Frank Chimero is a phenomenal designer and illustrator who recently moved to Portland and is teaching in PSU’s design department. He’s also speaking at The Cleaners this Thursday from 7-9pm. The event is brought to you by 52 Ltd. and AIGA Portland. This should be incredibly inspiring and awesome!

Pricing, and details here

But before we share our deep thoughts, I just wanted to give a quick overview of my experience this year and share some notes I compiled on the plane ride back to PDX.

Unlike last year, I came to Austin armed with a smart phone so I got to tweet to my heart’s content (from my barf account) and check in often with Gowalla. Lots of my friends were using Gowalla this year and it really did come in handy trying to figure out which panels they were sitting in or at which bar they were responsibly partaking.  Plus there was the excitement of possibly finding a virtual VIP wristband to get into the Gowalla Tiki Room party, where Diplo was slated to perform, or one of the many real life prizes that Gowalla was giving away. I didn’t pick up any prizes or the VIP pass, but a friend did win one of the Lomography cameras (and we did make it into the outdoor Gowalla party, albeit after Diplo had left the stage and during a rainstorm).

In general the panels I went to were really cool and informative, with several truly awesome and inspiring ones — though I did hit a few duds. I was disappointed in the workshops I attended as they seemed a bit too basic and went over things that seemed pretty obvious, even though they were marked as “intermediate” in the Interactive booklet) On the other end of the spectrum, I attended some javascript talks that were over my head, though for me it was a positive experience to hear about concepts that have been on (and past) the periphery of my knowledge sphere (I just made that up: “knowledge sphere”, it sounds awesome, doesn’t it?).

But I definitely had a lot of great ideas to take away from the conference, and a whole lot of notes and drawings too. I’ll try and share some of my notes on specific panels later (and I know at least one of the other eROI attendees had some “visual notes” goin’ on, too), but for now here is my post-South-By-plane-ride overview (click for larger version):

On the right side is a list of everything I wanted to follow up on after returning home – as you can see I completely ran out of room (and the perfectionist in me didn’t want to start a new page). There were SO many more great ideas than what is shown here, though – these are just the most important that I could gather while flying from PHX to PDX.

And here’s the eROI SXSWi crew on the last night of the conference, digesting the information gathered over the previous 5 days, and maybe a few Lone Star tall boys as well.

Also, all four of us participated in the Beercamp beer pong tournament on Monday night at Emo’s. We didn’t win, but we made some friends and drank free beer so we can’t really complain.

Justin Michaliga and Chris Castiglione – they beat me in an unofficial beer pong match so I gave them each one of my (personal) business cards.

Finding Promising Panels

Sometimes a panel or session that looks amazing based on its short description in the official SXSW handbook turns out to be, ehhhh, not so great.  And of course the one you decided NOT to go to was the must-see panel of the day.  Although you’re not going to pick winners every time, you can help yourself by doing a little research beforehand.

my.SXSW and Sched.org

The official SXSW site offers up my.SXSW to help you browse the scheduled panels and save the ones that look interesting to you (you have to be registered for the conference and have an account in order to use it).  You can view events and panels in the traditional “list view” or “grid view“, which is nice for quickly checking which panels are happening at a specific date & time.  Once you’ve saved the events that you like, you can view your own personal schedule, and save your schedule to Outlook, Google Calendar or iCal.

An alternative to using the official SXSW scheduling app is to create an account at Sched.org (You can use Facebook Connect or sign in using Twitter). Sched.org presents the panels by day and time, in a format that is a bit easier to take in and browse than the straight list format of my.SXSW — but unlike the official site’s “grid view”, the listing format doesn’t require horizontal scrolling.

my.SXSW and sched.org work well enough for saving the panels and events you want to go to, but they don’t provide many tools if you want to dig a little deeper and find out more about the panel and/or speaker before you save it to your schedule.  Here are a couple of other tools that I’ve been using to help me sort through the sea of panels.

