DESIGN THINKING (workshops)

UX in the Wild – Sept. 22, 2012

I took a sunny Saturday in Seattle to attend two workshops sponsored by IxDA (Interaction Design Association) and Puget Sound SIGCHI. The workshops were part of the 2012 Seattle Design Festival. Both workshops were hands-on and experiential. They put the “work” into workshop as we formed groups to play out the methodologies the presenters were sharing.

Sensory Deprivation for Breakthrough Innovation Design Workshop
Presented by Joyce Chou, Design Program Manager at Microsoft

This workshop involved a bag of props and role-playing. Joyce, the presenter, applies her anthropology background to her current work exploring new ways to use mobile phones. We used cards with various type of technology (i.e. Sensors) and subsets of ways to use them (squeezing, shaking, light, motion, location, proximity, etc.). Then we used the props for the sensory deprivation role-play. At one point the room was full of people wandering around with masks over their eyes, hooks over their hands, and arms bound by spandex wraps as we squeezed waved and shouted audio cues with our wooden phone prop.

 

Sensory Deprivation Design - Flash Cards Flash Cards Sensory Deprivation Design - Flash Cards
Our group in action for the  "Designing for the Future" workshop. DesignThinking - Designing for the Future Our group in action for the "Designing for the Future" workshop.
IxDA Seattle

 

As per the program: The way we interact with technology is rapidly evolving beyond the touch of a screen or button. Mobile phones enable a whole new world of interaction behavior that leverage gestures and movements, where people can use the motion of either bodies or objects.

This workshop explores design possibilities beyond our assumptions of how technology works. We will look at ways to design new mobile features and products that use more than just touch, sight, and sound. Through a series of hands-on activities we will look at the what’s possible when you leverage physical gestures to design experiences not constrained by a screen.

Designing for the Future Workshop
Presented by Ming-Li Chai, Strategic Design Researcher, Microsoft

At a spritely pace and with sweet demeanor, Ming-Li guided us through a process that went from topic idea to a tidy, well-constructed and multifaceted solution. To add to the breakneck pace, each group  presented its solution in a skit for the rest of the attendees.

As per the program: As leaders, practitioners and designers who operate in rapidly changing environments, how do we make sense of trends, stay ahead of the curve, recognize an opportunity when it happens, and take advantage of it in our pursuit of future solutions?

The class walks through key steps of the “fuzzy front end” of the innovation process: From developing foresight, to uncovering emerging opportunities, to creating future-forward scenarios. We learned a synthesized blend of methodologies from leading institutions such as the Institute For the Future, Global Business Network, and Stanford Center for Foresight & Innovation.”

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