DUX 2005

November 04, 2005

Opening day at DUX 2005

Hundreds of conference attendees spent the opening day of DUX 2005 attending tutorials (including Methodology of Visualization, pictured below left) and/or touring San Francisco studios (including frog design, Gensler, and Odopod, pictured above).

Many thanks to the 15 studios and to the instructors of the 6 tutorials. Special thanks to Studio Tours Producer Maia Garau (pictured above right) and to Program Co-Chair Rakhi Rajani who worked on development of both the tutorial and studio tours offerings.

Posted by richard.anderson at 05:52 AM | Comments (0)

November 02, 2005

DUX 2005 bookstore

DUX 2005 will feature a bookstore offering UX-related titles for sale from numerous publishers. Among those publishers:

Penguin, SAMS Publishing, MIT Press, John Wiley and Sons, Hungry Mind, Charles River Media, Premier Press, Springer Verlag, Cambridge University Press, HarperCollins, AMACOM, McGraw Hill, Neal Publishing, PeachPit Press, Addison Wesley, New Riders, Heinemann, O'Reilly, Chronicle Press, Morgan Kaufman, Prentice Hall, Rockport Press, Academic Press, Focal Press, Financial Times, Random House, AK Peters

The bookstore will be open throughout the conference, starting Thursday evening and ending Saturday afternoon.

Posted by richard.anderson at 06:07 AM | Comments (0)

October 29, 2005

Heather Gold to emcee DUX 2005

We are delighted to feature Heather Gold as DUX 2005 Master of Ceremonies.

Heather performs at venues and conferences across North America, like San Francisco's Just for Laughs Showcase 2004, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, New Media Invision Awards, Berkeley Arts Museum (Powerpoint for Peace), Silicon Valley's BlogHer and Top 25 Women of the Web Awards, Toronto's altdotcomedy, Austin's SxSW and Vortex Rep, and New York's Gotham Comedy Club. She contributes to many shows and publications, including the Toronto Globe and Mail, shift magazine, TechTV's Silicon Spin, The Learning Channel, The San Jose Mercury News, and her own popular subvert.com.

Heather spent years on the business side of the entertainment and media world. She followed and help further the promising path of digital convergence which she felt would eventually democratize distribution of art and media. Heather worked in strategic roles at New Line, CD-ROM pioneer Knowledge Adventure, Apple Computer's first music group which pioneered webcasting, and as a commentator for Yahoo Financevision. She also sat on the Advisory Board of SxSW Interactive for 4 years and has been a Webby humour judge and member of the International Academy of Arts and Digital Sciences since 2000.

Listen to Heather talk about DUX 2005 on an upcoming TechNation on U.S. public radio.

And, of course, hear, see, and meet Heather next week at DUX 2005.

Posted by richard.anderson at 05:48 PM | Comments (0)

October 27, 2005

Breakfasts, lunches, and coffee breaks

Wondering what you'll need to do regarding daytime meals during DUX 2005?

Lunch will be provided to all those attending one of the full-day tutorials on Thursday, 3 November. Coffee and other beverages will also be provided during breaks during full-day and half-day tutorials.

On both Friday and Saturday, continental breakfast will be provided beginning at 8am -- one hour prior to the start of the opening sessions. Breakfast Friday is sponsored by FilterTalent; breakfast Saturday is sponsored by Adobe.

Lunch will also be provided both Friday and Saturday. Coffee and other beverages to be provided during mid-morning and mid-afternoon breaks both Friday and Saturday are sponsored by Yahoo!

(See an earlier posting regarding food and drink to be provided during conference evenings.)

Posted by richard.anderson at 07:42 PM | Comments (0)

Job boards

Are you hiring? Are you looking for a job?

DUX 2005 will feature abit of old technology: a physical job board or two.

So, bring paper copies of your job announcements and your resumes when you come to the conference.

(The job boards can be used only by those attending the conference.)

