Sketching for Interaction Design: A Workshop in NC in June

What: Sketching for Interaction Design

When: A full-day workshop: 9am – 5pm | Wednesday 6/24/09

Where: Council for Entrepreneurial Development in RTP

How: Capacity is limited — Register online now to reserve your spot!

Intended Audience
The course is geared towards people who are practicing interaction
design and other user experience professionals, but can be beneficial
for anyone who is trying to apply core design thinking methods into
their personal and business practices. No previous experience with
drawing or sketching is required.

About the Workshop
Are you looking for new ways to bring design thinking and design
practice into your daily practice as a user experience professional?
Do you want to learn how great designers of all types get to that
“new” idea without having to wait for divine inspiration? Do you think
that “sketching” is only a tool left to those who have been formally
trained to draw?

“Sketching for Interaction Design” is a 1-day seminar and workshop
created to teach people what sketching really is all about, why it is
powerful and how you can bring it into your daily practice as a User
Experience Professional. In this class you’ll learn how the great
organizations of design and innovation use sketching in their daily
practice. You will also gain practice in sketching and see why it is a
distinctive tool from prototyping geared more towards idea generation
than for testing and communication. It is both a tool for personal
use, and a tool for group collaboration.

The course will contain these units:
* Defining sketching as something similar to but different from prototyping
* Placing sketching in the context of a larger design process
* General practice using drawing as a communication tool
* Class project working in teams
* Communicating concepts in interaction design
* Review period of team work
* Take away lessons, and next steps for people wanting to apply
sketching to their practice

The course is geared towards people who are practicing interaction
design and other user experience professionals, but can be beneficial
for anyone who is trying to apply core design thinking methods into
their personal and business practices. No previous experience with
drawing or sketching is required.

About the Speaker
David Malouf is currently a Professor of Interaction Design in the Industrial Design Department of the Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD). Before taking this position, David was a Sr. Interaction Design for Motorola Enterprise Mobility where he designed software, webware, and hardware interactions and interfaces. Motorola was the last in a 15-year journey of practicing interaction design, information architecture, UI design, project management and other roles and positions working almost exclusively with thin client technologies.

David is also one of the primary founders and the first Vice President of the Interaction Design Association (IxDA). David’s passion for evangelizing and teaching interaction design, came to a climax in 2008 when he co-chaired the first Interactions conference, Interaction 08 | Savannah.

Thom Haller’s IA Course

Reposting this from the DC-IA email newsletter-

Thom Haller’s 10-week Information Architecture class at the USDA
Graduate School starts on Tuesday, April 21. It’s an in-depth
introduction to IA and the user experience that’s tailored to the
specific needs and interests of the class. The class offers lots of
guest speakers and a hands-on class project that will help a worthy
organization to improve its Web presence. The class also is a great
opportunity for networking, loads of fun, and a huge bargain.

But is it just fun fun fun? Heck, no. Here’s a testimonial from a
former student, Victoria Perry: “Since I have taken the course, I have
continued to apply the information architecture and usability analysis
skills I learned on a variety of projects. Aside from the personal
benefit, I believe that the knowledge and practical experience gained
in this class are also recognized by others (work colleagues,
potential employers, etc.). While many busy, working professionals
might be reticent to commit to more than a one-day seminar, this
multi-week course was definitely worth the investment!”

For more information or to register, see
http://www.grad.usda.gov/course_details_includes/cd_print.php?cid=COMP3308E

(NOTE — although the online description says the class starts on
April 14, it really begins a week later.)