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The Design Forty Conference call organized by Dan Rockwell
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Agenda
Design Hacks!

Hacks are all the rage lately. You can never have or know about too many good hacks, we got DIY hacks, programming hacks, weight loss hacks, what are some design hacks?

In this call we'll talk and share our own design hacks, tips, shortcuts and workarounds to attain great design. These could be new and unique methods, such as the use of online tools, and or new techniques with participatory design, ethnography, contextual inquiry, data analysis and more.

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Special Guest: Steve Portigal from Portigal Consulting

This is an open and casual call. We think we've got some great stuff to talk about and we'd love to see any and all participate in the discussion.

Call time will last 40 minutes.
Call summary
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Recordings
Shirley Tobias said:
bye!
Kendra Shimmell said:
Thanks y'all. Bye!
lauren serota said:
i have proper english informants, aaron ;)
Aaron Moulton said:
bye guys!
lauren serota said:
bye guys, thanks a ton!
Aaron Moulton said:
you always were a master of verbage lauren
Jon said:
Thanks :)
lauren serota said:
:)
lauren serota said:
Thanks everyone! This was fun!
Tim Adkins said:
If so, sign me up.
Jooyoung Oh said:
ah I miss you all
Tim Adkins said:
Are you taking volunteers for the Vocab Dictionary?
lauren serota said:
i heart dictionaries.
Shirley Tobias said:
did anyone else just lose their audio?
Kendra Shimmell said:
Lauren, you just signed up to help with Vocabulary Hack dictionary!
lauren serota said:
use examples.
lauren serota said:
a good hack - describing things like IA in terms people can understand.
Jon said:
nice
lauren serota said:
hey, i'm trying to not be silent :( my computer fan is not cooperating.
lauren serota said:
deal with it.
lauren serota said:
oh jon, you're adaptable.
Shirley Tobias said:
:-)
Jon said:
oye
lauren serota said:
AMEN.
lauren serota said:
jooyoung - i don't know if you can get calls from skype, but you can call through skype
Jooyoung Oh said:
can I receive calls through my computer (skype)?
lauren serota said:
with, in.. bad english, sorry.
lauren serota said:
the ultimate hack - being ultra aware of what's going on within the context that you're working :)
Dan Rockwell said:
Yep remove the boop boop
lauren serota said:
FYI for everyone - next week, use the "call my phone" feature - this will minimize feedback n such.
Biolage
lauren serota said:
sorry for my loud computer fan :(
Jon said:
:-)
Kendra Shimmell said:
Paper elitist.
Tim Adkins said:
Re: Twitter...I like to use it as a sherpa to other content.
Tim Adkins said:
It works now. Of course.
Katie Kimble said:
dan... the beep!
Tim Adkins said:
Why is my chat function not working?
Katie Kimble said:
yep
Jooyoung Oh said:
anybody else hear beep?
boop boop
Jon said:
Hi Wyatt
lauren serota said:
jooyoung - it has been for a while. dan's ignoring me bc i'm noisy :)
Jooyoung Oh said:
so as wyatt
lauren serota said:
dan - i've found that using things like twitter and delicious help get things in the open when they're just tidbits of ideas.
Jooyoung Oh said:
your hand is up lauren
Jon said:
What sort of Shampoo do you like, Steve?
Jon said:
lathering
Jon said:
nice
lauren serota said:
yeah - speeding it up also forces us to develop more domain expertise.
Aaron Moulton said:
speed up the process not compromise it
lauren serota said:
<br/>There's a lot of trends these days on hacks around programming, and DIY<br/>techniques and this got me to thinking about all the various "hacks" we do<br/>when it comes to research. Planning hacks, collaborative app hacks,<br/>anything that basically speeds up the overall process of design and or<br/>design research. <br/><br/>Occasionally people will get together at the water cooler and trade<br/>moderation techniques or cool analysis models or that sweet short cut in<br/>excel that like 3 people on the planet know. This call is about all that<br/>stuff.
lauren serota said:
