Following the August 8, 2012 launch of the new City of Vancouver website, I joined the City of Vancouver Director of Web Redevelopment Laurie Best and Intentional Design’s Rahel Bailie to discuss the information architecture and content strategy behind the new site in a joint presentation on August 14 at City Hall.

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With a Bachelors in Cognitive Systems of Computational Intelligence & Design from the University of British Columbia, Jennifer joins OpenRoad as a User Experience Designer. Drawing on her experiences in non-profit and public sector web design in addition to research work in Web Usability at Simon Fraser University’s School of Interactive Arts + Technology, she brings passion for interaction design, focus on user-centred research, and an eagerness for continuous learning.

Jennifer enjoys being an active member of the Vancouver UX community — involving herself in Vancouver User Experience Group (VanUE), Vancouver IxDA, as well as attending workshops & conferences, such as the AGM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Seattle Interactive Conference (SIC), World IA Day, and IxDA Vancouver: Interaction ’12 Redux. She also enjoys traveling, eating, snowboarding, playing guitar, learning languages, and promoting youth leadership through educational and non-profit programs.

On Saturday Feb 12, 2012, I was fortunate enough to join a select few across North America and around the world in celebrating World IA Day here in Vancouver. I presented a talk about OpenRoad’s work on the City of Vancouver website redesign project. In its entirety, here’s the talk below.

Big thanks again to Lynne Polischuik for her great organization efforts and including me in the event.

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Originally from New Jersey, Sara holds a degree in Political Science from Boston College where she also studied Faith, Peace, and Justice and spent a semester abroad in El Salvador.

Sara has a professional background in legal administration and small business. She has spent the past 6 years on Vancouver Island where she founded Sarandipity, an artisan manufacturer of organic chocolates. She loves spending time with her baby, eating her way around the world, and providing her OpenRoad colleagues with “s’mores” and other goodies.

Prior to Thoughtfarmer, Amol spent over 6 years working in the High-Tech industry with companies like eBay and Maximizer CRM. As part of management teams, Amol has been instrumental in improving sales processes, increasing revenue and improving the customer experience.

Amol demonstrates strong leadership skills combined with a strong ability to communicate with people from various backgrounds. ThoughtFarmer utilizes Amol’s ability to work closely with clients and ensuring their vision is top priority.

Amol majored in History and minored in Philosophy at University of British Columbia. Amol lives with his wife and two children in North Vancouver, BC and enjoys reading, running and working on his garden.

Andrea Tam is a project manager at OpenRoad with a strong background in web marketing project management, including her work for clients like the Canadian Tourism Commission, Nike, Travel Yukon, Silverbirch Hotels, TEDx and Vancouver Convention Centre.

Since joining OpenRoad, she has been involved in projects with BC Hydro, Electronic Arts, as well as our in-house Intranet product, ThoughtFarmer.

Andrea has managed a wide range of web technology projects from Drupal-based CMS, to custom .NET development, Facebook applications, and mobile integration projects. Prior to her career in software project management, Andrea honed her business skills doing brand management, production management, and international development for a fashion design and distribution company.

2012 is just underway and we’re confirmed to have a couple of great upcoming speaking appearances in February and March.

First up, Gordon Ross will be speaking at World IA Day, Vancouver on February 11, 2012. He’ll be joining a talented and thoughtful line-up of IA and design experts including Samantha Starmer (REI), Jess McMullin (Centre for Citizen Experience), Karyn Zuidinga (Analtyic Design Group), and Kara Pecknold (Dossier).

From the World IA Day website:

Imagine if everybody, everywhere understood why Information Architecture is such a valuable and powerful way of approaching complex information challenges. And that everybody, everywhere had a once-a-year opportunity to participate in a local event dedicated to connecting the global IA and UX community, exploring the practice of Information Architecture. That’s World IA Day.

WIAD 2012’s theme, Designing Structures for Understanding, will focus global conversations on this subject and provide a local venue to connect with leaders and peers. On February 11th, 2012, participants will gather in fourteen cities around the world to share stories, experiences and new ideas about our community of practice.

Registration for World IA Day Vancouver is now open. Don’t miss it!

And then next stop is Austin Texas for SXSW – the remarkable annual meetup of the best and brightest digital minds from across the world.
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Mobile usability testing presents its own unique challenges to data collection and observation.  The screen size and design of the mobile hardware impacts how your participants are going to be viewing and interacting with your design.  These challenges impact how recording devices and software are set-up for the usability sessions. In some set-ups, participants are given instructions to lay the mobile device flat on the table, or the device is placed in an unnatural stand for them to interact with.  Although these provide a stable and reliable manner to record what the participant is selecting on the screen, they do not provide accurate or reliable data on hand  gestures, postures or tap errors. The artificiality of the set-up also impacts participant satisfaction and perception of ease-of-use.
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During the course of a strategy engagement a few years ago, Gord and I drew a diagram on the whiteboard that illustrates how business and user requirements intersect to form the scope (and possibly the roadmap) for a project. The diagram proved useful in explaining where requirements went after being gathered and also the opportunities available to clients once armed with the requirements that their users and customers desired from their user experience.

This diagram has since been used countless times in everything from proposals to client presentations. It has also appeared on our website since November 2010 without explanation. Internally we call it the “Football diagram” as it is much shorter phrase than “Business and User Requirements vs. Scope Diagram” and its shape resembles the uprights used in American football.
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Beyond a simple face lift for the ICBC Partners site

The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) is a crown corporation that provides universal public auto insurance, driver licensing services, and road safety support for British Columbians. In order to fulfill their mandate, ICBC relies on a network of business partners to support customers, from 900 insurance brokers, to auto body shops, medical and paramedical practitioners, and driving schools around the province.

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