OpenRoad is proud to be the Global Industry Partner for User Experience (UX) at the Wavefront Acceleration Centre, a federally-funded mobile commercialization centre located in Vancouver aimed to help foster mobile innovation, research and development, and product development. With our partnership, we've been working with Wavefront members to iterate and improve their mobile solutions concepts (applications and web-based) through UX design coaching and usability evaluations.
To help educate members on the benefits of adopting a user-centred design approach throughout the design process, OpenRoad provides seminars on mobile strategy, user interface (UI) design principles, and usability best practices.
Recently our UX team practice lead Selma Zafar presented an all-day seminar to the Wavefront community on mobile strategy. Selma has over 12 years of experience in UX design, including four years of mobile design experience with Nokia.
Selma’s presentation was designed to provide an overview of the process of defining mobile solutions for companies who have yet to think critically about their strategy and product or service design. Attendees were taken through the basics of defining a mobile strategy, understanding the challenges and opportunities in UX design for mobile, and some of the different methods for evaluating the end product.
One of the highlights of the day was Selma's design workshop, a breakout exercise within the session, during which groups of attendees worked together to sketch out concepts for a mobile solution for existing sites.
The exercise helped participants apply the concepts presented and engage in a collaborative design environment with other workshop participants. Participants started to understand the potential of incorporating UX best practices, such as aligning business requirements with user goals and exploring context of use, into their own mobile experiences.
Selma kept the energy high throughout the day and was able to present a huge amount of information to attendees while delivering it with a mix of personal stories. We received some great feedback on the value of the content and Selma's engaging presentation. Attendees left eager to implement her suggestions for the development or redesign their mobile sites and with a better understanding of how to craft a mobile strategy.
While you won't be able to enjoy Selma's energy and anecdotes, you can view the presentation, as we've shared the full mobile strategy slide deck from the session on SlideShare:
If you're struggling with your mobile strategy and want some insights into how a user-centred approach can improve your mobile product, feel free to reach out to learn more about our UX and Mobile practice area here at OpenRoad. Or catch Selma in a Canadian city near you—Wavefront was so pleased with the result, that we're coordinating a mobile strategy roadshow in the months to come. Follow us on Twitter to stay tuned for dates, locations, and registration details...