SXSW Panel Picker

Even though it was meant for panel proposals and voting, I’ve found the SXSW Panel Picker to be a good tool for researching accepted/scheduled panels as well.  Do a search for the title of the panel you want more info on — for example, I wanted to learn more about “The History of the Button”, taking place on Friday at 2:00 PM. You should find the proposal page for the panel which contains more information, including the “level” of the panel (beginner, intermediate, advanced) and categories as determined by the speaker/presenter. But even better, you can read comments about the panel written by those who voted during the proposal stage. Sometimes you can determine if the presenter has a reputation for being a good speaker, and/or if the topic has been presented before and if so, how it was received.  Sometimes you may find someone you recognize and respect has voiced support, even more reason to add it to your list.

Sitby.us and Plancast

So you’ve picked out some panels based on their descriptions, and maybe a few comments from panel voters. But which ones are your friends and peers going to go see?  One really awesome tool that’s new this year is Sitby.us, created by WeightShift. Unlike my.SXSW and Sched.org which show you the total number of people  interested in a panel, Sitby.us primarily shows you which of your Twitter friends are interested in a specific panel (though it also mentions the total number).  So I can see which of my ACTUAL friends are interested in a panel, plus anyone whom I follow on Twitter, including web design gurus such as Jared Spool and Jason Santa Maria.  Theoretically, in my mind, they have a better idea of which panels look promising, though realistically they could be taking a chance, just like I would be!

Another big draw for Sitby.us is its beautiful, simple design.  It looks as though it was designed to be viewed on an iPhone, but the design works well in a full-sized browser as well. It’s incredibly easy to navigate with just a few navigational elements at the top, and the color-coded time slots make the schedule listings both pretty and practical.

It also provides one feature that none of the other scheduling apps have: the ability to “check in” at a panel and indicate where in the room you’re sitting, which helps you either find your friends easier, or stalk your favorite rock star web designer. You can add an extra note (“back row, next to the water cooler”) and check a box to broadcast your location via Twitter (though if you do so, I’d recommend setting up a Twitter “barf” account like Stephen suggests or you might end up annoying your followers who AREN’T at SXSW ).

If you’ve already created a schedule on my.SXSW or Sched.org, you can import it into Sitby.us (I tried it with my my.SXSW schedule and it worked perfectly).  You can export your schedule into iCal format, but there is no way to print your schedule directly from the site unfortunately (why would you want to print it? See the next section).  All the same, I will be using Sitby.us as my primary online scheduling tool for SXSW 2010, just because I enjoy using it so much!

Plancast is another tool that’s new this year — although it’s not SXSW-specific, you could use it to keep track of which panels, parties or other events you plan on attending, plus see which events your friends are interested in.  I don’t have many friends with accounts on Plancast yet, so it has not been very useful for me this year. But from what I’ve seen so far, it seems like most people are using Plancast to announce which parties they are going to, so it could be very helpful for hooking up with your friends out on the town after the panels are done for the day.

Print it out or Write it down

With all of our fancy technology, in this day and age, at an interactive conference, WHY would you need to have anything on paper?  Why?  Because most of our fancy technology relies on internet connections, and internet connections can’t really be relied upon at SXSW.  I can almost guarantee that you will have moments of disconnectivity while you are there. There are a LOT of people hammering the free wireless and smart phone networks, so downtime and slow connections are bound to happen.  Don’t miss your next must-see panel because you couldn’t pull up sitby.us, sched.org or my.SXSW on your phone or laptop.

Whether you circle or highlight panels in the official guidebook, print your schedule from one of the scheduling sites, or scribble some notes in a notebook, get it all down on paper and avoid the stress of being disconnected at an inopportune moment.  I’m personally trying to fit all the information I need into a Moleskine, including print outs of maps, notes on good places to eat, bus information and of course, my panel picks. It won’t turn out as awesome as James Bridle’s SXSW 2010 Fieldnotes book (they’re not for sale! Dang it) but I think it’ll work just fine.

What else?

There are TONS of sites and blog posts out there with tips on how to make the most of SXSW and your time in Austin. Here are a few that I’ve read/used; have any you’d like to add? Put ‘em in the comments! Thanks for reading!

