UXWell.5
UXWell is changing, evolving. This article should provide an overview of what you can expect with this year’s upgraded UXWell — Model 5.
English
Originally all articles on this blog were in Czech. So why switch to English if it is harder to read (and write) for non-native speakers, easier to fall into using clichés, bullshit and filler-words?
- You will need English to read the books, articles, view videos about important topics in UX. Low English skill will limit how much and how fast you will get new information.
- We’ll be working on a product that won’t be limited to a Czech audience.
- We would like to start opening UXWell to participants and designers that aren’t Czech native.
Does it mean all meetings and training would be in English? That all the materials will be in English as well? No, unless there a participant that doesn’t understand Czech.
With that explained, let’s get to what you came here for — what is UXWell.5 about.
What’s there to stay
We’re improving — and changing — many things with each year. And also keeping the things we know that work.
The full UX Design process
We cover all the topics from research through basic UI design and finishing with usability testing. You will get the opportunity to learn enough to start your career in UX or improve your skill levels and your design process if you have some basic skills.
After trying it out in four previous years we’ve seen that it is possible to learn enough to switch careers from even from a backend-developer to a UX Designer in one year.
The pragmatic approach
We share what worked and teach you the Goal-Directed Design — a design process invented 25 years ago. A process that worked not only for us, but for Alan Cooper and many others in our field over the years.
You will still learn how to gather data about people — your future users — and build a product on top of it. Discover what people need and decide what features the product should have.
We will teach you how to segment the target audience by focusing not on demographics but on the behaviors of people. We will show you how to use information models to represent the knowledge users need to work with the app and context scenarios to capture how they use it.
You will learn how to create simple and more advanced prototypes and test them with users and improve your the designs.
Experienced designers
Taking part in the program, we have experienced designers sharing their skills with you — as mentors or trainers. You will work alongside them and see how they do research or how they approach UI design. And if you would like feedback, the only thing you need to do is ask. On our private Slack community, during your regular mentoring calls or in-person during our training weekend workshops.
What we are improving
After reflecting on what worked well and what could be improved, we are changing some important things for this year’s program.
Since there are so many changes in the program this year, our website will be out of sync for some time. Please bear with us and watch this blog in the meantime. Thank you 🙏
Product Design
With every program iteration we’ve got closer to Product Design. Last year participants analyzed the needs of mathematics teachers to come up with a set of product features that would be most useful.
This year, we are taking time away from designing simple websites so we can focus even more on designing digital products.
How we share our skills
There is a host of changes in the way we are teaching our craft.
We now know how to do on-line classes that people rate better than off-line trainings. So expect a part of the training to be an on-line class that will help you get the key ideas of each of the areas we will cover.
We also know how to efficiently plug-in the Feynmann method to help you understand more deeply by sharing what you know with other participants.
State-of-the-art tools
Starting with this year, the tools we designers use have matured. And we selected three most important ones that we see are used widely:
- Condens.io — a lightweight but powerful research repository that even small projects can afford!
- Lookback.io — an excellent research tool for capturing interviews or testing sessions remotely or in-person
- Figma — the de-facto standard for digital prototyping
We will show you when and how to use them effectively. We will also show you analog alternatives to those tools and when it might make more sense to use those.
Every one of these changes would make an interesting article on its own. Since we plan to share more details in the coming weeks, please reach out if there is a topic you feel we should be diving deper into.
Got questions, comments or just want to connect? Reach out to me on LinkedIn, UXCZ Slack, send an e-mail or a message through our website.
If you want to meet in-person, Petr will be at RealUXCamp.
We believe that true barcamps such as RealUXCamp can play a big role towards advancing your career in UX. And we have an offer for all considering taking part in this year’s in UXWell. Reach out to us and we will arrange a ticket for you for free, no strings attached (as long as supplies last).
