Developers don’t want to be designers, but I think most of them do want to be better developers. Incorporating design thinking into software development yields higher value apps, more satisfied users, and better personal reputation. In this Hands-On Lab workshop, developers and other non-design team members can learn essentials, and walk out with some tangible techniques and skills to immediately start addressing routine app design. The session is interactive, with hands-on exercises as well as presentation of design techniques, principles, and a lightweight process for incorporating design into development. The focus is on interaction design and user-centric design, not aesthetics and layout. We’ll discuss how to facilitate design meetings, reach group decisions, probe user work and task flows, fit design tasks to those flows, and evaluate designs to enter production coding with fewer blind alleys, backtrack, and rework. Some exercises will be in groups – bring others on your team if you would like to experience this workshop together.

You will learn:

• About the principles and process of good design in software development projects
• Internalize design concepts and techniques via hands-on exercises
• Shift to incorporation of design thinking into all your projects

Attendee Requirements:

You must provide your own laptop computer (Windows or Mac) for this hands-on lab.

All other laptop requirements will be provided to attendees 2 weeks prior to the conference.