May 19, 2011
You’ve seen it a gajillion times; You go to a web site in search of a product. You had no problems, to speak of, but you just didn’t connect with the company, the product or the site. You had a ho-hum experience. You visit another site and it simply knocks your socks off — but you just can’t put your finger on why. Both sites had professional design. Both had well thought out information architecture. Both had intuitive navigation. But only one resonated with you. In this presentation, Kevin Skarritt, Owner of Flock Marketing, will serve up his secret sauce on getting every UI you touch to hum like a well-oiled, brand machine!
What You’ll Get Out of This Presentation
- A fast, easy and powerful way to tap into the emotions of your target audience
- A way to use your gut instinct to “know” when you’re making a brand mistake
- How the elements of UI can be greatly enhanced by establishing a strong brand foundation
- The fastest way to get your clients to focus on connecting with their own customers — not blasting spammy pitches for their product (ugh), micro-managing the UI process (yuk), or any number of other things that can torpedo your UI/UX efforts (blech!)
- You may possibly be the one lucky recipient of a full working version of Morae!!! Thanks to our sponsors of this meeting, TechSmith, for offering the use of their space AND providing this amazing door prize.
About Our Speaker
Kevin has operated his own agency for more than 13 years. Formerly called Acorn Creative, his new agency (Flock Marketing) is a Lansing-based digital interactive, brand and social media marketing agency. In addition to creating websites for notable brands such as the California GOP, Stock Liquors, Culinary Institute of America, and working on projects with firms like Novell and the Federal Reserve Bank, he and his staff have racked up quite a few accolades along the way;
- Ten-time winner of Forbe’s “Best of the Web”
- Three time winner of a “Best of …” award in the New Hampshire Internet Awards (he just recently moved back to his home state of Michigan)
- Two-time recipient of an International Communicator’s Award
- Inclusion in the fourth edition of Logo Lounge, an international logo design competition
Kevin portrays himself on his Twitter account as; “Social media junkie, web wonk, Dad to two Eagle Scouts, husband, pilot, chess geek, book-a-holic, and upright bass noob.” Here are some other notable things about Kevin;
- Design and original implementation of EquestrianLife.com – The leading social network for the competitive horse world
- Co-founder of Michigan CHI
- Steering Committee member for IxDA Lansing
- Events Committee member for MiUPA
- Co-founder of the New England Web Developers Association
- Graduate of the University of Michigan
- Former world record holder in pogo-stick jumping … yeah, really.
When
Thursday, May 19, 2011
6:00 PM — Networking
6:45 PM — Announcements
7:00 PM — Speaker
8:30 PM — Wrap up and more networking
Location
Tech Smith Corp
2405 Woodlake Drive
Okemos, Michigan 48864-5910
Map
Cost
$5, Current students
$10, Usability Professionals’ Association members
$20, All others
Register
Register online at Guestlist so we know who’s coming and how to plan for refreshments. We’ll also take payment (cash or check) at the door. Questions? Email events {at} miupa dot org.
Dispatches from the field report an ever growing need and desire for Agile software development teams and UX professionals to work together to produce software that delights rather than frustrates. Scott Amber, in an excellent article on this topic wrote: “User experience and agile practitioners need to learn about and respect each other’s philosophies and techniques, and then actively find ways to work together. This requires both communities to make minor changes to the way that they work, but if they choose to make these changes I suspect that their work products will be much better for it.”
Davin Granroth got his start in the field in the mid-90s by helping students and faculty learn how to write better for the web.
Michigan UXPA 