Talk: Tools n Techniques - UX Research

Join us for an evening of UX Research! 

What methods work best when testing a product or website’s usability? When and how do researchers work around or within budgetary, time and project scope restrictions? Before engineering a high fidelity prototype, what tools are available for testing designs? This month, we’ll explore the answers to these questions under the guidance of 4 local UX research gurus.

Lightweight Prototyping - James Gartrell and Erik Johnson

Get your designs polished before committing to code! Learn how to use a variety of lightweight prototyping tools and techniques to get real customer feedback earlier in your development cycle.

The What, When, Where, How, & Why of Usability Testing - LaTanya Holmes

Learn the basics of usability testing from understanding what you are testing to learning the why around user performance and behavior. We will discuss different research methods and how to create interview questions that will get you the results you are seeking.

Remote Usability Testing - Cindy McCracken

Your users aren’t local? No problem! With the right setup, you can run usability tests with anyone in the world on any budget. We’ll cover logistics and tools for both desktop and mobile remote studies (both moderated and unmoderated) to get you on your way.

Presenter Bios:

Erik Johnson

Erik spent a good chunk of his professional career convincing teenagers that studying algebra was a worthwhile use of their time, before accepting defeat and becoming a user experience designer instead. As it turns out, the same skills at eliciting feedback, understanding how students think, and helping people grasp logical yet complex mathematics were perfect preparation for designing interfaces for web applications. At Purpose UX, Erik leads workshops, defines requirements, creates fast prototypes, or whatever else needs doing.

James Gartrell

James is a UX traveler: his adventures have taken him inside prisons on research visits, beside teenagers hunting for the best ringtones, across the table from small business owners testing email marketing solutions, and into the classroom with middle schoolers to envision the future of digital learning. James has 10 years of experience in everything UX including interaction design, information architecture, user research, and running a team. James is in heaven whenever he’s designing interfaces, interviewing users, or leading whiteboard discussions.

LaTanya Holmes

LaTanya is a human factors and user experience professional with several years of experience. She has strong expertise in human performance and research methods. She holds a B.A. in Psychology from Hampton University and an M.S. in Industrial and Systems Engineering with a concentration in Human Factors Engineering and Ergonomics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. LaTanya has worked in the automotive industry designing and researching vehicle interfaces; the healthcare industry testing medical devices and electronic health records; and the financial industry designing and testing web portals and native apps. LaTanya is currently a user experience researcher at Fidelity Investments in Durham.

Cindy McCracken

Cindy is a UX research consultant based in Cary who loves the flexibility that remote usability testing provides. She has a master’s in information science and has conducted hundreds of remote studies as a researcher at User-View, Inc.; Fidelity Investments; BB&T; and iContact. Cindy served as marketing and communications co-chair for TriUXPA in 2012 and currently helps organize Explore UX events. She has written about usability testing for UX Mastery, and spoken about mobile usability testing and making usability testing agile.

Agenda

• 6:30-7:00 – Sign-in, grab food, networking

• 7:00-8:15 – Intro, talks, Q&A

• 8:15-8:45 – Networking

Location

The event will be held at Windsor Circle (212 W Main St #400, Durham, NC 27701), which is located on the 4th floor of the Trust Building (across the street from American Underground). Parking is available along the street or in nearby parking decks. For those that hate parallel parking, Corcoran is the closest deck (110 Corcoran St, Durham, NC 27701).

Look for one of our volunteers by the elevator to check you in and escort you to the event. Please do not take the stairs. The door to the fourth floor will be locked.

Registration

Registration is $5 and you can sign up on the exploreUX event page. Refunds are available until 48 hours before the event start.

Waitlist

If the meetup fills up, please contact Michelle (through Meetup) and provide your name and an email address where we can reach you. Two days before the event if there are spots available, we'll notify those on the waitlist. Any available spots will be on a first-come, first-serve basis. Unfortunately, Meetup does not enable an automatic waitlist for fee-associated events.

Sponsors

• Windsor Circle - venue

• Triangle UXPA - beverages and food, event co-host

• If your company or organization is interested in sponsoring this event or future ones, please contact Michelle.