Summer is just beginning to show its face around these parts, which makes everything feel look a bit shinier. The same can be said for our forums these days. A steady flow of new members means that we’re getting a great mix of experience levels and I love seeing everyone helping each other out. Nothing makes a Community Manager happier than not being needed! Read on to hear what’s been happening around the place…
Ask the UXperts
It’s been a busy few weeks in our Campfire chatroom, with a couple of really interesting sessions taking place. Late last month I hosted Everett McKay, Principal of UX Design Edge, and we talked about UI for non-designers. We talked a lot about the nuances in terminology that seem to surround our industry these days. If you’re interested in finding out more, you can read a transcript of the session here.
Yesterday saw me back in the chatroom, this time with the amazing Steve ‘Doc’ Baty. Steve is from a number of different organisations (I swear he must have more hours in his day than the rest of us) but can primarily be found at Meld Studios. His subject of choice for the session was innovation and entrepreneurship and his answers were works of art. I highly recommend having a read of that transcript.
Keep an eye on our News & Events forum for information on future sessions.
Member Spotlight on…
One of our newest members, Katherine has a really interesting UX story. Born and raised in Manila, she emigrated to the US in her late teens and then travelled extensively, doing a number of very different jobs. After dabbling in web development, an intuitive uncle noticed that Kat’s questions were more about the users than the site, and he suggested looking into UX as a career. So she did. You can read more about Kat’s journey here and with any luck you’ll be inspired enough to tell us your own UX story.
Killer UX Portfolios
Portfolios are something that it would seem most UXers spend at least some time obsessing about, and while I’m not technically a practitioner in the field, I’m certainly spending plenty of time thinking about them. I’m in the process of writing an article about the best portfolios that I have found out there on the internet, and I’m keen to get your input. If you’ve seen anything that has turned your head, jump into this thread and tell me about it, even just a link is fine. If you have your own portfolio and would like some help polishing it up, check out this thread where we’re critiquing and offering constructive feedback to anyone that is interested.
Selling UX to Clients
Some of our favourite community members recently contributed to an article that Kimberley wrote called 20 Tips for Selling UX to Clients. It’s a great read, full of insightful tips to help you sell UX to your clients, rather than (as Kim puts it) beating your head against a brick wall in the spirit of self-destructive evangelism! We love hearing from you guys, so if you’re a regular around the forums, we may tap you on the shoulder at some stage.
Some interesting threads to check out.
- We’re having a conversation around the Water Cooler about women, trolling and the internet. Share your experiences here.
- I love the way Luke introduces this conversation about pagination – “I’ve been reading about the interesting relationship between the size of a sheep and the size of a book…”
- Berryred asks for advice about coding, how important it is in UX, and where to start with learning. What are your thoughts on the role of coding in UX? Tell us what you think.
- One of the things that I love most about community is getting little insights into how people spend their days. Paddy asks where you do your UX Mastery catching up in this thread.
- I’m curious about UX job titles and what they imply about a role. Not everyone wants to be a unicorn, so what exactly does a UX Designer role entail? What is your job title?
Well that’s probably enough reading for one sitting, so I’ll leave it at that, but I look forward to seeing more of you around the UX Mastery forums.
Take care out there.
