User-centered design: A roadmap to usability

Presented by Will Sansbury

Tues., Oct. 27, 2009
Mirant Building
1155 Perimeter Center West
Atlanta, Georgia 30338
6:30 – 6:45 Networking
6:45 – 7:00 Announcements
7:00 – 8:00 Program

About the presentation

No one ever set out to build a Web site that’s difficult to use or a document that’s hard to read. Even so, many sites and documents prove to be frustrating for the very people they’re built to serve. When we design without a clear and proven understanding of audience-or with our own preferences and biases unchecked-we put the overall usability and effectiveness of the project at jeopardy.

In this presentation, Will Sansbury overviews user-centered design, a process that infuses concern for the audience into every step of creating a site, software product, or document. He shares practical tools for learning about your audience initially, checking your decisions against your understanding of the audience throughout the design process, and gauging the effectiveness of your final design using qualitative usability testing.

About the presenter

Will Sansbury started his professional life as a Web designer and developer before transitioning into technical communication. After five years of voicing strong opinions about the software user interfaces for which he developed content, he reunited his communication and design skills by becoming a user experience practitioner. Will now works for Silverpop Systems, Inc., where he conducts user research to help him design the user interface for and validate the usability of a large-scale Web-based application.

Sponsored by threebrick

threebrick is a growing interactive consultancy in the greater Atlanta area. We make technology people-friendly. That is, we craft experiences for web, mobile, and voice that real people understand and like. How? With the right mix of research, design, content, and development services.