Home game: UID contributed to international meeting of usability professionals in Munich

From May 24-28, 2010, Munich was the venue for the international usability scene, hosting the annual International Conference of the Usability Professionals’ Association (UPA). More than 700 experts met to discuss on user experience and design. For the first time, this international event took place outside the US. User Interface Design GmbH (UID) contributed to the conference with lectures, as an exhibitor and sponsor. The activities on the conference reflect the variety of UID - from research projects on Ambient Assisted Living via usability testing methodology to interface design for multitouch. .

"Together with the German UPA, we applied for hosting the conference here in Munich - and we were successful", says Jakob Biesterfeldt, Manager User Research at User Interface Design GmbH (UID) and Conference Chair. "We are looking forward to welcoming usability professionals from all over the world." As a Conference Chair, Jakob Biesterfeldt organized the event with a conference committee of 60 people. Within almost two years of preparation, an extensive program has been developed.

User Interfaces for the world – International User Research in the focus of the UPA 2010

The lecture by Sylvia Le Hong, Usability Engineer at UID, referred directly to the conference slogan: "Embracing Cultural Diversity – User Experience Design for the World". She presented the results of a study conducted by the International Usability Partners (IUP). The usability network examined cultural differences and similarities in the use of gestures on touchscreen user interfaces.

Myth or truth? – A focus on the method of Usability Testing and the Visio software

The panel discussion "Myths about usability testing" focused on wide-spread assumptions on Usability Testing and verified whether they were true or not. Jakob Biesterfeldt discussed this topic with Karen Bachmann, Rolf Molich, and Whitney Quesenbery.
What undreamed-of possibilities the visualization software Visio offers, was illustrated by a poster prepared by the UID experts Dr. Joachim Machate and Lisa Wenzel. They presented how user interface concepts can be efficiently implemented as wireframes or prototypes.

In German please – UID contributed to the "Usability Professionals" with two lectures

Parallel to the UPA International Conference, the "Usability Professionals", the annual conference of the German UPA, took place, contributing 20 additional lectures in German to the conference schedule.
The topic of "Usability of texts" was covered by Silke Lotterbach, Usability Engineer at UID. She explained how to edit help texts, error messages or product descriptions to make them understandable and reader-friendly.
Insight in the international research project CCE (Connected Care for Elderly People Suffering from Dementia) was given by the UID experts Tobias Limbach and Lenja Sorokin. The project team is designing an assistance system allowing people suffering from dementia to live an independent life.

Touching instead of clicking – Experience the Surface Table at the UID booth

At the UID booth, the conference attendees literally came into contact with the multi-touch table Surface. With a finger tip, they could discover an application developed by UID, the UID portfolio. With this application, UID won the Microsoft "Touch First Developer Challenge" in 2009.

Lunch and discussion – UID hosted 14 lunch dicussions

Opportunities for exchange beyond the conference were offered by 14 lunch discussions hosted by a number of UID employees. The topics included Web Analytics, Social Media and Medical Usability. At the same time, the attendees learnt that the Munich cuisine had more to offer than Weißwurst and Brezel.

About the UPA and the UPA International Conference

The Usability Professionals’ Association (UPA) is the international association of usability and user experience experts. It supports professionals that analyze, design and test interactive products. There are 50 regional chapters worldwide such as the German UPA. Once a year, the UPA International Conference takes place.

UID on the UPA International Conference – An overview

The UID booth:
Booth no. 11
Focus: Multi-touch and Natural User Interfaces, Surface

The lectures:
Cultural differences and similarities in the use of gestures on touchscreen user interfaces
Lecture by Sylvia Le Hong (UID) and Daniel Mauney (HumanCentric)

"Five users will find 85 % of the usability problems" - and other myths about usability testing
Panel discussion with Jakob Biesterfeldt (UID), Karen Bachmann (Seascape Consulting), Rolf Molich (DialogDesign) and Whitney Quesenbery (WQusability)

Content Usability – Presentation of a criteria catalog to practically test the usability of contents
Lecture by Silke Lotterbach (UID), Michael Marek and Claus Wagner (Die Akzentsetzer)

User-centered development of AAL technologies with people suffering from dementia
Lecture by Tobias Limbach and Lenja Sorokin (UID)

Undreamed-of possibilities of MS Visio
Poster by Dr. Joachim Machate and Lisa Wenzel (UID)

Student Volunteers from UID:
Kristin Kolbe and Andrea Garay

Lunch Discussions:
The lunch discussions were organized by the UPA.

Links for further information

• NUI Design: naturally touchable interfaces – naturally touched users
• Success by well-tested products – Usability Testing at UID
• Website of the UPA International Conference 2010
• Website of the Usability Professionals’ Association (UPA)

Contact

User Interface Design GmbH
Marion Gottschling, Corporate Communications
Contact form
phone +49 (0) 7141 3 77 00 0
fax +49 (0) 7141 3 77 00 99

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