Posted by richard.anderson at 11:44 AM | Comments (0)

October 26, 2005

Conference receptions and the DUXBash

To facilitate attendee networking and socializing, DUX 2005 will feature two conference receptions and a festive DUXBash.

Immediately following the opening plenary the evening of Thursday, 3 November will be the opening reception of the conference, offering a buffet dinner and breathtaking views of San Francisco Bay and Alcatraz Island. This opening reception is sponsored by BayDUX -- a coalition of San Francisco Bay Area chapters of numerous professional societies and the San Francisco Bay Area presence of UXnet, with support from Intuit.

Immediately following the last session of the day on Friday, 4 November will be a wine and cheese tasting, sponsored by AOL. An excellent collection of Wattle Creek Wines -- wines we spent a long time carefully selecting -- will be featured.

Attendance at both conference receptions is limited to DUX 2005 conference attendees.

Later Friday night is the DUXBash, a festive party to be held in a popular art gallery and nightclub in downtown San Francisco. Sponsoring the DUXBash: SAP, with support from Adaptive Path. This is the one conference event we are opening up to more than DUX 2005 attendees, but attendance is limited to those who have received special event tickets in advance.

Posted by richard.anderson at 12:22 AM | Comments (0)

October 25, 2005

To take home with you...

DUX 2005 attendees will have an opportunity to take alot of things home with them following the conference.

Would you like to take home a SONY PlayStation? Champion sponsor SAP plans to have a drawing for 2 or 3 PlayStations during the conference; be sure to visit their exhibit for drawing details.

Also be sure to visit Champion sponsor AOL's exhibit where you will be able to pick up your DUX 2005 t-shirt.

Champion sponsor Yahoo! has a mix of goodies it is planning to give away, both at its exhibit and during the Yahoo! coffee breaks. (The Yahoo! folks asked me to keep the details of their give-aways a secret, but I think you'll find them highly desirable.)

And you'll have an opportunity to accumulate alot of good reading materials. Among them, three outstanding magazines:

Ambidextrous Magazine is a project of the Stanford d.school. It is an independent magazine for the wider design community, which seeks to include everyone involved and interested in design, from engineers and ethnographers, to psychologists and philosophers. Ambidextrous exposes the people and processes of design. The magazine is geared toward high subscriber participation and interaction. It is expressly designed to be informal, irreverent, and fun to read.

Interactions Magazine is the HCI magazine dedicated to the practitioner. The magazine tries to be the voice of today's user experience designers, in much the same way that DUX is their conference. The magazine is a publication of ACM SIGCHI but is open to involvement from many different groups. Authors and contributors of the magazine represent groups such as ACM SIGGRAPH, IxDA, AIGA, IDSA, UPA, etc. The magazine remains an open venue for thought-provoking commentary, helpful techniques and methods, and the occasional humorous piece.

I.D. Magazine is America's leading critical magazine covering the art, business and culture of design. Winner of five National Magazine Awards -- four for General Excellence (1995, 1997 and 1999, 2000) and one for Design (1997) -- the publication appears eight times a year. Issues include the Annual Design Review, America's largest and most prestigious juried design-recognition program, published since 1954. The Design Review showcases the best American and international design in the areas of Consumer Products, Furniture, Equipment, Environments, Packaging, Graphics, Concepts and Student Projects.

So, if you are traveling to DUX 2005 from outside of the San Francisco Bay Area, leave abit of extra space in your luggage.

Posted by richard.anderson at 03:05 PM | Comments (0)

October 21, 2005

Tutorial & studio tour reminder

Those of you who have registered for DUX 2005 can access your registration record in order to sign up for one or more studio tours or in order to snag one of the few remaining tutorial seats.

A few seats remain in the following three tutorials:

• Whose Line is it Anyway: Innovation, Ethnography, and Improv (Steve Portigal)
• The ROI of User Experience: Measurement and the Context of UX Practice (Janice Fraser)
• Designing Story (Brian Lanahan & Gary Hirsch)

And studio tour slots are rapidly filling up.

