MIX UX, a three-day user experience track that debuts at MIX08, is dedicated to
exploring and evolving the practice of user experience. Through unique content delivered
by user experience thought-leaders, MIX UX broadens the content choices for designers
and creative professionals to include broad and relevant UX topics that are not
specifically related to Microsoft products and services.
Each day MIX UX will focus on a particular theme, the sum of which exposes the essence
of MIX UX: Discovery, Exploration and Inspiration. It is no coincidence that these
qualities are also at the core of designing great products and software.
Discover: A broad look at UX through the visionary minds of Lou
Carbone, Dave Armano, and Dan Roam
Explore: An in-depth, practical workshop on user experience in
the real world lead by Adaptive Path
Inspire: Microsoft’s new perspective on UX viewed through the eyes
of Office and other products.
MIX UX SCHEDULE
Wednesday, March 5
Getting Clued In to Experience Management
Lou Carbone
Experience Management thought leader and author Lou Carbone urges managing "experience
clues", conscious and unconscious, because clues affect the emotions that shape
customer attitudes that drive their behaviors. He stresses the need to adapt our
business thinking from the "make and sell" approaches of the industrial age to "sensing
and responding"-a dynamic change that requires new framing and competencies. He
discusses how the systematic design and delivery of experiences can be achieved,
and the immense impact this has on customer value, loyalty, and the bottom line.
From Long Tail to Fuzzy Tale: Why 'Fuzzy' Is the New Clear
David Armano
Come hear how interdisciplinary teams use the "Fuzzy Tail" to mix it up in the conceptual,
design, and development process as generalists and specialists search for new ways
to work together in order to keep up the pace in a “2.0” world. This presentation
discusses a type of mindset and attitude that will be essential in this type of
professional ecosystem. We review some case studies and open up a dialogue after
the presentation. If the Long Tail is the what—then the Fuzzy Tail may just be the
why.
The Back of the Napkin: Solving Design Problems (and Selling Your Solutions)
with Pictures
Dan Roam
Let’s face it: describing user experience is hard... unless we use pictures. This
session demonstrates step-by-step how anyone, regardless of artistic talent or training,
can use simple pictures to describe complex design and technical concepts, solve
fuzzy problems, and sell others on breakthrough ideas.
Thursday, March 6
Creating Better User Experiences: Design Strategy
Kim Lenox and Dan Harrelson
Join us for this session to gain the tools you need to establish and implement an
effective design strategy, one that meshes business goals with appeals to the target
customer.
Creating Better User Experiences: Interaction Design
Kim Lenox and Dan Harrelson
In this session, develop a framework to turn research findings into interaction
design concepts. Learn how to take the raw data from research and craft design principles
that you can turn into a prototype.
Creating Better User Experiences: Information Architecture
Kim Lenox and Dan Harrelson
Come to this session and we'll analyze content, features, and data within your system,
whether it’s a Website, intranet, or Web application. Learn how to create a model
of your content that illustrates how the different pieces relate to each other.
Learn the advantages and drawbacks of different categorization methods. How best
can you use metadata and tagging? What exactly is the difference between a taxonomy,
folksonomy, vocabulary, or thesaurus?
Creating Better User Experiences: Design Methods
Kim Lenox and Dan Harrelson
Join us to survey the landscape of interaction design methods, tools, and techniques
to improve your ability to diagnose the business situation and select the right
steps in the process to design a powerful result. We provide you with the means
to map and thoughtfully select from the full range of techniques at your disposal.
Friday, March 7
Beneath the Surface: The Natural Experience Vision
August de los Reyes, Daniel Makoski
Come hear how the Surface User Experience team is focusing on design and user experience
as a key driver for creating more natural, intuitive and emotional products. Learn
how Surface shifts the approach that has been used for more than thirty years of
making users learn the language of computers and products to an entirely new approach
where technology, computers, and products learn the language of people: touch, voice,
and gesture.
The Story of the Ribbon
Jensen Harris
Farewell, menus and toolbars! Come hear the behind-the-scenes story of how the 2007
Office Ribbon user interface was imagined, designed, and validated. See never-before-shown
early prototypes, hear about mistakes we learned from during the design process,
and find out the principles of user experience design we used each step of the way
in creating the first totally new user interface for Office.
Delivering International User Experiences
Eric Totherow
Come hear why creating excellent user experiences in software or services that have a global audience presents a number of significant design and technical challenges that make it difficult to find the right combination of technology, knowledge, and collaboration to produce a cost-effective, viable product. Also, learn how Microsoft is addressing internationalization in a way that produces much better software and user experiences.