On Wednesday 1 November 2023 we met in-person for pizza, networking, a talk on the history of bad content and a workshop on design maturity.
We were delighted to be sponsored by SPARCK, and enjoyed hanging out in their funky office space within BJSS, 180 West George Street, G2 2NR (view on map).
Trains, wedding invites, and entry requirements – how bad content came to be bad
As content and UX designers, every day we seem to come across another example of poor content. But what are the reasons behind all this bad content and how did it come to be? By looking at the history of webpages in Higher Ed we can discover how their early innovation has hampered their ongoing standards.
About the speaker
Pete Hewitt is a Senior Content Designer at the University of Dundee. Once described in a letter of complaint as “unapproachable and rude to children”, Pete nevertheless tries his best to make content usable for users with the wide range of ages and language skills a university website speaks to.
Level up your design maturity
How might we deliver more value through our design teams? How might we make our team’s improvement measurable? How might we focus our efforts to drive noticeable results?
This workshop will give you the 101 on Design Maturity and include individual exercises to bring greater awareness to your current design maturity and to select a specific focus area for improvement.
You will be equipped to engage meaningfully with your team around design maturity, collectively owning your growth.
Participant takeaways
- An understanding of what UX Maturity looks like and how you might apply a maturity model to map your current maturity in a clear and measurable way
- Begin to map the UX Maturity within your organisation / practice
- A focus area to improve the UX maturity within your organisation / practice
- The framework for a workshop you can run in your teams
Download the slides and worksheet
- Level Up Your Design Maturity – Slides – Nov 2023
- Level Up Your Design Maturity – Worksheet – Nov 2023
About the host
Lauren Fraser is a Senior Product Designer at The Phoenix Group, helping people secure a life of possibilities. She has 7 years of UX/UI design experience as both an individual contributor and manager across various sectors including HR, EHS and financial services. She’s also an Advisor to two paradigm shifting HealthTech start-ups.
Lauren drives to deliver ever-increasing value through design, is a skilled facilitator, and believes in having fun while getting stuff done. She’s learnt to embrace the unexpected and effectively support teams through change with her bright outlook and creativity.
She’s Scotland based and Aussie accented, enjoying gardening, sledging, painting, and walks with her dog (who is often mistaken for a horse).
She first delivered this workshop at UX Scotland 2023.
Info about the event itself
Schedule
Please note the earlier start time than in recent months: this is to give us enough time for networking as well as the packed line-up.
- 5.30pm – Doors open, pizza, drinks & mingling
- 6.05pm – Intro
- 6.10pm – Pete Hewitt: Trains, wedding invites, and entry requirements – how bad content came to be bad
- 6.50pm – Comfort break
- 7.00pm – Lauren Fraser: Level up your design maturity
- 8.15pm – end
Accessibility
- The venue has a ramp up from the street to the main entrance, wider doors and level floors throughout.
- The event is on the first floor, which can be reached by lift or stairs.
- We will be using a variety of seating including amphitheatre style benches, moveable chairs and padded booths.
- Toilets – including accessible toilets – are on the same floor as the event.
- A quiet room is available for people to relax or take medicine.
- A fridge is available to store medicine.
- Space can be provided on request for a service animal to rest, feed and have a drink.
- Power outlets are available for assistive technology.
- There is a hearing loop.
- There is no braille signage or visual fire alarm, but building staff will be available to assist as needed.
- The hosts will control the temperature and lighting.
If there’s any other way we can support you to take part in this event, please contact kat@uxglasgow.co.uk.