SXSW Baby! is absolutely essential for any SXSW-goer, especially those who are going for the first time!

Citizen Taco’s SXSW Essential Guide and Austin 360’s “Guide to SXSW Food Guides” will help you answer the all-important question: Where Should We Eat? (And you don’t have to eat out all the time, check out this post on SXSW Baby! for tips on snacks to bring from home)

And check out the rest of Austin 360 if you want to see what ELSE is going on in Austin (Yes it’s true, SXSW isn’t the only thing going on). And they have a comprehensive Guide to Austin, looks handy if you want to learn some facts and figures, or perhaps want to partake in some outdoor recreation while you’re there. How about a walk/bike ride around Lady Bird Lake?  They also have a pretty big, clean map of downtown Austin for your printing pleasure (for those times when you can’t connect to Google Maps of course).

Outlook features 25 artists that graduated from Portland State University’s art department between 2005 and 2009. The show is being guest curated by Chicago art critic and professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago James Yood.

Yood is also giving a free lecture (open to the public) “The Persistence of Place” Monday,  November 16, at 7:30 p.m. Learn more here.

Opening Reception:
Saturday, November 7th, 2009 6-9pm

Exhibition:
Thursday November 5, 2009-Friday, November 27th, 2009
Monday-Saturday 10-5

Where:
Autzen Gallery, Portland State University
2nd Floor, Neuberger Hall Room 205
724 SW Harrison ST, Portland, OR 97201

Date:
October 24th, 09′

Time:
6pm-11pm

Where:
North Coast Seed Building
2127 N. Albina Ave.
Portland, OR 97227

I’ll let the visual aids do the rest…

He will also be celebrating the launch of his two new websites www.zenvironments.com & zachjohnsen.com so make sure to check it out!

To start, I must say that the people I am about to write about are very close friends and loved ones, and this may give me a biased journalistic angle. I am confident, however, that you will agree with me that they are noteworthy creative people, doing progressive and cool things.  I hope that this insight into their world inspires readers to subscribe to their blog, buy some of their wares, attend their event, go make something themselves, or better yet, all of the above.  I give you How We Develop and Content 09.

How We Develop is a collective of creatives based in Portland centered around their passion for fashion, Art, Design and creative exploration as a whole.  Clothing designer and seamstress Gretchen Jones, Jewelry designer Anna Korte, and graphic designer and illustrator Ada Mayer met through mutual friends, and began working together immediately in 2008.  Gretchen and Anna both enlisted Ada’s help with their respective identities, marketing efforts and web presence, and the alignment of their tastes and creative aspirations led to the birth of their blog, How We Develop in the summer of 2009.

How We Develop’s mission was simple – To share the things that inspire a group of creative people to create things. Finding “inspiration in the extraordinary, the simple, the distant, and the timeless”, How We Develop takes on a format familiar to the blogosphere, while bringing a fresh perspective, background and voice to the canon of multi-authored creative blogs.  They all come from different geographic, creative, professional and educational backgrounds, but seem to share a collective set of goals and ideals, which creates interestingly varied content.

In starting the blog, and venturing across states together to sell and promote their wares and services at trade shows and vendor meetings, the authors soon realized something important – That the fashion / creative game they were playing hinged on meeting and interacting with countless other like-minded players; that building on inspiration from others, and sharing the fruits of ones’ own labors was equally as important as personal professional perseverance.  This is the thinking behind their upcoming event at Portland’s Ace Hotel, Content.

Content will occupy the entire 2nd floor of The Ace, allowing designers to take over each hotel room and transform it to their liking to convey the unique identity and vision of their individual brands. The event “is designed, in its curation of talent and selection of venue, to harness and highlight the individuality stemming from the independent fashion community”.  Although How We Develop will collectively occupy one of these rooms, creating the environmental translation of their brand identities and visions together, this event will by no means be all about them. Designers of all types will be involved, from clothing to accessories, 35 in total, will be given a chance for exposure, under the Context of their choosing. Brand offering range from frilly dresses to carved wooden sunglasses to feathered hats, so the experience of drifting through the 28 rooms will truly be a unique and hyper-sensory one.

