a season of programs to connect, inspire, celebrate, and amplify the designers of today and tomorrow in the Richmond area. Don’t forget to grab a ticket!
UX Camp RVA – Oct 26
Posted: September 9, 2019 Filed under: conferences, events, panel discussion, presentations, training | Tags: content strategy, design, design thinking, front-end development, IXD, Product Design, Product Strategy, UX 1 CommentSAVE THE DATE + CALL FOR SPEAKERS!
Richmond UX and Ladies who UX are combining forces to bring you a new event.
What is it?
This is an event where local designers come together and share their experiences to help each other become better together. The goal is to have designers of different experience levels come together and teach and learn from each other in 6 open sessions throughout the morning.
Who can attend?
Any of the talented designers in Richmond who have a concept for a talk, workshop, panel discussion or any other type of session that can help other designers get better. Come share your experiences with the community! Anyone who wants to learn more about UX, Design Thinking, IXD, Product or Design Strategy, Content Strategy, Front-End Development should attend.
When and where is it?
This is a half day crowdsourced event at VCU Brandcenter on Saturday, October 26th from 9AM-12PM.
The cost is $20
Proceeds will benefit a local charity.
World IA Day Recap
Posted: March 8, 2019 Filed under: events Comments Off on World IA Day RecapThank you all who came out to join us for World IA at VCU Brandcenter. The topic of the day was “Design for Difference” and we definitely got some difference in perspective and experiences that were shared. It was an amazing day full of thought-provoking speakers and panelists. As usual, we also had some lively discussion and got lot’s of divergent views and opinions on the table.
Kim Rees blew our minds from the outset talking about the influence of Data, Machine Learning and AI on design.
Our panel discussion, moderated by Erin White brought up some great points about the potential implications of not considering a diverse audience when you are designing.
Thanks again to Lisa Dance, Laura Turner Reid, and Scott Nixon for such a great discussion.
After lunch, we resumed with a really insightful look into designing a clinical research trial in Africa by Meghna Murali. Learning how to iterate a study around cultural norms very different than yours.
Then Samantha Willis introduced us to #UnmaskingRVA and how we need to continue to unmask the pervasive prejudices that color our perspectives.
Then Zach Bryant helped us to consider both sides of a perspective when making our design decisions.
Finally, our closing keynote speaker Heather Winkle inspired us with her journey of achieving a deeper level of personal and professional fulfillment by “zooming out” to help take stock of where she was and where she wanted to be.
World IA Day in RVA!
Posted: January 30, 2019 Filed under: events Comments Off on World IA Day in RVA!It’s official! Richmond VA is going to be a host city for World IA Day in 2019.
- What is World IA Day? It is a one-day, global festival of all things IA (Information Architecture), UX, Interaction Design, Design Strategy, User Research and related disciplines. Host cities around the world all have events on the same day.
- When is it? Saturday, February 23 from 9-4:30 PM
- Where will it be? It will be hosted at the VCU Brandcenter
103 S Jefferson St, Richmond, VA 23284 - Who should come?: Anyone interested in learning how design can change the world.
- Is there a theme?: Design for Difference.
From their website:
“As designers, we are responsible for creating worlds of experiences, environments, services, and systems that impact millions of people – with lasting impacts. While we don’t have a Hippocratic Oath, it’s important for us to follow a similar goal to “do good” and “do not harm.” It is our responsibility as IA’s to consider the consequences and impact our design decisions have on humanity and society as a whole.
Research is a foundational step in the design process. It ensures that we understand and account for diverse user needs within communities, both in our own domains and globally.”
Learn more here: (https://www.worldiaday.org/2019)
Speakers and Panelists:
Kim Rees – Head of Data Experience Design, Capital One
Samantha Willis – Freelance Journalist
Zach Bryant – Creative Director, Journey Group
Meghna Murali – Clinical Research Coordinator, Children’s National Health System
Andrew Levasseur – Experience Design Chair, VCU Brandcenter
Lisa Dance – UX Analyst, Genworth
Laura Turner Reid – User Research Director, ICF Olson
Scott Nixon – Manager of AI Systems Design, Capital One
Erin White – Head of Digital Engagement, VCU Libraries
Heather Winkle – VP of Card Design, Capital One
Tickets:
Go to our event page to register and save your spot!
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/world-ia-day-design-for-difference-tickets-54659873152
Partners:
Our Sponsors:
January Lightning Talks!
