Annie Swank, a Chicago graphic designer, made a great presentation on User Experience (UX). She gave her presentation, Identifying and Testing UX Assumptions, at the new location for TechNexus in Chicago for Refresh Chicago, a design and development meetup group dedicated to highlighting the local community of technology specialists and their experiences. In her presentation, Annie raises the urgency that designers and business owners must consider in establishing a web layout:
"Your competitor is one tab away. If you are on website and it is not looking the way it is suppose to, your users will check out."
The overview examines the decision-making process in planning what content and information is provide in a navigational structure meant to maximize a user experience with a site or app. The presentation does not cover technical aspects - so no client-side talk of HTML or Javascript - but the overview is a perfect review for small businesses and freelance developers planning a site. Asking what users will accomplish on your website is the most important aspect in web analytics.
The presentation is about an hour long. For more on Annie, check out her Tumbler page and also consider following her on Twitter (@annieswank). Also check out RefreshChicago for other meetups via their site (refreshchi.org) or Twitter (@Refreshchi)
