Length: 1 day

Many of today’s web designers are disadvantaged as we move towards creating highly interactive and workflow oriented user interfaces. Designing information based or ecommerce website is different than workflow oriented applications.

Bill Buxton made the point that our design field is one of the few which doesn’t teach practitioners the history behind our discipline. Past and existing knowledge have not been carried forward. The skills and knowledge pre-web are once more in demand, yet many practitioners have little or no experience with this type of interaction design.

This workshop starts with the history of GUIs to help today’s designers apply existing knowledge to today’s designs. GUI principals still apply to today’s screen design for web applications, yet most web designers are unaware of them. These principles are considered within the context of today’s audience, new technologies and emerging opportunities. Using past and current examples, lots of discussion and hands on exercises to discuss design solutions, we’ll explore the principles as they were used in the past and how they are being reframed today. 

The tutorial focuses primarily on screen design, with some discussion about how to approach workflow design when an information architecture is no longer enough.

You will learn:

• How designing for workflow differs from information architecture
• The history and principles of graphical user interfaces
• How GUI principles apply in today's web applications
• Emerging design solutions and why they are effective...or not.
• New design opportunities afforded by today's audience

Audience

Beginner user interface designers and experienced information architects moving into RIA and web application design will learn how to expand their thinking about screen design.

People who attended said...

"Great presentation of how we got to where we are and how to deal with some common questions with new technologies and methods"

"Good overview and examples--especially new GUI in web applications"

Previous locations:

User Friendly, China, October 2008
Usability Professionals Association Conference, USA, June 2008
Bentley College, USA, May 2008
Optimal Usability, New Zealand, February 2008
The Hiser Group, Australia, February 2008

Onsite course:

This course can be tailored to your team with examples and exercises from your specific web applications. Learn emerging design solutions, and apply them immediately.

Contact Sarah Bloomer.