Many interaction design practitioners followed organic career paths that allowed then to forgo formal design education, either because such education wasn't meaningful when they entered the field, or because they decided for good reasons to look elsewhere (HCI, Library Sciences, etc). By skipping design school they miss learning some key foundations of design practice such as criticism, theory, and the studio. They also miss a great experience to learn from experienced designers with their peers.

In this practice-based workshop, you will participate in exercises centered around core concepts in design. The workshop will help you experience, if just for a short while, what happens in a design school and how you can start filling these gaps without getting a Master of Fine Arts.

The workshop will cover four main topics:

1. Creative & Visual Thinking: Learn how to process and analyze creativity from the designer's perspective – moving first from imagination, then towards analysis.
2. Art: Yup, that's right, we are going to make art. Whether that art is in pixels or construction paper, every design student has to take courses in expressive media such as paint, 3D graphics, or photography. This offers the student new processes for creativity that help them work fluidly in their medium, rather than struggling to control it.
3. Criticism & Critical Analysis: Often designers are accused of saying they like things “just because.” This happens because people they lack a shared vocabulary to discuss the work at hand. Design criticism helps students learn how to discuss design with other their clients and peers. This section will look at key concepts in theory, criticism, and analysis that are used by many designers regardless of medium.
4. The Studio: The studio is not a workshop (though it can take place in one). It is a philosophical construct that takes up both space and people's awareness. A transparent work environment, criticism and collaboration are just some of the concepts that make up a studio environment.

Learning the foundation of these four areas will not only help you improve your own practice, but also your ability to collaborate with other designers and express your designs to clients and coworkers. Join us for a one day immersion in design school!

While prototyping has become a common component of interaction design processes for building Web and desktop applications, it hasn’t yet caught on in the mobile realm. First, mobile apps are often regarded as bite-sized software, something that’s more important to launch than to get right the first time. Any major problems can just be fixed later, or so the theory goes. Second, there simply aren’t the tools out there to make it easy for designers to prototype the rich interactions characteristic of native mobile applications. Axure isn’t perfect for this either, but with the release of Version 6 it has become feasible to prototype these types of apps. Participants will be expected to have a working knowledge of how to prototype rich interactions in Axure. They will also be required to bring a laptop with Axure 6 and a mobile device that can access an external website (an iOS or Android device would be best).

This workshop will focus specifically on prototyping native mobile applications because there is very little you need to alter about how you use Axure to prototype for the mobile Web (which we will touch on). Also, it’s the gestures and animations characteristic of native mobile applications that are the most difficult things to prototype, the most useful things to test, and the functionality that’s most commonly left out of other mobile prototyping tools.

We will begin by demonstrating to participants how to run an Axure prototype on a mobile device, giving them the opportunity to try it out for themselves. We will also provide them with and introduce them to our lightweight mobile prototyping Axure framework, which will be used to complete the remaining exercises.

The main course content begins with a discussion of how to prototype typical native mobile animations, such as tap feedback, slides & fades, and animated widgets such as modal views and toggles. We will encourage participants to follow along with us as we demonstrate these techniques, but we will also give them the opportunity to complete an exercise in which they have to prototype mobile native animated interactions.

We will then discuss the many options for allowing users to trigger gestures on their prototypes. Because Axure outputs HTML, CSS and JavaScript, users will not be able to simply swipe or three-finger-drag an object. We will offer up three different strategies for triggering gestures and provide participants with the opportunity to build a gesture-triggering prototype themselves. Additionally, the mobile prototyping framework we will present them with will include the fully articulated version of one of these strategies.

Finally, we will walk through a series of common native mobile interactions, teaching participants how to prototype each one using Axure. One facilitator will demonstrate, while the other will answer questions and provide feedback to workshop participants. The session will end with a Q&A session where participants can ask to learn how to prototype other specific interactions.

User-centered design research activities produce an enormous quantity of raw data, which must be systematically and rigorously analyzed in order to extract meaning and insight. Unfortunately, these methods of analysis are poorly documented and rarely taught, and because of the pragmatic time constraints associated with working with clients, there is often no time dedicated in a statement of work to a practice of formal synthesis. As a result, raw design research data is inappropriately positioned as insight, and the value of user-centered research activities is marginalized – in fact, stakeholders may lose faith in the entire research practice, as they don’t see direct return on the investment of research activities.

Design synthesis methods can be taught, and when selectively applied, visual, diagrammatic synthesis techniques can be completed relatively quickly. During Synthesis, Designers visually explore large quantities of data in an effort to find and understand hidden relationships. These visualizations can then be used to communicate to other members of a design team, or can be used as platforms for the creation of generative sketching or model making. The action of diagramming is a way to actively produce knowledge and meaning.

This workshop will introduce various methods of Synthesis as ways to translate research into meaningful insights. Workshop participants will learn about how to manage the complexity of gathered data, and through hands-on exercises, they will apply various synthesis methods to elicit hidden meaning in gathered data.

This hands-on approach is critical for building both confidence and ability with the various synthesis methods that are discussed.

As a result of completing this workshop, attendees will:

• Understand how synthesis fits into the larger design process
• Understand the theoretical underpinnings of design synthesis as an intellectual problem solving methodology
• Be able to apply specific methods of synthesis in their respective careers

This workshop is best suited for between twenty and sixty participants. Participants should be familiar with either qualitative or quantitative research activities (such as ethnography, questionnaires and surveys, contextual inquiry, etc), and will likely hold jobs relating to research, usability, design, “UX”, or marketing. No Design Synthesis experience is required.

Sketching is a core skill of any designer, but everyone can always learn to sketch quicker, clearer and more impressively in front of their peers, colleagues and clients.

This sketching workshop will be heavily focused on fast-paced and fun practical activities with a smattering of theory. Key activities will likely include:

• Knowing your materials and your tools – from pens and pencils through to different paper and sketchbooks, we will share our experience of what you should bear in mind before you get down to the doodling
• Warming up – getting comfortable with your tools and getting into the headspace for better sketching
• Sketching concepts – communicating abstract concepts to others
• Sketching quickly – tips and activities for sketching quicker but still getting across your ideas
• Sketching choreography – how to communicate the dance of the user interface you are designing (e.g states and transitions)
• Sketching 3D products – how to sketch basic 3D shapes
• Annotating sketches for others – helping them to understand your scribbles
• Collaborative sketching – how to sketch effectively with others
• Different sketch styles – learning from others’ different styles of sketching
• Packaging up sketches for presentations and deliverables – how to package up your sketch work for others to review
• Running a sketchbook – tips for running your own sketchbook and improving your practice every day

By the end of the workshop, people will have learned some different techniques for sketching, seen a range of different sketching styles and be equipped with greater confidence to sketch in front of others.