In addition to the fashion element, HWD has invited multiple fine artists to realize installations in the Cleaners reception space adjacent to the hotel, and has booked a diverse bill of musicians and DJs to play in the Cleaners and hotel lobby and mezzanine. There will be cash bars and refreshment tables scattered throughout the space as well, so those of age can enjoy a glass of wine as the stroll around and soak in the creative energy (although the event is all ages over all) It has all of the ingredients of an inspiring creative whirlwind of an evening, and I for one am quite excited to see it unfold.

For more information on the event visit the official website.  Hope to see you there!

We have been nominated in the categories of Blogs and Community Sites for our work with the Travel Oregon organization and one of our largest clients, Wacom. Both projects were fun to design and have been coded with the utmost skill and attention to detail. Another post will follow with the results of what is sure to be a fun filled evening. More to come.

Wacom Community

Travel Oregon Blog

Using Yahoo Pipes you can get practically any kind of information on the web, strip out the stuff you don’t want, reformat it in a way that’s easier for you to digest, and spit it out in a shiny new RSS feed suitable for your reader or maybe even your info aggregation website!  Sounds super awesome and easy right?

AHH! What the hell is all THAT?  Save me! Take me back to my regular feeds and never show me that mess of blue boxes and squiggly lines again!

OK, yea, I know it looks intimidating and confusing, but really, it’s not that bad.  If you start fresh and take things one step at a time you’ll be Piping up a storm in no time.

Meet Dawn Foster (fastwonderblog.com, Twitter: @geekygirldawn), RSS wrangler extraordinaire (among other things).  She has a full library of example Pipes and tutorial videos to get you started.  And if that’s not enough, she has just announced her first Introduction to Yahoo Pipes training course.  Here’s all the info you need:

What: Introduction to Yahoo Pipes

When: Thursday, May 7th, 3PM – 5PM

Where: Webtrends Classroom (851 SW 6th Ave, Suite 1600 | Portland, OR 97204)

How Much: Students/Freelancers/Unemployed: $100.  Early bird (before April 23): $150.  Late registration (after April 23): $250.

Prerequisites: You just need to set up your Yahoo Pipes account prior to the class (don’t worry, it’s free!).  If you have a Yahoo account already (and you do if you use Flickr), just go to pipes.yahoo.com and log in using your Yahoo credentials.  If you don’t already have a Yahoo account, go ahead and get one here.

Even if you already know a bit of Pipes, I have a feeling this would be a great class to get to know some of the more advanced features.  I know that I could personally use some tips and tricks from a power user.

“We know we will have succeeded when non-game interactions provide the same level of emotion, feedback, progress indication, innovative controls and social involvement that games supply.”

The points that really resonated with me the most were their discussion of “progress indication” and “social involvement” and how those apply to the work we do in web design.

Progress Indication

In the gaming world, the idea of gaining reputation and points is really important. It creates incentive for people to keep playing. It’s a reward system. The concept of “leveling up” also works in this manner; as you collect points you progress to higher levels which is an indication of reputation. The presenters gave an example from World of Warcraft:

The n00b on the left is clearly different from the Super User on the right. The Super User is tricked out in a cool costume and has lots of “badges.” Badges are a great way to show off the success a user has achieved. People have a “collecting mentality”; letting them acquire badges plays on this basic instinct. It also fulfills the need for achievement and respect from others described in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (mentioned in the last Fresh post)

Reputation is something that can be taken into account for any kind of web project. (Even if the design isn’t meant to be social, letting a user collect points can still be a powerful incentive to keep interacting.) Think about the idea of reputation and Twitter. Twitter displays the number of people following you and the number of updates you’ve done. This acts as really successful reputation/point system. How could Twitter utilize the idea of “leveling up”? Maybe the idea of paid accounts does this? Another great way to show reputation is by displaying a user’s “member since” date.

