After four great stops, the UIE Web App Masters Tour came to a close in Seattle, WA this week. Throughout the tour, I took extensive notes and wrote up a couple of articles on what I learned from the experts on this conference tour.
Some talks on the tour were only given once, others were presented at each city. I included several links for the presentations that were either updated by speakers or further documented (with more details) by me as the tour went on. Enjoy!
Where Worlds Collide
In his opening presentation, Jared Spool outlined how design organizations can deliver the holistic experiences Web applications users increasingly expect.
- Where Worlds Collide -San Diego, CA
- Where Worlds Collide -Minneapolis, MN
- Where Worlds Collide -Seattle, WA
Serious Play: Designing Seductive Business Apps
Stephen Anderson's Serious Play talk outlined how principles from psychology could be used to motivate Web application users.
Escaping Navigation Hell
Hagan Rivers walked through several strategies for getting people around Web applications with lots of screens including application maps and four distinct kinds of navigation.
- Application Maps: Hagan Rivers outlined her use of application maps to get a 30,000 foot view of a Web application. What I found most compelling about these diagrams is that they illuminate the core areas of focus within applications quite clearly.
- Escaping Navigation Hell -San Diego, CA
- Escaping Navigation Hell -Minneapolis, MN
- Escaping Navigation Hell -Seattle, WA
Designing The Social In
Christian Crumlish provided an overview of social design principles and patterns.
- Designing The Social In -San Diego, CA
- Designing The Social In -Minneapolis, MN
- Designing The Social In -Seattle, WA
Design Lessons from 350 Million
Julie Zhuo described how the Facebook design team creates experiences for Facebook's users.
Backstage with 37signals
37signals founder, Jason Fried described how 37signals solves design problems and collaborates by showing four days worth of chat transcripts about an ongoing redesign project at the company.
- Backstage with 37signals -Minneapolis, MN
- Backstage with 37signals -Seattle, WA (presented by Ryan Singer)
Designing for Interesting Moments
Bill Scott outlined several rich interaction design principles and showed them in action within several Web applications.
- Designing for Interesting Moments -San Diego, CA
- Designing for Interesting Moments -Minneapolis, MN
- Designing for Interesting Moments -Philadelphia, PA
- Designing for Interesting Moments -Seattle, WA
Care of a Corporate Cash Cow
Ken Kellogg discussed the challenges inherent in The Care and Feeding of a Corporate Cash Cow by sharing his experiences managing user research for the redesign of Marriott.com.
- Care of a Corporate Cash Cow -San Diego, CA
- Care of a Corporate Cash Cow -Philadelphia, PA
- Care of a Corporate Cash Cow -Seattle, WA
Input: Moving Beyond Forms
I discussed several ways Web applications can collect user input, through both mobile devices and desktop software, without forcing users to complete a lengthy sequential forms.
A Simple Ladder of Engagement
Mark Trammell outlined Twitter’s approach to helping new and one-time users become loyal repeaters by discussing the company’s focus on engagement.
- Gradual Engagement Boosts Twitter Sign-Ups by 29%: Twitter recently redesigned their sign-up process to boost new user engagement. Though the new sign-up process added one more screen, conversions went up 29%. How? Gradual engagement
- A Simple Ladder of Engagement -San Diego, CA
- A Simple Ladder of Engagement -Philadelphia, PA
- A Simple Ladder of Engagement -Seattle, WA (presented by Doug Bowman)
Turning Back to the Future
In his closing keynote, Jared Spool outlined the role of an experience vision in keeping design teams focused and innovating.