So, don't delay. (But, of course, be sure to NOT sign up for a studio tour that is being conducted at the time of a tutorial for which you have registered. Indeed, all tutorials and studio tours occur during the day of Thursday, 3 November.)

Posted by richard.anderson at 04:37 PM | Comments (0)

October 16, 2005

Studio tour signup begins

Those of you who are registered for DUX 2005 are invited to sign up for the studio tours to be conducted during the first day of the conference -- Thursday, 3 November.

As stated in an earlier blog entry, fifteen studios have been selected to showcase the rich variety of practices in San Francisco. Visits to the studios will combine guided office tours, demos, and presentations. Studio personnel will share their stories, explaining how their philosophy, culture, and process shape their unique approach.

You must reserve a place on each tour you plan to attend. Places are given on a first-come first-served basis, and you are free to sign up to visit as many studios as you like. However, please be realistic about the number of tours you can attend (the website provides some guidance), as places are limited. (And be sure to not sign up for a studio tour that takes place while you are in a tutorial!)

Studio tours are open only to those who are registered for DUX 2005.

For more information and to sign up, go to the studio tours page on the conference website.

Posted by richard.anderson at 10:10 PM | Comments (0)

September 27, 2005

Studio tours

The DUX 2005 Studio Tours will showcase the rich diversity of practices in San Francisco. Fifteen studios will be featured, all leaders in a number of fields relating to user experience. Visits will combine guided office tours, demos, and presentations, and will give attendees the chance to mingle in an informal atmosphere with talented peers from a broad range of professional backgrounds.

Studios will tell the story of how they have evolved as practices, and how their philosophy, culture, and blending of disciplines shape their unique approach. They will share their expertise on designing for a broad range of experiences including graphics and animation, consumer products, environments and digital interaction. They will also focus on branding and strategy, touching on the way the practical business needs of clients shape their process from start to finish.

The DUX 2005 Studio Tours will take place on the opening day of the conference, and will feature the following studios:

• Adaptive Path
  
• Avenue A | Razorfish
  
• Center for the Book
  
• Cheskin
  
• Frog Design
  
• Fuseproject
  
• Gensler
  
• Hot Studio
  
• Lunar Design
  
• MetaDesign
  
• Method
  
• ODA/SF (official design agency)
  
• Odopod
  
• Pentagram
  
• Smart Design

Details of the tours and instructions for signing up for them will appear on the conference website soon. Participation in the DUX 2005 Studio Tours is open only to those who register for the conference.

Posted by richard.anderson at 08:14 AM | Comments (0)

September 26, 2005

Tutorial availability

One of the six DUX 2005 tutorials is already a sellout. If you had intended to take Marc Rettig's tutorial on The Layers of Experience but had not yet registered for it, you are welcome to send email to the registration chair to add your name to the waiting list just in case one or more of those registered need to cancel.

The five tutorials with seats still available:

Whose Line is it Anyway: Innovation, Ethnography, and Improv. Steve Portigal returns to the DUX conference to help you experience how improv can guide participant-observer research and support the co-creation of ideas.

The ROI of User Experience: Measurement and the Context of UX Practice. Janice Fraser provides guidance on measuring the value of Web design and on optimizing your business processes and organizational structure to better leverage your Web site.

Designing for Service. Shelley Evenson instructs on understanding the service experience and on developing service concepts and experience prototypes.

Methodology of Visualization. Mark Baskinger introduces methods of sketching, mark-making, and diagramming that enhance the creative process by presenting immediate visual responses to ideas.

Designing Story. Brian Lanahan & Gary Hirsch teach the fundamental principles of stories and how these principles can guide work on brand identity, design, and user experience.

Registration for DUX 2005 tutorials is open only to those who register for the conference. We encourage you to register soon to reserve your seat in your tutorial of preferance. Fees for tutorials rise after October 1.

Posted by richard.anderson at 10:56 AM | Comments (0)