When it comes to profile design: making it seem empty when someone hasn’t added to an area of their profile will make them want to “fill” it; they will know there is more functionality that they can explore. Using “grayed out” design elements is one way to do that. But, also think about what information you can use to populate a profile without the user having to do any work (like Twitter shows how many tweets someone has done). Think about the statistics that you are collecting for every user and automatically display things that are relevant.

Social Involvement

The panelists talked about how non-game applications can become more social. They saw one area that this could be especially beneficial: the learning process.

A great way to learn how to do something is by watching an expert do the same task. This can happen in multi-player games. Bringing this concept into non-game applications could be awesome. What if someone just learning Photoshop could watch an expert create a clipping path?

Games employ the use of gradual learning often, too. When a user comes to a part in the game where they need to learn how to do something, new, more advanced functionality can be revealed. This way they are not overwhelmed or frustrated early on by too many options.This is a really good idea to keep in mind for designs that may require some learning by the user.

It was really cool to step outside my own frame of reference and hear what folks involved in game design think about every day. I’m hoping that a video of the panel will surface eventually! And last but not least, a quote from the talk that I’m sure you’ll appreciate:

“If UI designers made super Mario Bros, there would be one big button: “SAVE PRINCESS”

Some of the most popular web applications exist to satisfy basic human needs. Organizing and sharing information. Symmetrical and asymmetrical relationships within groups. These are well researched patterns of human behavior. Technology is a chaotic, constantly evolving mess but behind all the innovation is our own innate desires that bring it all about. Where technology is fleeting, trendy, and a futile struggle with obsolescence, designing for human interaction with technology can be timeless. Interaction designers and developers are conduits for translating human behavior into effective uses of communications technology. In order to craft experiences that influence behavior we can employ aspects of psychology, anthropology, computer science, graphic design, industrial design and cognitive science.

Understanding behavior
Christina Wodtke offered this equation, B=ƒ(P,E). It is Lewin’s Equation, one of the most well known formulas in social psychology. Behavior is a function of the person and his or her environment. What a great simplistic way of validating your own thought processes while brainstorming. A person’s habitat and personal needs define their behavior. Actions are all about context. Goal oriented design that attempts to elicit behavior needs to be aware of this.

I attended the Design for Irrational Behavior panel organized by Robert Fabricant at Frog Design. It was intended to look at how to motivate people towards sustainable practices through design that appeals to our emotions. Robert put together a diverse panel including Eli Blevis from Indiana University’s School of Informatics and Peter C. Whybrow, M.D., Director of the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA.

While I don’t believe it was a particularly successful panel, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Dr. Whybrow’s views on culture and human behavior. He discussed how our brains are wired to engage with curiosity in anything that is novel. Our culture has developed to addictively target certain aspects of our brain through instant gratification and material consumption. As we mature from adolescence, we can realize that we are being swayed by instant gratification and decide not to act on impulse but only if some barrier exists to make us stop and consider our actions.

What does it all mean?
How did I translate all this into something relevant to interaction design? Novel and simplified approaches are inviting. Reward systems press for immediate behavior, and conversely, constraints on behavior create natural breaks for cognition and deeper interaction. Create motivation with curiosity. Use empathy. Foster convenience. Direct users attention through salient stimuli. Interaction design can leverage these behavior models to either ingratiate people with quick conversions or carefully lead them down a complex path. Whatever the desired outcome may be.

I don’t necessarily advocate the over analyzation of creative processes with neuroscience. So much of successful design is based on things that are hard to quantify. I do believe that we are in the midst of a huge cultural shift brought about by the rapid pace of technology. This sudden removal of barriers to human interaction is akin to the printing press being introduced to the western world in the 15th century. It’s a good time to be designer, developer, software engineer or anyone involved in interactive systems. This seemed apparent through the diversity of topics and exciting approaches presented at SXSW. One of the biggest takeaways for me was that I returned a little more excited to be doing what I do.

Some Additional Reading

http://boxesandarrows.com/

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Salience and Self Actualization

Definitely check out Clay Shirky and his book Here Comes Everybody.