Imagine the following: knowing what your customers want before you begin developing your product; or better yet, imagine if people talked about your product as if it were more than just a run-of-the-mill gadget, website, or service.
This is all possible using the same methodology that keeps Apple, Disney, and Virgin adored by their customers. This methodology is called experience design, or more loosely, UX.
This Crash Course will inject clarity to the term ‘UX’ and will provide an overview of the revolutionary new world of experience design and UX product development. We will be covering design thinking and the application of UX from ideation of a new product through development and a successful launch. Led by the recognized leaders of experience design/UX in the Front Range, this evening has the potential to change your company for the long term.
Speaker:
Brian Baker
Brian Baker began his digital product career at the birth of the world-wide-web in 1993. During the dot-com era, he managed the largest Information Architecture agency in San Francisco, helping many Fortune 500 companies build an online presence and sales-channels over the web. Adopting Experience Design (XD, or UX) in the early 2000s, Brian’s firm grew to include not only digital product offerings, but physical products as well. Brian has been a constant thought leader in the space and regularly speaks internationally to groups intent on making their products more accessible to their customers through experience design. Brian’s work has won several awards over the years, from various ‘Webbies’ and ‘Best of the Web’ awards to being featured by Good Morning America and Wired Magazine, to a ‘Best Of CES’ prize for his consumer product work. Brian resides in Boulder, Colorado, to satisfy his motorcycle and fishing addictions, and believes that the study of people will be his life’s work. Brian is an angel investor and proudly serves as a board member for 4 private companies and is a mentor with Boomtown Boulder and the University of Colorado.
With a Panel including:
Lou Faust
Louis Faust is the Chief Executive Officer of ArrivingHome, Inc., a cloud-based service enabling new home buyers to master their home buying experience. The missing connection between builders and buyers of homes, ArrivingHome disrupts the home selling cycle by delivering to buyers a curated experience to find, build and own their new home.
Prior to joining ArrivingHome, Lou was CEO at Choice Ticketing Systems, a cloud ticketing platform serving the arts, higher education and entertainment markets.
Lou is the Founder and Managing Partner of Edge Capital Partners, LLC, a strategic advisory firm for emerging growth companies. He spent ten years on Wall Street at Salomon Brothers where he was a Managing Director and head of Global Operations and has run several institutionally funded companies in a range of industries. He holds a J.D. from the University of California, Davis, where he was a member of the law review.
Noel Franus
Noel Franus is VP/Experience Design Director with CP+B in Boulder, Colorado, where he applies his 20 years of experience in interaction design, sensory design and invention to launch consumer platforms for brands like Domino’s, Best Buy, Windows, American Express and Kraft. He is also founder of P.INK, a CP+B fueled movement connecting breast cancer survivors with tattoo inspirations and artists who can help them move on after a mastectomy. Noel’s work has been featured in the New York Times, Fast Company, PSFK and the Huffington Post.
Prior to joining CP+B, Noel was partner of the sonic branding and interaction agency Sonic ID US+UK. He helped lead the sonic branding practice at Elias Arts, and in 1999 was founding partner of the San Francisco user-experience consultancy Carbon IQ.
Leah Russell
Leah started her career in Public Relations, quickly learning it was not the world for her. Fortunately, she was able to move into the emerging world of the internet, where they were exploring this new, ambiguous world of “Information Architecture” (with her employer readily admitting they weren’t completely sure what the role was but that the title sure sounded fancy). It was instant love. As her career grew, she helped to establish and foster the IA – and later UX – role in several internet consulting companies before moving to the corporate side, working in both the US and Europe for companies such as Hilton, Travelocity and lastminute.com. Her true passion is development, ensuring the field continues to grow with knowledgeable, educated practitioners enthusiastic about completely understanding and catering to customers. Originally from Dallas, she moved to Denver to work for HomeAdvisor in 2012 and has no intention of ever moving again. She holds degrees in Public Relations and Religious Studies from Southern Methodist University (proving that good UX designers can come from any education or background) and was recently named a Denver Business Journal Outstanding Woman in Business nominee.