Activesite Emerge, the recent announcement of Artprize and a social-media triggered Chalk Flood are just a few of the art-related events that had Grand Rapids electric with activity the past few weeks. Each are experiences designed to engage the public directly and raise awareness of what resources are available in their own community. Each in a way are stories about sustainability. One in particular, Activesite, I think embodies this directly.

Emerge was the fifth event by Activesite, a project that transforms a space, either a forgotten architectural gem, or one in-progress of being developed, into a unique sculpture exhibition celebrating Fine Arts student work, local products, talent and architecture.

I was completely enamored with the intent of Activesite. By fusing art with a space, artwork is created for the context of a particular space, which starts to distance the experience from viewing a collection of random works in a more traditional gallery setting. With this intent as a centerpiece, the event itself goes further by presenting local talent, products and cuisine in a lively club atmosphere with live-mixed soundscapes, sushi, Founders brews, Boxed Water and even a mad contraption that made custom t-shirts. This free event drew 1500 people and filled the night with four floors of art, exploration and conversation.

Those in attendance were enjoying the experience, but more importantly were plugged into the artists, spaces, businesses and thinking going on in our community. This exposure, along with the organization itself becoming a magnet of community and business support over the past two years, shows a path to sustainability. Emerge is the fifth event and the founders, Paul Amenta, Todd Ernst and Eric Kuhn, through their shared vision have attracted local talent and supporters that have allowed each event to build upon the previous ones and offer distinct experiences to the public.

Many of the pieces within the exhibition followed the same spirit, perhaps because as Paul Amenta, Creative Director, put it to me that, “Students are challenged to engage the space”. And the subjects of growth, rebirth and cycles are definitely embodied at the current site, the historic and largely empty Flat Iron Building, one of the oldest in Grand Rapids.

One installation, Circular System III (Oasis in a Desert) A Method for Alternative Urban Agriculture by Ashley Lieber of the University of Michigan, demonstrated a working sustainable system. Visually striking in the space under a massive grow light, the piece is an inflatable pool filled with lake water and fish, an electric pump that draws the nutrient-rich water up to a hanging series of two-liter bottles each holding substrate and growing edible greens. The piece is truly a living infographic, breaking down the constituent elements and showing the processes simply and effectively. The clarity of the piece engages viewers in a compelling conversation about urban food production and construction of manageable ecosystems.

Circular System III (Oasis in a Desert) A Method for Alternative Urban Agriculture by Ashley Lieber

Urban development isn’t about always wiping away the old and building all anew. The vision of Activesite reminds us to look into our community and challenges us to reconsider our impressions and habits of dismissing the old and looking outward for talent, inspiration and commerce. Activesite, through the event itself and the art within, shows sustainability in action.

Please join us and RSVP at the following link:

http://event.pingg.com/MichiganXD-0409

We hope to see you there!

This year’s IXDA conference, Interaction ‘09 in Vancouver, became not just the venue for such a question, it was a ground-zero event that helped me connect some of the dots scattered around in my head. Yes, there were the great discussions on research and methodologies and flow diagrams and wireframes that I craved. But the big take away for me over the 5 days and 6 amazing keynotes was the direct linking of how our way of life is changing fundamentally and that the experience designer is in an ideal position to help people transition with the changes ahead. Regardless of where you stand on the economy, climate change, overpopulation or resource depletion, change in how we are going to live is inevitable and we just have to decide how smoothly we’re going to adapt along the way. This is a tall order, but one by one, each keynote and many sessions set the seeds for how this can start and how we can contribute.

Robert Fabricant of Frog Design summed up in his talk that “IxD is about behavior”. And this is why experience designers are suited to the task, because we are user-centric in our approach, and at it’s core we must focus on empathy. Discover a person’s story and unveil their attitudes, motivations and values to learn their goals and understand their behaviors.

How do we do this? 

• With immersion. We need to step out of our comfort, norms and culture.
• Interview, listen and engage by going to their environments – live in their lives. 
• Bring our prototypes back to see them interact.

When we provision for this and take these steps, we rely less on “Genius Design” and instead uncover realities that might not be captured in a quantitative analysis or idle assumptions. You can find the gems that are completely missed, or as Dan Saffer put it, “see the moonwalking bears“. One example by Marc Reddig from Fit Associates, showed that while testing an in-home medical device, his team learned that users changed their lifestyle, even hairstyles, due to the device. But the real discovery was that any device is not the cure, the social network is and the household is the patient. This kind of reframed thinking is where more organic solutions can begin.

Rob Fabricant also said that, “Design is not just about coming up with a solution, it’s figuring out the right way to look at the problem”.

One moving example Rob cited was Project Masiluleke, where his team immersed themselves all over South Africa as part of an effort to figure out how to empower people with knowledge to prevent HIV where only 5% of the populace have been tested. 

