Design Track | Web Directions @media

Design Track

Brian Suda is visualizing data; Hannah Donovan designs without the browser; Relly Annett– Baker knows what people want from mobile content; Brian Fling has six rules for designing mobile apps; and Stephen P. Anderson sustains passionate users.

Sustaining Passionate Users

Keep them there, long after the thrill is gone

Presenter: Stephen P Anderson

Yes, business applications can be made fun and gamelike. No, points, levels and badges are not the way to create sustained interest.

While many sites have added superficial gaming elements to make interactions more engaging, the companies that “get it” have a better understanding of the psychology behind motivation. They know how to design sites that keep people coming back again and again.

So what are the secrets? What actually motivates people online? How do you create sustained interest in your product or service? Speaker Stephen P. Anderson will share common patterns from game design, learning theories, and neuroscience to reveal what motivates—and demotivates—people over the long haul.

Six rules to designing amazing mobile apps

The path to creating memorable mobile experiences

Presenter: Brian Fling

Building a mobile app isn’t easy. Regardless of chosen platform or technology creating a memorable mobile experience has some pretty intense challenges throughout. However if you can get it right it can have some incredible rewards and propel your brand in more ways than one. After spending ten years building mobile apps for some of the biggest companies in the world, author and mobile designer Brian Fling shares his six rules for building amazing apps that will either you get you started or improve upon your next release.

Designing without the browser

We are the makers of things

Presenter: Hannah Donovan

Innovation is intensifying off the browser — the things we use everyday are increasingly controlled by touch, gesture and voice. And we, as interaction designers, are faced with a challenge that’s the opposite of our browser-​​based one-​​man-​​shop: there’s suddenly a gulf of production between our concept and the final product; the means of production is as tricky to navigate as a roster of Tolstoy characters; mistakes are expensive; and everyone speaks a different language. Sound dangerous? Sound exciting?

Donovan argues the processes for the future lie in our more material-​​based graphic designer pasts, and our cousin disciplines of industrial design and architecture. After a decade of honing our newfangled browser-​​based skills, learn how to dust off and sharpen the tools of our roots.

Visualising Data

See the big picture

Presenter: Brian Suda

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is estimated to produce 15 petabytes of data per year. This is difficult to store let alone understand!

With connected devices quickly out numbering connected people, we are soon going to be swamped with data. Visualising the constant stream of information we are collecting so that it can be better understood is going to be a critical task.

In this presentation, I’ll walk you through a quick overview of some basic chart and graph design, then look at how easy it is to write some quick scripts in your favourite language to produce beautiful graphics. SVG is an under-​​rated technology, but it can be created programmatically and quickly to visualise data.

What people want from mobile content

The Rollercoaster Vaudeville Tour of Content Through The Ages!

Presenter: Relly Annett-​​Baker

Ladies and gentlemen for your enjoyment, education and edification, may I present “The Rollercoaster Vaudeville Tour of Content Through The Ages!” Why should you join my session you ask? Because how we have treated content in the past is the key to understanding what people want from mobile content now. Mobile content has been a trending topic since 3150BC, you know.

Come on a whirlwind tour of the story and see what we can learn about the future of content from the ancient wisdom of ages past, manuscripts that represent a life’s work, the power of a printing press, banned books and penny dreadfuls. I defy any of you to walk away thinking that no-​​one likes to read stuff on the web.

Images:

The images are downsized due to limited space here. The original dimensions may differ.
Click on the image to open it on a new tab.