Posted: January 28, 2019 Filed under: events Comments Off on January Lightning Talks!Thanks to everyone who came out to ICF Next last week for our January Lightning Talks with Ladies That UX and RVA Content Strategy. We saw some incredible speakers with great topics that challenged the way we approach our design solutions now and in the future.
Also a special thanks to our Sponsor Vitamin T for providing food and to ICF Next for hosting in their new office in downtown RVA.
We’ll see you all next month for World IA Day at VCU Brandcenter.
Photos from Lightning Talk!
Posted: September 28, 2018 Filed under: events Comments Off on Photos from Lightning Talk!Thank you to everyone who made it down to CarMax’s beautiful downtown office for our September Lightning Talk. Once again, we are grateful to Ladies Who UX and RVA Content Strategy for being our partners in this ongoing series.
Look for the next event in December at ICF Olson!



















September RVA Lightning Talk
Posted: September 14, 2018 Filed under: events Comments Off on September RVA Lightning TalkWhen:
09/27/2018
5:30-7:30 PM
Where:
CarMx Shockoe
140 Virginia St.
Richmond, VA 23219
Free Tickets:
Eventbrite Here
Gear up for a great fall with another round of lightning talks from Richmond UX, Ladies that UX, and RVA Content Strategy. We’re bringing together pros from the Richmond design community to share their tips and techniques on how to succeed in a constantly evolving field.
Here are this month’s speakers:
Terry Peters | Experience Director: ICF Olson
Talk: Communicating Design
Design is a complex process composed of many smaller activities: listening, analyzing, evaluating, brainstorming, synthesizing, experimenting, composing, describing, discussing, exploring, reacting, and countless others. Documenting is not one of these activities, but engaging in any of these activities yields artifacts—diagrams, notes, sketches, lists, inventories, annotations, and larger documents—that result from the act of performing the task. At the same time, each task requires inputs, and these artifacts that come from doing design are the same things that can help feed the design process. The success of the task directly relates to the quality of the inputs and may be measured on the quality of its outputs. So how does one effectively make use of these to communicate the fruits of their labors?
Bio: Talented user experience leader with 12 years of proven experience in the development and implementation of enterprise digital strategies, user-centered research and systems design with clients such as AARP, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Chik-fil-A, Johnson Controls, Scripps Networks, and The Nature Conservancy. Experienced team leader capable of mentoring cross-functional teams and fostering relationships to transform business and design needs into valuable and usable working products.
Connect:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/terry-peters-m-s-8198b61b/
Katie Moriarty | UX Research: Snag
Talk: You Don’t Have to Be a Researcher to Do User Research
We’ll discuss the value of observational research, how to do this type of research yourself, and how to apply your learnings to your day-to-day practice. Katie will use her own experiences to illustrate how accessible observational research can be.
Bio: Katie is a User Experience Researcher at Snag. Her work focuses on helping Snag’s product development teams gain a greater understanding of hourly workers and employers so they can design and build products that solve their users true pain points. Katie has experience in conducting a wide range of qualitative research methods to uncover key insights that are both meaningful and actionable to stakeholders.
Connect:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiemoriarty/
Adarsh Ramakrishnan | Freelance Product Consultant
Talk: A Figma(nt) of Your Imagination — Streamlining your design flow using Figma
Explore how Figma can help you consolidate your entire design flow, letting you design, prototype, and spec in one platform.
Bio: Adarsh is a product consultant who specializes in strategy and design. As part of his consulting services, he has designed and built visual systems for digital products across multiple platforms. He is also teaches engineering design to students from non-technical majors through the VCU Da Vinci Center.
Connect:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adarshramakrishnan/
Website: http://adarshramakrishnan.com
Matt McGhan | Experience Designer: Singlestone
Talk: Healthy Design Systems Make Better Products
Bio: Midwest farm boy turned East Coast experience designer. Went from drawing animals, sports cards, and airplanes to designing visual experiences via VCU to non-profit to SingleStone. Lover of people and their day-to-day interactions with designed & digital things.
Connect:
Twitter: @mattigan
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-mcghan-b83bab5/
The Space
CarMax Shockoe
Located in the historic Lady Byrd Hat building in downtown Richmond, this innovation center is a hub for dynamic, bleeding-edge creative work.