• They discovered the barriers of men testing themselves and scarcity of healthcare resources
• They discovered tech inroads: that 95% of the people use cell phones and created a communication practice of sending messages even when minutes have run out

They designed an experience centered around a product that can be locally built with off-the-shelf diagnostics

• Piggyback a testing message on the free messages sent by most of the population to start awareness. And encouraging cellphone followup in the test kit to deliver a message of pride form local personalities.
• Planning out the levels of service to cover the two user outcomes.
• Discreet in-home testing provided in a simple kit that unfolds with positive messaging that helps show them how their actions will strengthen the community whether they are ready to test now or not. 

Frog had the unique opportunity to test the kit concept with people who hadn’t yet been tested for the disease. The word of mouth spread quickly as these people shared their experience and brought their friends. The increase in testing was a major success and you could see the power of design enabling immediate change for this community.

With empathy, you can tell stories that connect and craft experiences that matter. Reduce feelings of inadequacy or fears or even discover touchstones that may be mental models just awaiting vast adoption – is the next “aha” gesture for a UI, ‘grating cheese’, as Nathan Moody from Stimulant postulated? Are we a Zipcar away from reducing global reliance on the automobile and it’s continuing impact on the environment?

So after immersion into the spectrum of UX professionals and issues, my mind is invigorated with questions and eager to apply new methods. But most importantly, I’m thinking more about how can we collaborate as designers to discover how to help foster positive change in people’s lives.

There’s much more to touch upon – whether inspirations like Kim Goodwin’s call to mentoring or how we can bridge disciplines to collaborate harmoniously among ID or developers – every session was very worthwhile and peppered with amazing moments. But I’ll leave these for future posts.

A big side note was that this was a shared experience (Crowdvine and Twitter integration was a master stroke) and I was fortunate to meet many great people and there was no shortage of big ideas to discuss! 

Needless to say, I would heartily recommend Interaction ‘10 in Savannah GA Feb 4-7, 2010. Please look me up if you plan to go!

interaction09.ixda.org

I will be tweeting my experience: @thinkxd

XP West Michigan will welcome Dr. Robert Biddle, a professor of computer science and psychology at Carleton University and an international expert on HCI, for “Agile Software Development and UI Design: A Match Made in Heaven?”

When: Tuesday, March 25, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Where: Work Play Space, 941 Wealthy Street SE, Grand Rapids

The press release with details is after the jump and more Information can be found at http://xpwestmichigan.org/

This event is free and open to the public. If you are interested in attending, please RSVP with Carl Erickson (erickson [at] atomicobject [dot] com) who can also answer any questions you may have about the event.

Also, if you know of others who would be interested in this presentation, please pass along this invitation.

I hope to see you there!

Cheers,

Grant Carmichael

Design Expert To Speak On Software Usability and Interaction

How to use good design to make software products better

Equal parts marketing, graphic design and software craftsmanship, user interface and interaction design can ultimately determine the success or failure of a software product. Be it a website, operating system or any other competitive software tool or service, end users will often reject otherwise superior products if they are not aesthetically attractive and easy to use.

UI is an issue of great concern to agile software developers. Intended to eliminate the late projects, blown budgets and buggy products common in traditional software development, agile software development is a delivery-driven methodology focused on process improvement, testing and collaboration. Also known as Extreme Programming, agile software development has been proven to reduce costs and technical bugs. But, as an upcoming program hosted by local agile development trade group XP West Michigan will examine, good software can and will fail without good design.

In a presentation of interest to all members of the design community, XP West Michigan will welcome Dr. Robert Biddle, a professor of computer science and psychology at Carleton University and an international expert on UI design, for “Agile Software Development and UI Design: A Match Made in Heaven?”

“It defeats the purpose of agile development if what you end up with software that people hate to use,” said Carl Erickson, president of local software development firm Atomic Object and current president of XP West Michigan. “User interface and interaction design is as much a part of the user’s experience as good testing and other agile practices.”

Erickson invited Biddle to Grand Rapids after seeing him speak at an international conference. “He’s on the leading edge of this subject, and has something to share with both developers and designers. He’s also an incredibly high-energy, passionate and engaging speaker.”

Biddle’s most recent research has focused on how UI design can affect the business and technical aspects of software design, particularly how it can be applied alongside agile development practices. His research group has studied software teams from around the world working with agile development and UI design. In his presentation, Biddle will introduce his findings on current practices and identify opportunities for future collaboration between the software developers and interface designers.

When: Tuesday, March 25, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Where: Work Play Space, 941 Wealthy Street SE, Grand Rapids

About XP West Michigan:

XP West Michigan is a 501c6 non-profit trade association dedicated to improving the competitiveness of Michigan’s software development community. The group is particularly interested in disseminating knowledge of agile software development practices. Meetings are free and open to the public.

About Robert Biddle:

Robert Biddle is a Professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, where he is on the graduate faculty of both the schools of Computer Science and Psychology. His research and teaching is in human-computer interaction and software engineering, involving active projects on agile development, computer security, and collaborative hypermedia. He has also worked as a software developer and as a technical consultant. He is widely recognized as an outstanding researcher, educator, and presenter.