maxster- here's a definition from dan:
Shirley Tobias said:
yay, "slow design" - like "slow food!"
lauren serota said:
hi, my hand's up. i feel neglected
Jon said:
slow design
Kendra Shimmell said:
We need to support "working smarter" not short-cutting the process.
Maxster said:
"hack" is very blurry at the moment
lauren serota said:
we could call it the "anti-usability" movement - we'll all be out of a job - yay!
lauren serota said:
i wonder if this "need" for hacks is going to rationalize evangelizing "designerly intuition" once again..
Kendra Shimmell said:
Without context, understanding a person's intent, we're just making shit up.
lauren serota said:
aaron - i bet you have some interesting hacks you've had to use at gensler to work within their current ops - feel free to chime in at any time!
Aaron Moulton said:
Hi Lauren!!
lauren serota said:
hi tim!!!
lauren serota said:
and steve.
lauren serota said:
dammit jess beat me.
jbaileylextant said:
jinx, Steve =)
jbaileylextant said:
lauren serota said:
hi dan, hi dan's dog.
lauren serota said:
design research netflix!
Katie Kimble said:
(my version of woot woot)
Katie Kimble said:
mute mute!
Jon said:
Is someone using a blender?
Jon said:
Hi Dan :)
lauren serota said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hack_(technology) - replace "technology" with "design" :)
Jon said:
:P<br/>
lauren serota said:
jon = fired.
lauren serota said:
hey aaron!
Jon said:
(that's a joke)
Jon said:
You can speed it up a lot by just not doing research
Jon said:
yes
Jon said:
Lauren you are buzzing
lauren serota said:
hi others :)
lauren serota said:
hi jon.
Jon said:
hi lauren
Jon said:
hi
Katie Kimble said:
i think kasey kasem already did something like that
Shirley Tobias said:
sing, Dan, sing!
Instead of having Craiglist responders reply by email, have them fill out an online survey. If you get 400 responses in an hour, say, you'll want a way to organize that. Google Docs now has a spreadsheet form that seems pretty easy for creating quickie surveys. Otherwise zoomerang or surveymonkey
Dan Rockwell said:
ER raise your hand if you have a question that is.. YES
Dan Rockwell said:
A few useful ground rules for todays call. Mute yourself if you're just listening, helps with noise on the call. Use this chat space, I'll look to it for questions/ideas. Raise your hand if possible.
Dan Rockwell said:
Our guest today is Steve Portigal of Portigal Consulting. http://www.portigal.com/index.php
Dan Rockwell said:
From ME at Lextant: "Yikes! My recruit isn't working out, I need people fast!"- take your screener and tap Craigslist. It's not optimal but time is of the essence when you are in the field. You're only in a location for a set time and the budget is burning. Help a recruiter out, tap the crowd, screen them and see if you can find a participant in a pinch, you'll be surprised with your results.
Dan Rockwell said:
From Sri at Lextant: Our client wanted a quick turn around of the complete report on a filed study. The team brainstormed on time reduction ideas and identified data entry as an opportunity. After exploring for different options, we found that “Morae” can be an effective tool that can cut data entry time.
Dan Rockwell said:
From Jooyoung at Lextant: <br/>When wanting to find out the ideal/ dream experience, start with current experience and help people move to dream world. They can’t just jump to the dream world and tell you all about it. Prepare them with homework, set up the right enviroment and give them the right tools.
Dan Rockwell said:
From Shirley at Lextant: Also, using templates for common research instruments such as discussion guides, research plans, and screeners is an effective hack – avoiding “reinventing the wheel” each time.
Dan Rockwell said:
From Leah at Lextant: http://www.livescribe.com/
Dan Rockwell said:
From Jess at Lextant: "Cut it up! Write out the interaction steps, sketch on paper, cut up your drawings and move them around. You can do the same in your graphics program, but it just FEELS different on paper. It’ll end up being faster, we promise."
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